Hello,

In the past I have plated Ag to Al but had to use a zincate solution as a
base layer.  Many plating chemical companies have zincates and can give
technical advise.


On Thu, Jan 8, 2009 at 10:39 AM, IGOR KADIJA  wrote:

> Conventional electroplating from aqueous solutions, as opposed to molten
> salt and organic solutions, inherently and instantly creates oxides,
> hydroxides etc with non-nobel metals such as Si, Ti, Cr, Al, Ni etc. Thus,
> the subsequent plating process takes place on such oxidized substrate. From
> that point on the quality of plating depends on many factors including
> uniformity of oxide, ahesion of oxide to substrate as well as to the plated
> metal, conductivity of oxide etc. That is why it is always good to minimize
> the risk of substrate oxidation and have a seed layer such as Au or Cu (Cu
> oxide if formed in water is week and can be easily reduced with adequate
> plating procedure).

Heather Broadbent
Marine Science Researcher
Center for Ocean Technology
College of Marine Science
University of South Florida
727.553.1287