Electroless Nickel

NBB Electroless Nickel – this process is bright and robust despite being free of lead and cadmium. It is a mid-phos process in the range of 6 to 8.

KTY Electroless Nickel – from the research labs of Uyemura-Japan, this process is the world’s first “heavy metal –free” EN. Lead, cadmium and other heavy metals traditionally used for adding brightness and stability have been eliminated. Uyemura offers innovative solutions of Electroless Nickel P-B, Ni-P-Co for Wear Resistance.

Electroless Nickel Process for Aluminum

The ANP Electroless Nickel process substantially improves plating onto aluminum. Plating electroless nickel on aluminum has been problematic and costly due to short bath life. A normal EN bath can plate steel for six to eight MTOs (36 – 48 g/l nickel plated). Plating into aluminum reduces that bath life by about 50%. The typical failure is poor adhesion of the nickel to the aluminum, resulting in blisters or nickel peel when the aluminum is bent.

Technology developed to address this problem of short bath life used an alkaline nickel strike after zincating and prior to the regular plating bath. Drawbacks to that approach include extra tanks, process steps, and control over an additional plating bath. Failures have also been seen with nickel-to-nickel bonding.

A further application-specific problem is that strike baths always deposit magnetic nickel, thereby limiting their use to applications where magnetism is not a factor.

Uyemura’s electroless nickel for aluminum provides excellent adhesion through at least six MTOs. It does not employ a strike and adds no additional steps compared to normal aluminum preparation double zincating.

This important development uses Uyemura’s lead and cadmium-free electroless nickel in concert with proprietary cleaning, etching and zincating technologies.

ANP1012 electroless nickel plates nickel phosphorus alloys in the range of 10-12 weight percent phosphorus. It’s ideal for applications requiring:

• A high degree of corrosion resistance
• A non-magnetic nickel finish
• Excellent wear resistance and a low contact friction finish

ANP1012 has excellent capacity to plate aluminum alloys with good adhesion using conventional zincate pretreatment practice.

ANP and ANP1012 electroless nickel processes are RoHS compatible. They were developed by the Uyemura Tech Center, Southington, CT.

Tech-Knowledge provides full coverage and technical support for Uyemura materials in Israel.

Black Nickel Plating

BlackNight produces a deep black finish, with exceptional hardness, and dense topography. This is an entirely new film “shape” with extraordinary micro-uniformity and corrosion resistance.

Recent developments in nickel overplates and co-deposited blackening agents have yielded a process that delivers both a dark black surface and very high hardness values. “BlackNight” has been adapted to use an electroless nickel rather than an electroplated nickel underlayer and overplate. This allows the plating of complex part geometries with a uniform nickel thickness.

The BlackNight process uses a standard EN underplate followed by a thin mid phos electroless Ni-P deposit layer. This thin 5 micron electroless Ni-P overplate is a lead-free ELV, WEE and RoHS compliant layer that serves as both the seed layer and a topography matrix for the blackening deposit. A hardness of 600-80HV can be achieved.

Improved L values and low reflectance result from two factors: the deposited matrix that has been developed through use of a specific mid phos electroless Ni-P overplate, and a blackening agent electrolyte that uniformly etches, and deposits an Ni2O3-enriched surface.

Nickstar

Nickstar deposits a thin, highly uniform over-coat of black nickel-zinc alloy, preserving substrate brightness while producing a rich black nickel finish. The process is exceptionally versatile: A deposit thickness up to 2 micron can be achieved with rack or barrel. If a thicker deposit – or very high corrosion performance – is desired, a heavy nickel undercoat can be used. Greater hardness can be achieved with a salt additive. Color density, from darkest black to softer hues, can be modified using a hull cell. Nickstar decorative black nickel can be dual-toned with UIC satin nickel for a distinctive and elegant finish.

Nickstar black nickel plating is well-suited for automotive interiors and for upscale sporting goods, where it diminishes glare and improves durability. It is also ideal for hardware, plumbing, architectural and other decorative uses that demand a luxurious finish with a long service life.

Nicostar

Nicostar uses the highly successful Nickstar chemistry as its base, and adds cobalt for enhanced hardness. Nicostar’s black nickel-cobalt-zinc alloy deposit preserves the brightness of the substrate. A nickel underplate can be used if enhanced corrosion protection is needed.