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-----Make copper plating solution
Copper oxide or copper oxide powder for electroplating
Q. Can copper oxide or its derivative powder be used to do copper plating? What is the process?
Kaushik Magiawalaconsultant - Gandhinagar India
January 17, 2026
A. Hi Kaushik
I don't see any reason it can't be used as a raw material for making a copper plating solution.
But there is a lot involved in making a good copper plating solution. Do you happen to know whether it would be used for a copper sulfate, copper pyrophosphate, or cyanide copper plating solution?
Luck & Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
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⇩ Similar, related, Q&As -- oldest first ⇩
Q. Respected sir,
I want to make solution of copper plating.Ii have already zinc coating plant which I am doing work , now I want copper plating on iron bar, please define for me the process of copper plating, also how can I make solution of copper plating.
will thankful to you.
small industry owner - Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan
January 5, 2008
A. Hi, Kashif. Hobbyists, students, and amateurs can do a very basic copper plating pretty easily, but explaining all the things that should be involved ina production facility for doing copper plating is probably more than can be covered in a public forum. Try to get access to an electroplating book such as the Metal Finishing Guidebook or the Electroplating Engineering Handbook ⇦ this on
eBay,
AbeBooks, or
Amazon [affil link]
. These will have some information on formulations and sequences.
Note that you cannot plate directly onto steel or iron from a copper sulphate (or copper fluoborate) bath because they produce low adhesion immersion plating deposits. You will need to either nickel plate the iron bar first, or to use a cyanide-based or pyrophosphate-based copper plating bath.
I'm not sure you will be able to find enough formulation information about copper pyrophosphate in the plating textbooks because most successful formulations are proprietary rather than generic. This would limit you to cyanide-based processes, so you should thoroughly investigate the hazards and downsides of cyanide before proceeding. Good luck.

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
Need quick confidential answers? $25
Need project assistance? $100/hr.
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