Over the centuries, almost all industries have been benefited with consistently evolving industrial metal plating procedures. While both conductive and non-conductive metal objects are the key components for various manufacturing processes, it is plating that provides a thin layer of metal like copper, zinc, nickel, gold, or silver as a barrier on the base metal substrates to protect them from varied atmospheric conditions like corrosion.

Contextually, metal plating offers plenty of benefits from hardening to improved conductivity, solderability, wear-ability, paint adhesive ability and so on. Plating can be accomplished through electroplating, whereas electric charge is essential and through electroless plating or autocatalytic process; that doesn’t require electrical support.

Industrial Metal Plating -Benefits

Improved corrosion resistance

Natural oxidation that speeds up rusting is the biggest opponent for steel, cast iron, and aluminum, the three largest consumed metals in industrial applications. Even though pure aluminum is quite anti-corrosive, but when alloyed, they equally become vulnerable to oxide, rust, and wear. Depending on the criticality of the setting, with various kinds of less reactive metal plating, the high impact of corrosion can be effectively lessened.

Decorative appeal

Not only jewelry but right from constructional industry to home appliances, lighting accessories, furnishing industry to assembly component manufacturers ( like nuts, screw, bolts, fasteners) these days look for aesthetically appealing product finishes attracting prospective customers. Based on the applications and product cost, a thin layer of precious metals like gold or silver to cost-effective zinc plating can increase the visual look those objects to a great extent.

Enhanced strength

Metal plating means is a consistent solution to make brittle metal substances like copper, gold makes more durable and robust to let them resist to possible damages. Plated surfaces with nickel, cadmium or chrome are less prone to damage when collided, dropped that typically increase their durability.

Increased conductivity

Even though the largest part of metals is conductive, however, an efficient way to enhance their conductive property is now possible with metal plating. For example, plating with gold or silver can amazingly improve the conductivity of a base material that becomes helpful for industries like electronics, automobile, communication or aeronautic and so on.

Higher lubricity

Friction among metal parts is a common scenario in workshops as well as in various industrial applications. With appropriate choice of metal plating like cadmium, various industries are benefited to successfully lessen friction that causes unwanted galling and thus, increase efficiently of mechanisms.

Enhanced adhesiveness

Various plating process comes handy to increase the adhesiveness of metal substrates enabling them to work as a great undercoat. That helps in adding paints and thus provides a uniform metal surface. In addition, increased adhesiveness of metal surface helps greatly by increasing the integrity of when it comes to critical applications.

Increased solderability

The need for solderability is immense in various industrial applications. Whether we talk about electronics, electrical, aviation, engineering or the decorative world, better solderability with plating is vastly demanding.

Heat resistance

Simply consider your home appliances that come with copper plating because that can stand high temperature without any hassle. Similarly, in various applications metal plating offers the easiest way to resist heat.