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Conductive layer for nickel electroforming

February 25, 2009

Dear all,

We are testing several types of conductive layers on top of epoxy resins for electroforming purposes.
So far we have applied Silver lacquer and a graphite aerosol.
Does anyone have other hints I could use to metallise the epoxy surface?
- Palladium?
- Silver mirror reaction?
- other?

Thank you in advance.
Paulo

Paulo Vilaça
plating shop engineer - Portugal

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February 25, 2009

Hi, Paulo. Our FAQ on Plating Organic Materials offers a few more possibilities. Good luck.

Regards,

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

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March 6, 2009

Dear Paulo,

Immersion or spray silvering may be a good choice.

I've tried the Brashear formula on epoxy mandrels with very good results.

Gabriel Schonwald
Bnei Berak, Israel

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A good way to make non-conductive mandrels conductive is to coat them with a very thin layer of Au, Pt, or Pd before electroforming. You can do this in either a sputtering system, electron beam evaporation system or even other vacuum deposition system. We use an old electron microscope sputter coating system with a larger acrylic chamber thru which we put an o-ring seal so we can turn the mandrel so as to coat all sides by turning it by hand. This is really fairly cheap.
These materials make great release layers too. Later, you can remove the thin gold by immersion for about 30 secs in a cyanide gold stripper.

David OHara
- Tallahassee, Florida
May 24, 2009