When it comes to high-reliability components, plating isn’t just the finishing touch—it’s a critical performance factor. But for parts with complex geometries, achieving consistent, functional, and spec-compliant plating can be far from simple.
Rework and scrap pose critical challenges to manufacturers, particularly in industries requiring precision and reliability. Defective or out-of-spec components lead to increased costs, production delays, and strained supplier relationships. For safety-critical components in highly regulated industries like aerospace and automotive, these issues are especially damaging, creating bottlenecks that disrupt the supply chain and delay deliveries to OEMs.
CINCINNATI, Ohio – Electro-Spec, Inc. has been named one of the best finishing shops in the U.S., according to an industry benchmarking survey conducted by Products Finishing magazine, a trade publication which has covered the industry since 1938.
Plating protects metal surfaces, increasing their hardness, tensile strength and applies an aesthetic quality. When seeking appropriate plating for a specific project, you’ll find that there are a number of nickel plating types and options to consider.
So how does one determine exactly which plating is best for your particular situation? The first item to consider is the application.
Generally speaking, if a conductive surface doesn’t require a high corrosion or wear resistance but needs a bright sheen or low-stress layer, then electrolytic plating will be the most efficient process.
Silver plating started as a common way to provide cheaper versions of household items, which were originally made of silver.
At its beginning in the 18th century, this included cutlery, platters, plates and candlesticks among other items. In the 19th century, electroplating arose as a rapid method of finishing mass-produced items. Although the 20th and 21st centuries have seen declines in the use of silver for household wares, this reduction was followed by a rise in the use of silver plating for the electronics industry.
At its heart, passivation is a process that helps prevent corrosion and pitting on the surface of stainless steel. The passivation process applies a thin transparent passive chemically inert film to stainless steel that reduces the reactivity of the metal. This film deters corrosion, oxidation, and mild chemical attack.
When you place an order with us, you can rest assured that it will be handled expeditiously. And we make it transparent for you to follow the process as quickly and easily as possible. Our innovative online order tracking system enables you to have complete access to the status of your order at any time.
While single-metal plating has been used for many years for a variety of industries, “White Bronze” or tri-metal (Tri-M3) plating is quickly becoming a suitable alternative. White Bronze plating offers superior corrosion resistance, low electrical resistance, non-magnetic properties, and extremely high hardness characteristics. It’s a less expensive approach to using silver and offers definitive health safety advantages compared to nickel. Due to its cost effectiveness and performance White Bronze is rapidly becoming the preferred plating for RF Connectors.
White Bronze centers around an alloy ratio of 55% copper, 30% tin, and 15% zinc. It offers the same bright white finish as plated alloys that contain nickel, silver, or rhodium. It produces smooth, low friction surfaces with non-porous characteristics and is also non-magnetic. White Bronze is ideal for soldering applications as it is lead-free, can be soldered with or without flux, and offers excellent leveling characteristics. The most important factor for tri-metal alloys in electroplating is the ability to control the % alloy mixture to achieve specific performance characteristics and properties. This has resulted in an increase use of White Bronze for the electronics and telecommunications industries and is a significant replacement to traditional tin and copper-tin alloy plating via silver or nickel.
A wide range of devices with numerous applications use precious metal plating. This process, however, can often be expensive and the precious metal is subjected to wear and tear that can eventually cause failures. Electro-Spec’s innovative methods for plating include a technological advancement known as SAM’s. The SAM’S process allows, for example a gold plated component to have a much thinner deposit without a reduction in functionality.
SAM is an acronym for Self-Assembled Molecules. The SAM’S process employs bi-Functional or multi-functional molecules that offer two or more termination groups with different functionality. Essentially, the SAM’S proces s uses molecules that offer two levels of protection. The molecules used in the SAM’S method can be attached to metal alloys as well as ceramic, glass, plastics, and more. Right now, SAM’S technology is only being used as a post-plate surface treatment for gold, silver and tri-alloy (Tri-M3).
Ever the innovator, Electro-Spec’s engineering team identified a need for a plating process that would enhance the performance of RF connectors. What they developed was the TRI-M3™ finish; this cutting edge process represents a dramatic improvement in plating RF connectors.
The TRI-M3™ process provides high corrosion and tarnish resistance with a shelf life that far exceeds traditional silver plating, and with superior electrical performance to nickel. This plating method overcomes the negative characteristics of silver and nickel plating, while enhancing their positive properties. Silver exhibits excellent electrical properties, but tends to tarnish and break down over time, while nickel exceeds silver regarding longer shelf life and wear characteristics, but exhibits poor intermodulation performance, high permeability, and poor screening effects.