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Need help with electroless tin plating (not immersion Tin)

Do you have any source or formulations about electroless tin (not immersion Tin)?

Kuan Lee
package - Taiwan
January 21, 2008

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A computerized literature search on this may be productive, Kuan. There is an article in Plating & Surface Finishing, July 1991, "Electroless Tin Plating Through Disproportionation" by Koyano, Kato and Uchida, and an article in Galvanotechnik, 1990, Vol. 71 pp 86-90 -- and more. There are also a good number of patents, some of which may be expired.

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
January 22, 2008

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In mechanical plating and mechanical galvanizing, the current practice is (briefly set forth) cleaning, followed by immersion coppering, followed by electroless tin, followed by the actual mechanical deposition process in which ductile metals are pounded on to the metal surface by the action of impact media (glass beads). In the electroless tin portion of this process, divalent tin is reduced to tin metal by reaacting it with zinc dust [on eBay or Amazon] in the presence of proprietary components which contain surfactants, detergents, inhibitors and dispersants which are rate- and deposit-controlling.

Tom Rochester
CTO - Jackson, Michigan, USA
Plating Systems & Technologies, Inc.


February 28, 2008