A customer inquired and said that in the production process of using tin plating additives, many workpieces will be coated with nickel substrates before tin plating. What is the purpose of this operation?
Bigley Technology has analyzed the characteristics of tin plating additives based on on-site experience and products, mainly for these three reasons:
1. It can inhibit the production of tin whiskers. If tin is directly plated on copper, copper and tin will diffuse with each other, forming metal intermetallic compounds, causing rapid stress growth in the tin coating, leading to the diffusion of tin atoms along the crystal boundary and the formation of tin whiskers. However, if there are tin whiskers on the coating of general electronic components during tin plating, the workpiece is prone to short circuits and circuit faults during use. So adding a nickel base to the tin coating can suppress the generation of tin whiskers.
2. Reduce the internal stress of the coating. Generally, we would place a layer of nickel sulfamate on the workpiece before tin plating, which has a very low stress. After tin plating, the internal stress of the coating is low, and the adhesion of the coating is good, making it less prone to blistering, peeling, and other phenomena.
3. The coating is more resistant to high temperature and salt spray. The tin coating with a nickel base has better high-temperature resistance, the workpiece coating is not easily discolored, and the corrosion resistance of the workpiece is also relatively good, which can effectively extend the service life of the workpiece.
So, the above three points are the role of adding a nickel substrate before tin plating on the workpiece during the production process using tin plating additives. If you are interested in tin plating additives, please contact Bigley customer service for free samples and detailed technical information!
If you want to learn more about tin plating, you can click to view the "Electroplating Encyclopedia".
