@ Chemtech. Finishing Systems TECHNICAL SERVICE PROCEDURE FOR ELECTROLESS NICKEL: CHEMSHIELD PROCESS CONDITION CAUSE REMEDY T. No deposit and oz slow plating rate a. Low temperature. a. Adjust temperature. b. Low pa. b. Adjust pA ©. Poor Cleaning or wrong pretreatment cycle for various alloys and metals. Possible source of metallic impurities. ©. Define if cleaning cycle is appropriate or chemically adjusted to optimum operating levels. May need 2% Ammonium predip. d, Metallic impurities — Cd,Pb,Zn or Sn. Also iook for cross contamination from other processes. d. Plate out/dumay or dilute solution. @. Organic impurities. e. Dilute/discard or carbon treat £, Too high stabilizer concentration. £. Dilute/discard or dumny if possible.g. Bath loading too low. q. Increase workload to a minimum of 0.25£t%/gal. h. High orthophosphite (breakdown product) h. Discard and replace. content. i. Too low a nickel i, Analyze and adjust concentration. nickel concentration. j. Too low hypophosphite j. Analyze and adjust concentration, hypophosphite concentration. 2.Skip Plating, poor coverage, edge pullback and frosted edges. ‘a. Improper cleaning. a. ‘Temperature should be checked as well as all other parameters associated with pretreatment solutions. 2.8kip Plating, poor coverage, edge pullback and frosted edges. b. Improper Activation. b. Activators should be checked for proper parameters and potential metallic contaminates. ©. Improper rinsing. c. Rinse temperature and rinsing time should be checked. @, Metallic contamination. d. Bath should be dumnied, or discarded and_replaced. . Organic contamination ©. Bath should be cooled, carbon treated filtered. Rinses should be checked for residual drag in. fF, Too much air agitation. f£. Alr agitation should be reduced. 3. Excessive plate out a. High temperature. a. Adjust temperature. b. High pi. b. Adjust pa with dilute HeSO.. ©, Additive imbalance. c. Analyze and adjust. ‘d. Tank not stripped properly before new make up. @. Pump solution out of tank and strip tank with >25% nitric acid until all nickel plate out is removed from tank. 4, Streake in Deposit a. Gas streaks from position of work a. Either solution or work rod agitation should be provided. Work should berepositioned and/or agitation should be increased. b. Silicate Drag-in. b. Non-Silicated cleaners should be used. . Poor rinsing. c. Process cycle should be checked, rinsing improved. d. Improper cleaning. d. Cleaning and/or rinses should be improved. @, High concentration of metals. @. Bath should be dummied to remove metals. Bath may have to be discarded and replaced with new solution. =, Organic contamination. £. Bath should be carbon treated and filtered, or discarded and replaced with new solution. g. Poor agitation. g. Air agitation should be increased, or a different air pattern developed. 4, Streaks in Deposit b. Low surface area. h. Surface area should be increased to recommended ranges. Low reducer content. i. Reducer should be checked and adjusted. Too much agitation. j. Agitation should be reduced. K. Too much complexor. k. Complexor should be reduced. 5. Bath becomes Turbid a. Poor mixing of bath after solution additions. Make addition more slowly into tank and allow to mix. b. High pa. b. Adjust pH with dilute HSOs, c. Excessive hypophosphite added. c. Check ratio of nickel to hypophosphite. @. Impurities from air. d. Use a clean air filter and check for area of air input. e. impurites from water. e. Use Deionized water. £, Old plating bath. £, Discard.q. Impurities from pretreatment. g. Improve rinsing. 6. Non-uni form deposition ‘a. Organic contamination. a. Dilute or Carbon treat. b. Metallic impurities (Al & Zn). b. Dummy/dilute. ©. Poor cleaning or activation. c. Examine pretreatment solutions and cycle. d. Poor agitation. d. Examine movement from air and filter. 7. Rough deposits a. Poor filtration and improper removal of particulates. @. Bath should be filtered 10 times per hour with a minimum of a5 pm filter. b. Make-up solution added too quickly or mixed together. b. Make additions more slowly/separately and evenly distribute through out the tank. ©. Residual magnetiam in the work. c. Have supplier demagnetize parts. a. Over-active plating bath. ‘d. Slow plating rate down. i.e. low temp and/or pH. @. Bath contaminated with air-borne partials. e. Trace source and eliminate. £. Poor pretreatment. . Examine pretreatment solutions and cycle. g. Additive imbalance. g. Analyze and adjust. h. Plate out of plastic tank not stripped properly. h. Strip with 525% nitric acid, i, Plate out of stainless steel tank not properly passivated or anodically i. Increase passivation time with a >25% nitric acid solution or set protected. potential to 0.8 V. Poor adhesion ‘a. Poor or incorrect a. Test and correct. pretreatment. Nay need 28 Anmonium predip. b, Old/contaminated bath. b. Discard. . Metallic impurities. €. Dummy or discard. 9. High consumption of additives a. High temperature. a. Adjust temperature. b. High pi. b. Adjust pi. High Bath loading. c. Reduce Plating Area. c Gd. Additive imbalance. d. Analyze and adjust. 10. Dark, dull or streaking deposits. ‘a. Low pH. a. Adjust pH b. Organic contamination. b. Dilute or Carbon treat. ©, Metallic impurities. cc. Dummy/dilute.@. poor cleaning or d. Examine pretreatment activation. solutions and cycle. @. Post treatment @. Raise the pl between contamination. 8-9 in the rinses following the plating tank with Ammonium Hydroxide f, Bath loading too low. £. Increase workload to a minimum of 0.25£t?/gal. g. Additive imbalance. g. Analyze and adjust. h. High or low pH H. Ph should be adjusted with acid or alkali. Pitting ‘a. Organic contamination. |a. Dilute or Carbon treat. b, Metallic impurities. b. Dummy/dilute. ¢. Poor cleaning or c. Examine pretreatment activation. solutions and cycle. @. Poor solution agitation. |d. Increase solution agitation . Hard Water @. Use D.t in the pretreatment cycle. _| £, Excessive bath activity. |f. pH should be lowered g. Base metal pitted. g. Base metal should be check after each step in the plating cycle DEFINITIONS OF ELECTROLESS NICKEL REMEDYS BATH LOADING This is the ratio of work area plated verse the volume of the EN solution. Optimum situation is 0,5£t? of work plated for every gallon of EN solution. Total Surface Area + Tank Volume ~ Bath Loading pH ADJUSTMENT typically, during normal operations, the pil is adjusted upwards with ammonium hydroxide diluted with DI water (1:1). Kowever, lower the pH with a dilute sulfuric acid (1:4) and DI water mix is not common and the source of the high pil should be investigated.CLEANING Examine and compare the concentrations, temperature and other parameters stated in the technical bulletin of the pretreatment products. Also, ensure that the substrates or base metals are used with the correct pretreatment cycle. Most of the problems associated with an electroless nickel solution can be located in the pretreatment cycle. DUMMY. This term is use as reference for scrap work put into an electroless nickel solution for the purpose of plating out the impurities and discarding them in the deposit. Dummying will remove copper, zine and some organics, CARBON TREATMENT In a separate storage tank, add 1-4 pounds of activated carbon for every 100 gallons of room temperature electroless nickel solution. Filter back the solution and remove any trace of carbon particles. Caution - first carbon treat the EN solution in a beaker and test in the lab before resuming production. Carbon treatment may remove some stablizers. ADDITIVE ADJUSTMENTS Do not make a single addition that requires more than a 15% add back. Addition above this amount should be broken up and put into the bath during a reasonable time frame. This will depend on the normal usage and addition rate of the additives. 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