IRON PLATING

摘要

Iron plating is very much alive, on a large scale, and doing exceptionally well even after almost one-half century of extremely heavy use and demand. The process is extremely complicated when performed in a manner designed to achieve desirable and functional metallurgical properties. Most of the common and widely publicized baths and related technology for producing electrolytic iron in mass quantity have been deserted for a simpler, but frequently (although not necessarily) better, alternative material and/or procedure. Most electrolytic iron is highly stressed and brittle and it, as well as the basis metal, is highly subject to hydrogen embrittlement. Its uses include: protecting soft or perishable metals and alloys such as copper and aluminum; reinforcing fragile metal forms; providing a surface for tinning; providing magnetic surfaces on nonmagnetic materials; as a reclamation technique; as an underlay for other metals; etc. Most iron plating solutions are stable and simple to operate. The baths used include the chloride, sulfate, fluoborate, sulfamate, and also a proprietary solution developed by Hendrik and Kuno Van der Horst and their research staff, the Van der Horst bath. In a previous edition of this Guidebook, Roland H. Williams provided a knowledgeable, comprehensive, and informative review of the fundamental principles relating to the first four, and most common, baths mentioned above. His contribution certainly merits repeating. Any attempt to revise and/or rewrite the reference section of his article would be superfluous and thus it appears here basically unchanged.