Aluminum Alloy Rotogravure: Smart Nickel Strike Advice

Summary for aluminum alloy rotogravure Discussion

aluminum alloy rotogravure cylinder problems & solutions centers on whether a steel-to-aluminum switch can be made without redesigning the plating line. Efstratios Patsourakis asked if adding a zincate immersion before the nickel strike would be enough, and which zincate would be preferable, given an existing nickel strike bath and sulfuric acid/copper sulfate copper baths. Robert H. Probert advised that, instead of a Wood’s nickel chloride strike, an alkaline electroless nickel strike should be considered because it can tolerate more zincate contamination. Patsourakis thanked him for the guidance. In a later follow-up, he asked which aluminum alloy is best for rotogravure and noted that their line uses nickel strike and alkaline Unicopper NC for the first copper layer, but no alloy recommendation is given in the excerpt.