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I want to plate nickel and cobalt onto plastic

Q. I need to plate magnetic material, nickel or cobalt, onto a thermo plastic powder like polystyrene. I realize that this involves activating the surface with something like PdCl2 but I don't know the details. I am looking for help.

Frederick John Jeffers
Cummins Allison - California, USA
2005

A. There are numerous books and internet sites (even this site) that can tell you how to plate on plastics (POP). The process is too long to fully describe here, especially if you have no experience in it. The technique is widely used with polystyrene, so getting the process will not be difficult. I would suggest you use polystyrene with a few percent of butadiene (HIPS or MIPS), as this will make adhesion better and processing easier. I suspect you will need to buy in all the chemicals, so you could also ask your chemical supply house to give you the process specifications.

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

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