Electroless Nickel Plating (ENP) is a specialist process used to deposit a metal coating onto an object’s surface. This coating is most-often a Nickel-Phosphorus alloy but can also be a Nickel-Boron alloy or a ternary alloy. Unlike other plating techniques, this process does not use an electric current (hence ‘electroless’). Instead, it uses a chemical-reducing agent such as sodium hypophosphite, sodium borohydride, or dimethylamine borane to reduce the Nickel ions.
The amount of phosphorus in a typical Nickel-Phosphorus alloy is usually between 2% and 14%. The higher the phosphorus content, the more amorphous the coating becomes.
Advantages of Electroless Nickel Plating
– Corrosion protection/resistance: Electroless Nickel coatings are extremely hard and are corrosion-resistant to salt water, oxygen, hydrogen sulphide, and carbon dioxide.
– Cost-effectiveness: there is no need for electricity to produce the coating, making it a cheaper solution for many applications. The finish can be achieved with less equipment and lower capital costs. Further savings can be made thanks to the fact that the finish can extend the useful life of parts/equipment.
– Uniformity: the coating that is deposited using the ENP process is very even and the thickness can be tightly controlled. This is mainly due to the auto-catalytic nature of the process.
– Hardness: the level of hardness can be controlled by using baths with varying levels of phosphorus. Usually, they are either low (2-4%), mid (5-9%), or high (10-14%). The lowest concentration provides the greatest hardness and vice versa. Many people opt for the mid-level as this provides a ‘best of both worlds’, giving medium hardness and medium corrosion protection.
Unique solution
If you are interested in how your business could benefit from using electroless nickel plating, there are plenty of online resources available from specialist firms, such as those seen at poeton.co.uk/standard-treatments/electroless-nickel-plating/.
Uses of Electroless Nickel Plating
Electroless Nickel Plating is used in a number of industries, including aerospace, electronics, construction, engineering, and oil and gas. Some examples of items that are finished using ENP include engineering equipment, drive shafts, oil field valves, electrical and mechanical tools, and valve pumps.