The biggest fear in
barrel nickel production is: when adding barrel nickel brightener, not relying on reports, not using instruments, not considering the specific stage, but only adding by feel. Little do people know that this increases the consumption of the brightener and affects the appearance and performance of the coating.
For electroplating plants, if you want to reduce costs and improve efficiency, you need a scientific method of addition.
The dosage of
barrel nickel brightener to be added should be determined based on the results of Hull cell test panels. If the same type of workpieces need to be plated, timed and quantitative addition can be used. If different types of workpieces need to be plated, such as blind-hole parts, deep-hole parts, or other complex-shaped workpieces, the amount to be added should be judged by calculating the ampere-hours of plating.
The principle for replenishing
barrel nickel brightener is “add less, add more frequently,” so as to minimize fluctuations in the brightener concentration in the plating bath as much as possible. When adding the brightener, it must also be thoroughly stirred and mixed evenly. During continuous batch production, we can add it before each load of products enters the bath. When adding, the brightener should first be diluted 5–10 times to avoid uneven gloss on the plated parts caused by excessively high local concentration of the brightener, or even increased brittleness of the coating that makes it prone to peeling.
Brighteners will decompose during use. When these decomposition products accumulate to a certain concentration in the plating bath, they can increase the internal stress of the electroplated layer and cause defects such as cracking of the coating. In severe cases, they may even lead to passivation of the anode.
Therefore, selecting a suitable electroplating brightener is particularly important. For example, Bigely’s
barrel nickel brightener Ni-118 is not only suitable for the barrel nickel plating process of complex workpieces that require high throwing power, but also produces few organic decomposition products. This way, electroplating plants do not need to frequently perform major treatments on the bath solution, which helps improve production efficiency and reduce labor intensity.
If you are interested in barrel nickel brighteners, please feel free to contact us at any time.
