Sheet Metal Zinc Pre-plate Whisker Investigation

Although the zinc whisker phenomena has been around since the 40's, there does not seem to be a significant amount of research as to what causes zinc whiskers to grow on certain types of zinc platings. There are many papers written about electroplated zinc and zinc whiskers however there conflicting papers written with respect to hot dip galvanized zinc plating and zinc whisker growth. It is thought that the stresses built up during the plating process result in whisker growth and that these stresses can be greatly increased during the sheet metal fabrication forming process.

I am working with a material science fellow where I work and we are investigating pre-plated zinc sheet metal zinc whiskers. We are searching for a supplier who would be willing to work with us in our investigation by supplying sheet metal coupon samples for our testing. We have an extremely capable metrology lab and are wanting to look at various zinc plating parameters (thickness, chemical composition, passivation layers, AFP layers, etc.) and their influence on zinc whiskers.

If you are a sheet metal plater or know of a sheet metal plater who would be interested in participating in our zinc whisker investigation, please email me your or their contact information at macen.shinsato@lsi.com.

Thank you for your time.

Hopefully some platers or electrogalvanizers will contact you to get this going, Macen. Please keep us in the loop.

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