Where the
world gathers for metal finishing
Q&As since 1989


-----

Protecting matte sulfamate nickel from fingerprints

I'm looking for a recommendation to protect matte sulphamate nickel plated bus bars from staining due to mildly acidic solder operations and bare hand handling. This type of plating seems particularly sensitive to fingerprinting. We sell $20K electronics boxes that the customer doesn't like receiving with a big fingerprint showing front and center on the unit.

We selected this plating to maximize solderability because our customers require a nickel finish and the bars are soldered to printed circuit boards after plating. Generally, our solder and cleaning processes can avoid staining the plating but frequently there are errant fingerprints or splatters that show up despite gloved handling procedures.

I'd thought I'd have our plater cover some significant surfaces with Kapton tape after plating, which would remain in place for all our solder processing and only be removed at final inspection.

Are there other means of protecting the plating you would recommend?

Thanks,

Gregg

Gregg Temkin
Engineer - Aerospace Electronics - Redmond, Washington, USA
June 28, 2011