Tin Plating

A source of possible confusion when trying to follow threads about tin plating is that three very different plating processes may be applied and nearly everything that is true about each does not apply to the others.

• Alkaline tin plating, sometimes called tin stannate, etc., is (naturally) done from an alkaline plating bath, and it has certain somewhat strange aspects like the tin ions having valence of +4, and a need to "film the anodes" (please search the site).

• Acid tin plating, sometimes called bright acid tin or stannous sulfate is (naturally) done from an acid bath, and the tin in the solution is at a +2 valence state.

• Tin plating can also be done from an MSA (methane sulfonic acid) bath.