Nevertheless, at NRAO copper electroforming is almost exclusively the variety of choice. Nickel may be stronger, but it is electrically contraindicated due to its lossy nature at high frequencies. Copper tends to be a little more uniform in its throwing properties. Hence wall thicknesses tend to be more uniform, and plating has an easier time of it in corners and grooves or wells with copper than with nickel. In industry, corners, if used at all, may be beveled.
Plate tends to be thin and often fragile in recesses if aspect ratio is very high.
Agitation is important, and especially difficult for large electroforms, so often bubbled air is used for the purpose. Hence, worker health could come into play, since for copper, either sulfuric or pyrophosphoric acids are typically involved. Cost, when it is of overriding importance, requires minimal machining of resulting parts, and so perfection and uniformity of the outside surface may be sought and achieved by means of shields. Corners and sharp edges are an engineering must for gigahertz electronic applications. Electroplating is primarily meant as a surface phenomenon, whereas electroforming is a thicker growth, perhaps for an actual structure formation.