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Anomaly in Electroless Nickel Plating

Q. My company does electroless nickel plating on aluminum and beryllium. Occasionally we see the pattern in the attached photos.

58093-1 58093-2

These are not pits or voids, they do have nickel coverage. Most of the time we see this around a masking line or a place on a part that has a raised area (90 degree angle). We have ideas (i.e. masking thickness, turbulence in the tank, etc..). Any ideas or knowledge on this problem would be greatly appreciated.

Dewayne Hill
plating shop employee - Cullman, Alabama, USA
December 9, 2011

Those look like gas pits, and gas bubbles holding to the edges of masking or transitions is common.

More agitation is the remedy.

Jeffrey Holmes, CEF
Spartanburg, South Carolina
December 13, 2011

Thanks for the response Jeffery. We are continuously rotating our parts while they are in the bath, but maybe they are stopping for a short period and we aren't aware especially parts that are in the bath for a long period of time.

Dewayne Hill
- Cullman, Alabama, USA
December 14, 2011

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