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Wood's strike method

I have an aluminum part that is being plated with electroless nickel per MIL-C-26074 [on DLA]E. One of our customers was concerned about the presence of a copper strike. As I understand it the electroless nickel process uses no copper and there is no copper strike. However in the process of going through this he mentioned the use of the "Wood's strike method". My question: What is the "Wood's strike method"? What is it used for? Does it have anything to do with electroless nickel?

Dana Patelzick
Instrument / Electronics mfgr. - Beaverton, Oregon, USA
2007

Wood's Nickel is named for the inventor Donald Wood, the founder of Hill-Cross Company [a finishing.com supporting advertiser]. It is a nickel striking process with a good deal of hydrochloric acid in it which helps it activate stainless steel or previous layers of nickel plating. The formula and operating parameters are in all the plating handbooks. But it doesn't seem to directly relate to the situation at hand. Aluminum must be zincated and then either cyanide copper plated or electroless nickel plated. I don't have Mil-C-26074E handy, and I don't know if it either specifies or rules out copper in the pretreatment (although such specs usually do neither).

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
February , 2007

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