Where the
world gathers for metal finishing
Q&As since 1989


-----

Rough and smooth surface on the same job in electroless nickel bath

When I plated out the jobs for 2 hours of 56 micron thickness from EN bath I found two of the surfaces of the cube have very rough finish, two surfaces very smooth finish and the other two OK finish. Why such thing has happened? Shall I add any non-foaming surfactant to the bath?

Anant Chavan
plating shop employee - India
2007

---

Hi Anant,
You may be experiencing shelf roughness, check your agitation and filtration.

Sridhar Bushigampala
- Toronto, Ontario
2007

---

Thanks Sridhar, I Improved my agitation and the problem got solved. Now my question is how long does the bath last? Here our bath lasts for 1 month and nothing has precipitated! We throw the bath after 5 metal turnovers. I don't think I will need to filter as it is still very clear and nothing has deposited in the bottom. It still gives bright plating!
Thanks a lot.

Anant Chavan
chemical process supplier - Mumbai, India
2007

I filtered EN with a bag filter. Since your solution should be pumped from the bottom to the top for optimum performance, adding the bag is cheap. If not, at least filter the solution on transfer to a holding tank while you passivate the plating tank. If you operate your tank properly, you can get more than 4 tank turnovers with many commercial products.

James Watts
- Navarre, Florida
2007

---

2007

Dear colleagues,

I have the same problem with EN plating. The surface of the parts at the bottom is very bright (as should be), but on the upper side gets rough, especially when the plating time increases, even in a brand new bath! I do not have a system to agitate the solution (I've been told that compressed air contains oil and this might be a problem), I use to shake(up & down, left & right) the racks from time to time in order to agitate, is this right, how often should I do this? If not, what should I do to get rid of this problem permanently?

Thank you.

Chris Sigalas
- Athens, Greece