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Complete Process for Cleaning, Cu, and Ag Barrel Plating on Stainless Steel

Q. Cu and Ag Barrel Plating on Stainless Steel?
Hi, I'm looking to find the complete process of cleaning (degreasing) and pre-plating a stainless steel part (15 mm x 13 mm x 4 mm) and putting a first layer of 4 microns of copper on it and then as second plating 4 microns of silver by using a small barrel plating unit.
Perhaps there are processes that I could read and/or apply?
Any help is welcome.

SAMER OUGHLI
- LAGUNA, METRO MANILA, Philippines
March 3, 2024

A. Hi Samer,
A very general cycle would be: soak clean, electroclean, HCl activate, Wood's nickel strike, acid copper plating, and silver plating -- with adequate rinsing between each step, and possibly an anti-tarnish post-treatment. Please introduce yourself and your situation. Asking for the 'complete process' without telling us anything about yourself and your situation and thereby giving us a starting point is a problem because there are whole plating libraries so the subject can't be covered in a few paragraphs starting from scratch. :-)

nb plating Library
(part of the plating library at New Brunswick Plating [a finishing.com supporting advertiser])

4 microns is not a lot of plating, and copper and silver will tend to diffuse together, so you may need to add a layer of nickel or palladium plating between the copper and silver.

Luck & Regards,

pic of Ted Mooney
Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey

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