Metal finishing Q&As since 1989
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Blue spot/growth on a silver plated component
Q. I have a favour to ask, to see if you have ever experienced anything like an unknown blue spot/growth on a silver-plated component. It looks to me like something is getting trapped possibly via capillary action in the joint between the two parts and is then leaching out after the part is plated.
We have tried washing the components in an attempt to clean this away, but it removes the blue spot at the time of washing, only for it to grow back again after a period of time.
Have you guys encounter the same issue as mine? Is there any solution to solve this issue, to eliminate the blue spot?
Any advice would be very welcome. Thanks.
- Johor, Malaysia.
December 13, 2023
A. Hi Amin. Most silver plating is cyanide-based, and cyanide bleed-out is a problem well known to platers, so you could search the site for "cyanide bleed out" to make sure you are avoiding it as much as practical.
However, according to digikey.com, blue staining of silver plating is a harmless and unavoidable silver sulphide / silver oxide ⇨
Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
A. From my opinion, this blue spot as long as there is "a gap" in the riveting, the blue spot would definitely occur over time once plating is done as chemical gets in or penetrates into the product. This blue spot takes time to occur depending how much chemical penetrated into the gap.
hairul / ismail / hairullizam- Malaysia-Nusajaya
January 15, 2024
Q. Hi,
It's not the parts that turn blue/discoloured, but more look like a composition from chemical that turns to blue crystallization.
- Johor, Malaysia.
January 16, 2024
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