Electroplating SN63 Solder to Copper Foil

I am trying to have SN63 solder plated onto thin copper foil. A question has come up about the material composition of the solder after it is plated. Will the electroplating process alter the material purity of the solder? So if I start with Sn63Pb37, after it is deposited to the copper surface would it be the same material plus or minus .5% of the initial quality of the material?

Any insight is helpful. I've been reading up on electroplating but I can't find anything that tells me how the anode material quality changes during the process.

Robert Lutomski
Product designer - Simpsonville, SC, USA
September 25, 2009

If you mean the same within 0.5%, I will bet that the answer is NO. Talk to the people that manufacture the solder solution. Any time you alloy plate, you will have a variation in the plate analyses with age of the solution, variations in pH, temperature and solution concentration, not to mention anode placement and racking concerns along with agitation.

James Watts
- Navarre, Florida
September 25, 2009

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