Make plastic parts platable and give them a metal finish.
Process chemicals for the plating-on-plastics (POP) chain: conditioning and etching of ABS and ABS/PC, neutralisation, activation, electroless metallisation and the electroplated copper, nickel and chromium build-up.
Products
We supply the chemicals for these processes; series names and technical data are shared per application.
Conditioning and etching
Conditioners and etches that micro-roughen the ABS or ABS/PC surface, giving the first metal layer points to anchor to.
Neutralisation
Neutralisers that remove etch residues from the surface and its pores before activation.
Activation
Activators, typically palladium-based, that make the etched surface catalytic for electroless deposition.
Acceleration
Accelerators that expose the catalytic palladium on the activated surface just before electroless plating.
Electroless nickel or copper
The first, thin metal layer: autocatalytic nickel or copper that makes the plastic conductive for electroplating.
Electroplated build-up: copper, nickel, chromium
A strike, then copper, nickel and chromium layers electroplated over the metallised plastic to build the final finish.
Process families
- Pretreatment of the plastic
- Electroless metallisation
- Electroplating
What we discuss with you
- Plastic grade and moulding quality
- Part geometry and racking
- Target finish and layer build-up
- Adhesion and thermal-cycle tests in the specification
Substrates
- ABS
- ABS/PC blends
Share the part, the substrate and the specification — our technical team comes back to you.