The lifetime of the precious metal plating solution increases since this does not occur with nickel. Electroplated nickel can vary widely in its properties. Hardness, ductility, stress and tensile strength are functions of the plating solution. Three typical nickel plating baths are sulfamate, fluoborate and pyrophosphate. Plating porosity Porosity is small holes in the plating.
Porosity is dependent on plating thickness and parameters as well as substrate defects.
Pores may be sites at which corrosion can occur. Corrosion products or films arise from an interaction between the non-noble portions of the contact member and the environment, through pores in noble platings. Plating processes The most common deposition processes are electroplating, electroless plating, hot dipping and cladding. Electroplating is the deposition of an adherent metallic coating onto a conductive object placed into an electrolytic bath composed of a solution of the metal plating salt. Electroplating technology allows the selective deposition of plating only in the required functional areas.