What is nickel plating?

Electroless nickel plating, also known as chemical or autocatalytic nickel plating, is an immersion process in which nickel is precipitated from a solution without using an electric current.

Reasons to nickel-plate objects include corrosion protection, wear resistance, and aesthetics. Aesthetics involve enhancing the appearance of components using steel, stainless steel, aluminium, copper, and their alloys.

MVT’s well-equipped workshops can handle a wide variety of shapes, sizes, and quantities.

Reasons to nickel-plate objects

Corrosion protection

Wear resistance

Uniform thickness

Aesthetics

Corrosion protection

  • More than 1,000 hours of corrosion resistance in a salt spray test
  • The thicker the layer, the fewer the pores and better the corrosion resistance.
  • The higher the P%, the better the corrosion resistance
  • Chemical resistance: Consult the MVT resistance list

Wear resistance

  • Standard hardness 450 HV = +/-45 Rockwell C (HRC)
  • After curing hardness 950-1000 HV = +/-67 Rockwell C (HRC)
  • coefficient of friction unlubricated: electroless nickel - electroless nickel: 0.45
  • coefficient of friction lubricated: electroless nickel - electroless nickel: 0.25

Uniform thickness

  • An extremely uniform layer thickness covering even the most complex shapes
  • Layer thicknesses with an accuracy of ±2µ
  • No additional build-up on edges or reduced deposition in holes as seen in electrolytic processes (Figure 1)
  • Layer thicknesses from 1µ - 150µ

Aesthetics

  • You can add aesthetic value to your workpiece with a nickel coating. The layer takes on the structure and gloss of the base material.
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Electroless nickel plating characteristics

Homogeneous structure

Fantastic corrosion resistance

A uniform deposition - even for the most complicated workpieces

Superb adhesion to base materials

Composition: 88 to 91% Ni and 9 to 12% P

Hardness: from 500 to 950 Vickers Hardness

Melting point: 890 °C

Ductility up to 2%

Magnetism: layers containing 9 to 12% phosphorus are not magnetic

Coefficient of friction unlubricated: electroless nickel - electroless nickel: 0.45

Coefficient of friction lubricated: electroless nickel - electroless nickel: 0.25

Standards and specifications: DIN 50966, ISO 4527, ASTM B 656 - B733,0 MILC 260 74D, NFA 91–105

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