Gold Plating Metallized Alumina Ceramics

摘要

Problems with gold plating a metallized ceramic part at the General Electric Neutron Devices Department led to a two-fold study. The first part of the study evaluated the production process and resulted in a temporary solution to the problems. The second in-depth part of the study evaluated methods for surface activation, the plating process and various plating baths, resulting in a satisfactory long-term solution to the production problems. In the first part of the study, the production process was improved by increasing the amounts of conductive plating salts and brightener in the plating bath and increasing the bath agitation. The second phase of the study involved the evaluation of various surface activation processes, retort sintering of the gold plate and the evaluation of seven cyanide gold plating baths. The long-range study showed that the most effective activation for metallized ceramic was a cathodic treatment for approximately one minute at low current density using a 10 percent sulfuric acid solution. One plating bath provided excellent surface texture and blister-free surface when used with a strike process in conjunction with activation and retort furnace sintering. (ERA citation 04:019715)