The instability of the electroless nickel plating solution also directly affects the efficiency and cost of plating production. Due to the frequent fluctuations in the composition of the plating solution, the operator has to adjust the process parameters frequently, which increases the complexity of process management. This not only wastes a lot of time and energy, but also increases the consumption of chemicals and production costs. In serious cases, unstable nickel plating solution may even lead to the scrapping of the whole plating bath, resulting in huge economic losses.
Therefore, it is very necessary to understand how to determine the stability of the plating solution, the current evaluation of the stability of electroless nickel plating solution there are three main methods.
①Palladium chloride stability test
The stability of palladium chloride is measured by adding 1 ml of 100 mg/L palladium chloride solution to 50 ml of sample plating solution at a temperature of 60±1°C, and measuring the time it takes for the plating solution to turn cloudy.
②Service life
The service life of the plating solution is defined as: when the amount of nickel metal added is equal to the amount of nickel metal in the open solution for one cycle (Metal Turn Over, M.T.O), the limit number of cycles of the plating solution is its service life. The service life can also be characterized by the plating capacity. Plating capacity refers to the total thickness that can be plated per unit volume of bath (1L) and per unit area (1dm2).
③Stabilizing constant
The stabilization constant was proposed in 1978 as the percentage of nickel deposited onto the plated layer to the amount of nickel consumed in the solution under the normal operating specifications for electroless nickel plating, i.e., the stabilization constant of the solution. It is expressed by the following formula.
b = (m1/m2) x 100%
m1 represents the amount of metal nickel deposited on the plating
m2 represents the amount of metallic nickel consumed in the plating solution
How to solve the problem of poor stability
In order to solve the problem of poor stability, we can use Bigely electroless nickel plating solution Ni-809, which can be stably used for 10-12 cycles, during which the coating is smooth and fine, uniform brightener, and the surface will not appear pinholes or rough phenomena.
If you are interested in electroless nickel plating solution, please feel free to contact us.
