Summary for gold plating 440a Discussion
Gold plating 440A raises two separate issues: getting adhesion and building thickness. In response to Peter Foster, the answer notes that a Wood’s nickel strike would be ideal, but if nickel is not allowed, activation in 50% HCl followed by a gold strike may work, with Jeffrey Holmes’ earlier postings cited as a reference. However, the bigger challenge is the requested 100 microns, which is beyond what strike baths or most ordinary gold plating baths can handle because they are stressed and may crack before reaching that thickness. The reply says the more appropriate route is gold electroforming, and recommends consulting a supplier for both an initial strike bath and a separate heavy-deposit bath rather than trying to formulate one from scratch. It also points to Reid & Goldie’s "Gold Plating Technology" and notes that pulse plating, ultrasonic agitation, or other techniques may be needed.
Q. Anyone have experience on plating 440A SST with gold? Is a strike required? Surface finish? Any hope at all? Looking for 100 microns.
Peter Foster
employee – New Castle, Delaware
September 2, 2025
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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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