Gold plating technology plays a significant role in the electroplating process of precision connecting devices, such as the electroplating process of pogopin spring pins. Currently, except for some materials that use selective electroplating technology, a large number of pinhole loose parts still use rolling plating and vibration plating for gold plating inside the holes. In recent years, the development of connectors has become increasingly miniaturized, and the issue of gold plating quality has become more prominent. Users have higher quality requirements for the gold layer, and some users are even very picky about the appearance quality of the gold layer. Below, we will explore the reasons for abnormalities in precision connector electroplating gold.
Firstly, the appearance color and gold plating layer color are abnormal
The color of the gold plating layer is inconsistent with the normal color of the gold layer, or there are differences in the color of the gold layer of different parts in the same matching product. This is one of the most common issues in electroplating processing.
Precision connector components electroplated with gold
Secondly, the gold plating raw material is affected by impurities
When the impurities brought in by the chemical material added to the plating solution exceed the tolerance level of the gold plating solution, it will quickly affect the color and brightness of the gold layer. If it is affected by organic impurities, the gold layer will appear dark and shiny. The position of the dark and shiny spots in the Haoer slot test piece is not fixed. If metal impurities interfere, it will cause the effective range of current density to narrow. The Haoer slot test shows that the low-end of the test piece's current density is not bright or the high-end plating is not bright, and the low-end plating cannot be applied. This is reflected in the red or even black coating on the plated part, and the color change inside the hole is more obvious.
Thirdly, the gold plating current density of the spring pin is too high
Due to the calculation error of the total area of the plating tank parts, which is greater than the actual surface area, the amount of gold plating current is too large, or the amplitude is too small when using vibration electroplating gold. As a result, all or part of the gold plating layer in the tank crystallizes rough, causing the gold plating layer to turn red.