Gold plating of 440A

A. Hi Peter,

I think there are two problems here rather than just one:
• Getting good adhesion, and
• Plating to 100 microns

Although a Wood's Nickel Strike ⇦ huh? would probably be ideal, if nickel isn't permissible then activation in 50% HCl followed by a gold strike might be fine. See Jeffrey Holmes' postings in thread 318/50.

But plating to 100 microns is not for strike baths or most gold plating baths because they are stressed and may crack long before this thickness. The baths usually used for gold electroforming are probably what you need for a thickness like this. You can search the site for "gold electroforming" to read a good deal about this, but if you can get access to Reid & Goldie's "Gold Plating Technology" ⇨
it has a 15-page chapter on gold electroforming addressing all the challenges and solutions.

Apologies that we don't know you or what you already know, but the usual route would be to go to a supplier of gold plating baths and ask them for one for the initial strike, and another one for the very heavy gold deposit rather than attempting to formulate your own -- still, pulse plating or ultrasonic agitation or other techniques mentioned in Goldie may be required.

Luck & Regards,


Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
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finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
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