ELECTROPLATING & ELECTROLESS PLATING OF NICKEL FOR UTMOST DURABILITY AND UTMOST CORROSION RESISTANCE BY USING - ELECTROLESS NICKEL, BRIGHT MID PHOS ELECTROLESS NICKEL,  HIGH CORROSION HIGH PHOS ELECTROLESS, SUPER HARD LOW PHOS 

WE OFFER THE FOLLOWING FOUR ELECTROLESS NICKEL PRODUCTS:

BRIGHT ELECTROLESS NICKEL (EN BM) PLATES A BRIGHT SHINY CHROME LIKE FINISH.

OUR BEST SELLER: BRIGHT ELECTROLESS NICKEL (EN BH) PLATES A NICE NICKEL FINISH THAT IS EASY TO MACHINE AND OFFERS EXTREME CORROSION RESISTANCE OF OVER TEN TIMES OF MOST PLATING.

ELECTROLESS CHROME (EC) PLATES AN ALLOY THAT LOOKS ALMOST LIKE CHROME BUT WITHOUT SOME OF THE HASSLES AND COST OF REAL CHROME

See Steel Black Oxide and Zinc Phosphate Coating Kits

Electroless nickel and electroless chrome can plate directly onto steel, copper, brass, iron, aluminum and stainless steel without the use of electricity, as is the case with regular electroplating. Our regular EN (EN-BM), EN-BH, and EC solutions have to be heated to 180-195 degrees F and it will plate as thick as you want.  These three electroless nickel solutions can be used as a final finish on your parts.

We also carry another product called Kool EN that will run at a much lower temperature. This room temperature application is primarily used for plating fragile ABS or polycarbonates that cannot withstand the elevated temperature of a standard electroless nickel bath or for strike plating a Zincated aluminum prepared surface. The Kool EN will plate for no more than 10 minutes, so its primary purpose is as a strike (or primer) plate.

Just drop a clean part into the bath and that is all. Nothing else to do. It will plate to your metal part a nice shiny surface that is extremely strong and durable. The thickest of the plate will depend on the retention time in the plating bath on the EN-BM, EN-BH and Electroless Chrome. The longer you plate the thicker the plating becomes. Electroless nickel produces an alloy with truly unusual properties. These properties have made Electroless Nickel very useful in a broad range of functional applications. Most applications take advantage of the hardness, lubricity, corrosion resistance, electrical and magnetic properties of electroless nickel, as well as its ability to cover complex geometry's and internal as well as external surfaces which means anything conductive that the solution touches will plate at the same rate, so an inside of a pipe will plate just as well as the outside.  This is not true with standard electroplating.  The metal part will look good as well as become very durable. Electroless Nickel and Electroless Chrome will both give a final finish that is harder than Bright Nickel but not as durable as real chrome. The prep steps will hinder on the metallic substrate. Call or email us for more info on the prep steps you may need for your specific application.

The Kool EN, which is a cool running electroless nickel, is especially useful in electroforming ABS plastic car parts. It is not as contingent on current flow as regular copper plating, therefore it has the ability to plate much quicker onto any conductive painted surface. Just check out our electroforming link for more info on this process and the conductive paints that we offer.

WHICH ELECTROLESS NICKEL PRODUCT IS RIGHT FOR ME?

Kool EN (strike bath), Electroless Nickel EN-BM (mid phos bright bath)EN-BH (high phos, semi bright bath) and Electroless Chrome EC (mid phos nickel cobalt bath) are all electroless nickel plating. EN-BM, EN-BH and Kool EN are regular all nickel electroless baths while Electroless Chrome is a nickel electroless bath that contains a small amount of cobalt.

Electroless Chrome (EC) is an electroless nickel bath with 1% cobalt. It operates identical to the regular electroless nickel bath (EN-BM). All operation parameters are the same. The bath components are interchangeable between the two plating baths.

Our Electroless Nickel (EN-BM) and EC does offer a little more hardness and wear resistance than EN-BH but these differences will be hardly noticed in 99% of the plating applications out there. EN-BM and EC also will offer a little more brightness and plates at a faster rate than EN-BH. They will also offer a hard plating than EN-BH. EN-BM and EC will have a Rockwell hardness of HRC 50 as plated and can be heat treated to almost HRC 70.

EN-BH is best used when corrosion resistance is needed. This product is not as hard as EC or EN-BM, but it will stand up to salt spray for well over 1000 hours, which is over nine times the resistance of regular electroless nickel (EN-BM) and Electroless Chrome (EC). EC and EN-BM are good for about 110 hours of salt spray, which is still plenty for most applications. EN-BH is not as hard as EC and EN-BM. EN-BH hardness comes in at Rockwell HRC 45 as plated, but it can be hardened up to Rockwell HRC 64 if heat treated for 4 hours. The final advantage of EN-BH is that it is easier to machine than the EC or EN-BM.

Kool EN is used mainly on plastic and as a ‘primer’ electroless coat on many metals. If you need a final finish or a thick coat of nickel plating on metals such as aluminum, iron, or steel, you choice can be either EN BM or Electroless Chrome.

Electroless Nickel: EN-BM
$95 for 0.7 gal, $159 for 1.42 gal, $270 for 2.84 gal, $405 for 5.68 gal
Can also be used as a final finish which is almost as bright as chrome. The plating has a slight yellowish hue to it.  Used for Base-plating steel or aluminum part that requires extensive protection.

Electroless Nickel: EN-BH (Best Rated)
$169 for 1.4 gal, $290 for 2.8 gal, $435 for 5.6 gal
Can also be used as a final finish that is bright and offers extreme corrosion resist that is higher that any plating solution we offer in our vast product line.  The plating has a slight yellowish hue to it as is with the EN-BM.  Used for Base-plating steel or aluminum part that requires extreme protection from environment or anything that stays outside year round. This product is also easy to machine.

Electroless Chrome: EC
$105 for 0.7 gal, $179 for 1.42 gal, $285 - 2.84 gal, $440 for 5.68 gal
Can also be used as a final finish which is almost as bright as chrome. The plating has a neutral white hue.  Used for Base-plating steel or aluminum part that requires extensive protection from environment or anything that stays outside year round. Great for car wheels, motorcycle parts, or any severe duty parts.

Electroless Nickel: Kool EN
$95 for 90 oz, $159 for 180 oz, $270 for 2.8 gal, $440 - 5.6 gal