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Rhodium plating on Stainless Steel

We are currently launching a product which is stainless steel with rhodium plating. However, we found that the plating is not so resistive as we expected. We tested for abrasion 48 hours, all the plating removed.
The spec for the plating is 20 microns rhodium on stainless steel. It seems it's thick enough. Can the situation be improved based on our spec?

Angel Tam
Quality Engineer - Hong Kong
2005

You need to give details of your process before anyone can suggest improvements. The Internet isn't very good at telepathy!

Trevor Crichton
R&D practical scientist
Chesham, Bucks, UK
2005

It sounds like you have a highly stress rhodium deposit and adhesion issue with stainless steel. You need to resolve this issue.

Hamilton Solidum
- Mays Landing, New Jersey, USA
2005

I think the problem we have should be directly plated rhodium on top of stainless steel. As I have read some of the articles, there should be copper or nickel plated on top of stainless steel before rhodium. But we need to fulfill the requirement of nickel free. Is there any alternative?

Angel Tam
- Hong Kong
2006

2006

Hello, Angel. Please search the site with terms like "white bronze" and "Albaloy" to learn more about nickel-free "white metal" plating. Good luck.

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey

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