Reduced Metal Consumption in Electroplating Saves Big Money

Philippe Gendre, PEM, Siaugues, France

PEM is heavily involved in treating and finishing surfaces, and our specialty is reel-to-reel electroplating. The customer supplies a reel, which can be from several hundred to several thousand meters, and whose tape holds a continuous series of metal parts such as connectors for electronics systems.

During the metal-plating stage, the tape passes through a reacting cell that is continuously replenished with electrolyte. The tape is made cathodic through contact to a voltage source, and the electrolyte completes the electrical circuit to anodes in the plating cell.

Getting a uniform plating layer is not simple. PEM’s answer is to design a shield, a type of insulating screen or tray through which the tape travels as it passes through the plating reactor.