Thickness Measurement of Plating

How to measure thickness of Plating

Coating thickness can be measured by some tools that using one of these method: x-ray fluorescence, coulometric, beta bacscatter, magnetic induction, amplitude eddy current and phase sensitive eddy current. To make sure of what kind of thickness you will chose better ask to the supplier.

To measure the coating thickness on the plate, you can use x-ray fluorescence tools. This tools can measure the thickness of coating thickness of chrome, nickel and copper plated. The kind of coated of each coating material is no problem, like decorative chrome plating, black chrome, bright chrome, bright nickel plating. Because this tool to measure the thickness using x-ray fluorescence that work only on the base metal.

To measure the thickness of coating surface can use thickness coating gauge such as on the picture below:

Calculate Surface Object Plated

Here is how to calculate the object to be plated.

The price of plating to sheet metal sometime very difficult if you just calculate as it is. Because the object to be plated often time is not regular form. For example if you have goods to plate with box form or cones form you can measure each size and you can use mathematics calculation. See here about how to count surface area of many kind of cube and tube formula.

Those are a regular form, what about irregular form like motorcycle engine block, how to calculate this? Any idea? If you use mathematics to calculate irregular form it is impossible even you use integral function to calculate surface area. Electroplating service company will not use integral formula to calculate the surface area, this can be very expensive because need mathematics engineer that must pay with high price and need long time. The practice way to calculate the surface of irregular form is just dipped in the water that already fill with certain volume in certain place like in box or in big tube. The initial height is record after the object dipped will rise and the final height is record too. After this you have the difference between initial and final height, after then you can use mathematics formula.
So to calculate surface to be plate is very simple, not like people says that to calculate can be complicated, because they are not practitioners.

The price shown on the table, plating price can be calculated per m² of surface or more realistic is calculated per kg coated material use. The table below shown for chrome plating, nickel plating, silver plating, gold plating, bronze and brass plating.

Table of Plating Price

Price of Electroplating Kits

The price of electroplating kits are variable, beside depend on the kind of electroplating you need also depend on the volume of course. For Example the detail of Chromium Plating Kits are as follows:

Chrome Plating Kit:

Triple Chrome Plating Vol. 1.5 Gallon: $ 599.0
The kit contains:

• 8 x 2 Gal Plating tanks with lids
• 2 x 6" x 8" Nickel anodes &bandages
• 2 x 4" x 8 Copper anodes & bandages
• 2 x 12" x 12" Chrome Anodes
• 2 x 8" x 8" GP Plates
• 1 Pack Nickel Crystals w/Brightener (Makes1.5 Gals)
• 1 Pack Copper Crystals (Makes1.5 Gals)
• 1 x 1.5oz Copper Brightener A
• 1 x 4oz Copper Brightener B
• 1 Can Chrome Crystals (Makes 1.5 Gals)
• Chrome Activator
• 1 x 1.5 gal Flash Copper™ Chemicals (A, B, C)
• 1 Pack SP Degreaser (Makes 4 Gals)
• 1 Qt Aluminum Deoxidizer (Makes 2 Gals)
• 1 Qt Zincate (Makes 1 Gal)
• 1 x 200W Glass Heater
• 3 x Filter/pumps (For Nickel/Copper & Flash Copper Kit)
• Fume Control Balls
• 1 Pack Pickle #4 (Makes 2 Gals)
• The Caswell Plating Manual
• How To DVD
• Free Technical Support
• NO HEATERS INCLUDED

Nickel and Silver Platting Calculation

A 0.500 amp current flowing for exactly one hour is passed through a solution of nickel (II) ions.

1. How many grams of nickel metal will plate out?
2. If this cell is hooked in series with another cell containing Ag+ ions (in series the same current passes through both cells), how many grams of Ag will plate at the same time?

First we need to know how much charge passed through the cell(s):
0.500 A x 3600 s = 1800 C

Now how many moles of electrons was that?

(1800 C x 1 mol e-) / 96500 C = 0.0187 mole e-

Since nickel (II) has a charge of +2, one atom of nickel will require 2 e- to plate:

0.0187 mole e- x 1 mole Ni / 2 mole e- = 0.00935 mole Ni

This is 0.549 grams
.
Since silver is plated by the same amount of charge, but each atom of silver requires only one electron to plate (Ag ions are +1), we should expect twice as many moles of silver atoms to plate:

0.0187 mole e- x 1 mole Ag /1 mole e- = 0.0187 mole Ag

Thus 2.02 grams of silver are produced. Note that the ratio based on charge affects the moles of silver and nickel. Their atomic masses influence the final mass plated.

Plating experiments are rather boring and this one is no exception. There is not much to do as the process takes place (especially if your calculator is recording the data...) and there is generally not much to look at. However, there is time for a fascinating diversion. You know from the activity series that zinc, which is above copper, will be displaced by copper in solution. The voltage for this process is 1.10 v as you saw in the previous experiment. The opposite process, zinc displacing copper is non-spontaneous. Or is it?

For many years chemistry teachers have done a demonstration in which they turn ordinary pennies into "gold". Traditionally the process has been done in a hot, very alkaline solution containing the ion Zn(OH)₄^2- and some solid zinc. This combination of materials caused zinc metal to spontaneously plate on the copper. When the "silver" pennies were subsequently heated in a flame, the thin coating of zinc alloyed with the copper, producing yellow brass or "gold".

Recently a pair of chemists investigated this process more closely. Their report appeared in the Journal of Chemical Education. They found that the process was very different from what had been assumed. In fact, the very alkaline solution was not required at all! Copper placed in a heated solution of Zn²⁺ and a small amount of metallic zinc will become plated with zinc metal!! How is this? According to their research the process is driven by the alloying which occurs at the very surface of the copper. Due to thermal agitation in a heated solution, some zinc ions manage to work their way into the spaces between the copper atoms and form a very thin layer of brass.

The voltage for zinc metal plating on brass (as opposed to copper) is positive! Thus the "silver" appearance of the penny after heating is actually a type of brass (silver brass).
When heated in a flame, the silver brass is converted to yellow brass ("gold"). You can do this yourself, using the plating solution and some granular zinc.

Bring two of the shiniest (cleanest) pennies you can find. Place them in the beaker of solution provided on the hot plate and boil the solution. It takes about 10-15 minutes to plate a uniform layer of silver brass. Turning the pennies occasionally will help. When they are covered in silver brass, remove them and rinse in water. You can keep one "silver" penny and heat the other very carefully in a cool burner flame to change it to "gold". Too hot a flame will melt the brass coating, so be careful. This is just for fun, but it also points up the fact that not everything which we take for granted is happening they way we think. There are plenty of puzzles left to solve.

Electroplating Tools

A tool for electroplating is a portion of the surface of each of a plurality of holes, and a second plate having a plurality of retaining elements. As like on a drawing each of the holes is configured to receive a piece that is to be electroplated, and to mask a portion of the surface and expose another portion of the surface of the piece. The first and the second plates are held together, and a mechanism is provided for shifting one of the plates with respect to the other between a first orientation in which the retaining elements are disengaged from pieces received in the holes and a second orientation in which the retaining elements are engaged with pieces received in the holes. This arrangement allows the pieces to be quickly and easily retained for an electroplating operation and released after the electroplating operation.