Metal Test Plating Times

Suggested Plating Ranges

You may need to adjust for your specific plating baths.

Metal	Chemistry	Deposit	° F	ASF	Amps	% Cathode Efficiency	Plating Time	Microinches Thickness, µ”	Microinches per Min.
Brass 60/40	Cyanide	Decorative	120	5	0.042	70	15m	100	6.67
Bronze	K Stannate		140	35	0.29		3m	100	33.3
Cadmium	Cyanide	Rack	72	20	0.168	95	6m 8s	200	26.1
	Cyanide	Barrel	72	5	0.042	95	24m 30s	200	8.16
Chromium	High Chrome	Decorative	120	110	0.92	15	4m 50s	20	4.14
		Crack Free	120	200	1.68	20	2m	20	10
		Hard	130	500	4.2	23	35s	20	34.3
	Sulfate	Semi-bright	130	350	2.94	12	1m 54s	20	10.53
	Fluoride/Sulfate	Bright	130	600	5	23	30s	20	40
	Acid/Sulfate	Very Bright	140	600	5	24	29s	20	41.4
Copper (ous)	K Cyanide		140	20	0.16	90	2m 53s	100	34.7
	Na Cyanide		130	30	0.25	50	5m 20s	100	18.1
Copper (ic)	Acid Sulfate		80	30	0.25	100	3m 36s	100	27.8
	Acid Fluoborate		110	300	2.52	100	26s	120	230
	Acid Pyrophosphate		125	40	0.33	100	3m 19s	100	37
Gold	Pure Soft	24 Carat	140	30	0.25	100	1m 13s	100	26.0
	Acid		140	30	0.25	93	1m 8s	100
	Alkaline		140	30	0.25	95	1m 9s	100
	Hard	18 Carat	140	30	0.25	70	1m 44s	100	44.5
Indium	Acid		70	10	0.084	99	20m	100	10
Iridium	Acid		100	10	0.084	99	2m	20	10
Lead	Fluoborate		70	20	0.168		21m	100	4.76
Nickel	Sulfamate	Low Stress, Electroform	135	25	0.21	95	5m 2s	100	31.7
	High Chloride	Bright	130	50	0.42	95	2m 31s	100	41.8
	Sulfate Chloride	Semi-bright	130	40	0.33	95	3m 9s	100	31.7
	High Sulfate	Satin	140	40	0.33	95	3m 9s	100	31.7
	Sulfate Chloride	Dull	85	25	0.21	95	5m 3s	100	19.8
	High Sulfate	Barrel	110	5	0.042	95	9m 30s	75	7.9
	High Chloride	Barrel	140	10	0.084	95	4m 45s	75	15.8
	Electroless New	Semi-bright, (10.5-12%P)	190	0	0	NA	9m	75	8.3
	Electroless New	Bright (7.0-9.0%P)	190	0	0	NA	7m 30s	75	10
	Electroless Boron		195	0	0	NA	5m 46s	75	13
Palladium			80	30	0.25	75	2m 50s	100	37.5
			120	30	0.25	95	2m 24s	100
Platinum	Acid	Bright	85	5	0.042		120m	100	0.83
Rhodium	Acid	Bright	95	10	0.084			20
Silver	K Cyanide		90	15	0.13	100	2m 30s	100	59.4
Tin	Acid Stannous	Bright	70	20	0.17	99	5m	200	22.4
	Alkaline Stannate			30	0.25	75	8m 24s	200	107.8
	Acid Fluoborate		85	100	0.85	99	1m 40s	200
Tin-Lead	Fluoborate		80	30	0.25		9m	200
Tin-Zinc	Na Stannate	75% Sn	150	20	0.17		12m	200
Zinc	Acid Chloride	Bright		30	0.25	100	5m 31s	200	30.8
	All Potassium		110	20	0.17	97	8m 29s	200
	Low Ammonium		120	25	0.21	97	6m 48s	200
	All Ammonium		120	30	0.25	97	5m 55s	200
	Alkaline Cyanide		85	30	0.25	90	6m 8s	200	30.2
				50	0.46	75	4m 25s	200
	Alkaline Non-Cyanide		85	30	0.25	90	6m 8s	200	24

Note: Convert amps per square foot to amps per square decimeter by dividing the numbers shown above by 10.

Note: For calculating the precise internal deposit stress in an applied metallic coating on a DSA test strip, determine the weight of the deposit in grams and solve the following equation:

T = W ÷ D(7.74cm²)(2.54 cm/inch) = inches
where
T = the deposit thickness
D = the deposit density in g/cm³

Electroless Nickel – Phosphorus

	High	Mid	Mid-Low	Low
% Phosphorus	10-13	7-9	4-6	1-3
Modulus of Elasticity GPa	55-70	50-65	45-60	55-65

Electroless Nickel – Boron

	Mid-Low	Low
% Boron	3-5	0.2 – 1
Modulus of Elasticity GPa	120

Electroless Nickel Alloy calculation of stress using the DSA formula for the strip PN: 270NI

E Deposit = 7977000 PSI the Modulus of Elasticity for the plated alloy deposit.
In the Deposit Stress Analyzer formula, S = UKM divided by 3T.
M = the Modulus of Elasticity of the deposit,
EDeposit, divided by the Modulus of Elasticity of the substrate, ESubstrate. Thus, M = 7977000 PSI divided by 30,000,500, the Modulus of Elasticity of the nickel test strip. If pure nickel would be plated over the pure nickel test strip, PN: 270NI, M would equal 1.0.
In this case of nickel phosphorus alloy, however, M becomes 0.2659 and the actual internal stress of the deposit is 0.2659 times greater than that of a pure nickel deposit applied under similar conditions.

Frequently, the increase that the Modulus of Elasticity effects on the internal deposit stress of electroless applied alloy coatings is not recognized. Numerous formulas for calculating the internal deposit stress of metallic deposits do not include a correction for the difference of the Modulus of Elasticity between the deposit and the substrate material. In such cases, the calculated result can be far from the actual value.

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