An economic alternative to decorative palladium plating--palladium-cobalt

摘要

Plating of watchcases, watchbands and similar decorative items with pure palladium decorative finishes has become well established. Many of the two-tone (gold/silver) finishes found on high quality watches and other decorative items are, in fact, plated in pure palladium, with up to five micrometers (200 microinches) deposit thickness, then selectively plated with decorative gold. Pure palladium is considered to be the optimum finish for applications where nickel is prohibited as a preventive measure for skin allergies. Recent escalation in the price of palladium metal has encouraged the development of less expensive alloy deposits that are still hypoallergenic (nickel-free). This paper describes the development of a decorative palladium-cobalt alloy plating process and presents the properties of the resulting deposit.