Metal plating services preserve and strengthen metal parts by applying a thin layer of metal coating to the component’s surface or substrate. Depending on the application, several metal plating options exist, including electroplating, electroless plating, electroforming, and immersion.
Metal plating services provide a new exterior to a finished metal component, providing a lasting and aesthetically pleasing appearance. Some of the benefits of metal finishing services include:
At Petersen Precision, we offer several unique third-party metal plating service options to meet your project’s design and engineering needs, including:
Electroplated nickel is used extensively to enhance the utility, value, and appeal of manufactured products such as consumer goods. Other nickel coatings are used to improve the physical properties, such as resistance to wear, heat, or corrosion, while providing a bright, aesthetically pleasing finish.
Precious metal plating services coat a metal's substrate using elements such as gold, silver, and other rare earth minerals. This type of metal plating combines the beneficial qualities of the substrate metal with that of the precious metal plating materials, offering enhanced beneficial qualities.
To enhance the surface properties of your fabricated metal parts, Petersen Precision can provide comprehensive plating capabilities through our local third-party vendors. Our plating providers can apply everything from standard flash Nickel plating to precious metal plating, with all-over coverings for even your most complex part shapes.
We can send your parts to your preferred plating vendor or recommend one from our nationwide network of trusted plating providers.
As needed, we will pair your project with the plater best suited to the task to ensure that your metal parts receive the best, most uniform plating possible. Check out some plating products in our gallery!
Electroplating and Electrodeposition Metal Finishing
Electroplating uses an electrical current to finish a contact or component with a thin layer of metal. The application of electroplating deposits has a desired property like abrasion, wear resistance, corrosion protection, lubricity or aesthetics onto a substrate lacking the desired property.
The electroplating process is also known as electrodeposition. It is a galvanic or electrochemical cell acting in reverse. The part being plated becomes the cathode of the circuit. With a soluble anode, the anode is made of the metal to be plated on the part which dissolves in a chemical solution, like gold or palladium. In a soluble anode, the metal is actually contained in solution.
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Both the anode and the part or cathode are submerged in a solution containing one or more metal salts in addition to other ions that enable the flow of electricity throughout the solution. A rectifier supplies direct current to the cathode causing the metal ions in solution to lose their charge and plate onto the part or cathode within the solution. As the electrical current flows through the solution, the anode dissolves in a controlled manner and replenishes the ions in the bath.
Other electroplating processes may use a non-consumable anode like tin or nickel. When using these techniques, ions of the metal to be plated are periodically replenished in the bath as they are plated out of the solution.
Electroplating Expertise With Precision Plating
Precision Plating's can take performance and cost reduction to the next level thanks to their experience and expertise in the electroplating processes. With services, such as educational electroplating seminars, engineering consultations, quick-turn prototyping support, and troubleshooting and design of experiments, allow your company to keep a competitive edge in design and development of new products.
Precision Plating's product development support and technical service can help you reduce cost and meet all quality requirements before, during, and after the production cycle. Our engineers get involved early in the design and plating specification process so that you can reduce costs earlier, identify potential problems before they are designed in and build a more competitive product. Precision Plating's engineering experts can plate loose or continuous reel to reel prototypes, either selectively or overall in low or high volume to meet pre-production requirements.
Superior Metal Plating Technologies and Processes To Fit Any Project
Our finishing technologies are delivered with the unique needs of our clients in mind:
Barrel Plating: Looking for a cost effective, repeatable and consistent loose piece barrel process? Precision ensures it by engineering every barrel project to the end specification. The goal of our calculated approach to barrel finishing, including all barrels and inspection plans, is to meet our clients' requirements cost effectively and reliably. Involving Precision in your design meetings can result in a competitive advantage for your company that helps you rise above the competition.
Rack Plating: All rack finishing is not created equal. Precision provides custom designed tooling to ensure that product damage is minimized, resulting in a consistently high quality product. This is an excellent way to plate etched sheets and small prototype orders to help you understand what the issues are and if the finish is right for your application.
Continuous Reel to Reel Plating: With 40 years of experience in continuous reel to reel finishing, you can depend on Precision to innovative solutions that other companies might say are impossible. Involving Precision in the design process with your injection molder or stamper will only bring better cost savings and long-term results to your project. Precision plates all of our finishes either overall or selectively using Micro-Plate (brush), Spot, Controlled Depth, Stripe and other proprietary select process.
For more information, please visit Precision Electroplating & Metal Finishing Services.