The Improvement Guideline for Electroplating Process for Aluminum and Aluminum Alloys

Do you know the traditional aluminum and aluminum alloy plating?

There are deficiencies. With the improvement of technology, there is obvious improvement about aluminum and aluminum alloy plating technology. Goldapple is an enterprise specialized in manufacturing various kinds of top-grade powder-spraying aluminum moulding profiles, inheriting the advanced production technology, we make efforts, relying on more than a decade of experience in aluminium profile processing, to develop, and by now we have possessed tens of national patented technologies, which make our products in the leading position in the market.

1.Traditional aluminum and aluminum alloy plating

Aluminum and aluminum alloy electrolysis in the electrolyte can form a coating, but the coating binding force is not strong, easy to peel. Therefore, aluminum can be first deposited in the aqueous solution containing zinc oxide compounds and then electroplating, this method is either zinc displacement or deposition. It is also possible to first obtain a thin porous oxide film on the surface of aluminum and aluminum alloys by anodizing the power supply to perform electroplating.

• 1.1General aluminum and aluminum alloy plating process

Aluminum and aluminum alloy electroplating processes are pre-plated, electroplated and post-plated. Pre-plating treatment is the most critical process related to the quality of electroplated products. Its main purpose is to remove the grease on the surface of aluminum and aluminum alloys, naturally forming an oxide film and other dirt.

Conventional general processes are: degreasing-washing-demineralization-washing-pickling-washing-activation-washing-primary zincation-washing-removal-zinc-washing-secondary zincation-washing-neutral nickel-plating-washing- Subsequent plating.

There is also a wave of the anodized film instead of zinc immersion process in the subsequent plating.

• 1.2Inadequacies in the traditional pretreatment process

• a.Long process, many processes.
• b.The process is complex, the operating range is narrow, and the process parameters must be strictly controlled.

• c.The scope of application of the process is not wide. Different grades of aluminum pretreatment cannot be identical, and the pretreatment process must be adjusted according to the grade of aluminum alloy.
• d.Under the premise of strictly controlling the pre-treatment process, the qualification rate of electroplating products is very low, the pass rate of ordinary decorative electroplating is 85% to 90%, and the pass rate of functional electroplating is 60% to 70%.
• e.Each process solution has a short service life and a short processing cycle.

As the traditional pre-treatment of aluminum and aluminum alloys agrees with the above deficiencies, they must be improved.

2.Practice Summary

The new process aims at the actual defects of the current aluminum alloy electroplating, combined with the special physical and chemical properties of the aluminum alloy itself, and it is improved on the basis of the original technology, GOLDAPPLE ALUMINUM GROUP has many professional superficial processing technologies, such as Electrophoresis Coating Aluminum, Powder Coating Aluminum and so on.

And the following advantages are specifically:

• a.The process flow is short, and the purity of the aluminum alloy surface is improved by selectively dissolving other metals on the surface layer of the aluminum alloy, and the bond strength of the plating layer is improved.
• b.The first use of alkaline activation instead of acidic activation process completely removes silicon and silica from the surface of the rate alloy during the pre-plating process, effectively increasing the plating adhesion.
• c.After alkaline activation without direct washing and direct zinc immersion, it can avoid the formation of an oxide layer by exposure to air in the acidic activation and secondary zinc immersion.
• d.Just a simple zinc immersion can be, the bond strength of the coating is significantly better than the secondary zinc leaching and complex multi-component cyanide leaching zinc process.
• e.The versatility of the process is almost used for all types of aluminum alloy plating pretreatment.
• f.The one-time pass rate of product electroplating is obviously higher than the traditional one. If the evaluation of the bonding strength of the simple plating is good, the product qualification rate is close to 100%.
• g.The actual production process is simple and convenient.
• h.The actual production of a large-scale automatic production line for a long time has proved that the improved pretreatment of the new aluminum alloy plating is very stable.
• i.Facilitate the process improvement based on the traditional aluminum alloy plating process.

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