Surfactants and electroplating

1 Surfactant industry is a new type of chemical industry derived from the development of oleochemicals and petrochemicals, and belongs to the category of fine chemicals. The surfactant industry has an inseparable and important relationship with the development of the national economy and the improvement of people's living standards. The application fields of surfactants are very broad and continue to expand. Its influence and importance have attracted people's attention.

Surfactants in dilute solutions have the characteristics of adsorption, coordination, formation of micelles and reduction of surface interfacial tension to different interfaces. As a result, various functions such as soaking in moisture, emulsifying, dispersing, solubilizing, foaming, scrubbing, etc. occur. Using these functions in industry, agriculture, environment and people's lives can get peculiar effects. Huge social and economic benefits have occurred.

Surfactants also have special effects in the electroplating industry. Its effect is manifested in the following aspects:

Broaden the application range of pH value, temperature and current density of the electroplating solution; have outstanding dispersibility to the metal particles precipitated in electroplating, which is beneficial to improve the smoothness and brightness of the surface of the plated parts; lowering the surface interfacial tension is beneficial to the improvement of the plated parts Humidity; promote the rapid release of hydrogen generated on the surface of the cathode to avoid dents and pinholes in the plated parts; the plating effect of the plated parts cleaned by surfactants is significantly improved. Can save power consumption.

According to foreign materials, the commonly used surfactants in the electroplating profession include: dioctyl succinate sodium sulfonate series (Aerosol); fatty alcohol sulfate series (Duponol); branched chain fatty alcohol sulfate series (Tergitol); Alkyl aryl sulfonate series (Nacconol); Alkyl naphthalene sulfonate series (Alkanol); Alkyl aryl phenol ether sulfate series (Triton 720); Fatty alcohol polyoxyethylene ether series (Triton NE); Polyoxyethylene nonylphenol ether series (Triton N).

Surfactants and electroplating additives

2 Electroplating is the use of electrochemical principles to cover the surface of other metals with non-corrosive metals to prevent their corrosion from reaching the purpose of maintenance and decoration. In order to achieve the purpose of electroplating smoothly and obtain high-quality bright plated parts, the oil and rust on the surface of the plated parts are generally degreasing and derusting before plating. Add electroplating additives in the electroplating solution. Additives can be divided into complexing agents, leveling agents, impurity removal agents, brighteners, surfactants and so on. Among the most important are surfactants and brighteners.

Degreaser

The metal surface is often accompanied by oil and other impurities, which affect the accumulation of metal ions during electroplating. Therefore, it is necessary to remove oil and rust from the plated parts to ensure that the surface of the plated parts has an outstanding coating. Animal and vegetable oils can be treated with alkaline liquid to remove them. Mineral oil stains such as engine oil, lubricating oil, petroleum jelly, and anti-rust oil can be removed by organic solvent method, chemical method and electrochemical method.

Humidifier

The most basic requirements for the electroplating wetting agent: better reduce the interfacial tension between the electrode and the plating solution; make the plating solution easy to spread on the electrode surface to achieve the purpose of plating; the plating solution must have certain salt and acid resistance Alkali and temperature resistance, etc. The size of the positive hydrophobic gene in the surface active molecule has a great influence on the moisture force. When selecting the electroplating wetting agent, it is better to reduce the requirement of the wet power, but also to ensure its stability in the plating solution.