Electroplating. Past, present and future.

The origins of electroplating go back to the early 19th century, and have been variously attributed to Michael Faraday, Luigi Brugnatelli and Allisandro Volta (after whom the the electric unit ‘volt’ was named). However, it was the Elkington Brothers of Birmingham that submitted the first viable patent for gold and silver plating in 1840. This development was rapidly followed with processes for plating in bright nickel, brass, tin and zinc. As with much of the world’s manufacturing technologies, electroplating was founded in the white heat of the Victorian industrial revolution.

The explosion of the automotive and aeronautical industries of the early 20th century, as well as those serving the construction industry, saw another surge in electroplating processes, particularly in the use of chrome plating on steel.

However, things did not radically change for over 100 years. It was the growth of the electronics industries in the 1940s, accelerated by the technological and communications demands of World War 2 that saw new chemicals, pre-treatments, cleaning systems, acid bath preparations and more accurate DC power supplies come into force.

This barrel plating plant was relocated from the UK to a large automotive sub-contract electroplating company in Durban, South Africa.

Change driven by legislation

Whilst technology and the demands for new consumer products have always been the main drivers of electroplating advances, from the 1970s onwards environmental and health & safety practices have had increasing influences. Legislation both at home and overseas governs waste water and chemical disposal, water recycling, dust and fume extraction and energy efficiency to name just a few. These regulations impose challenges on electroplating companies to maintain high standards of product quality, whilst at the same time being aware of potential harm to the environment and the health and safety of employees.

In this respect, we are not talking about some vague notion of how to prevent global warming. The dangers inherent in allowing toxic chemicals into public water systems were illustrated in a dramatic way by the year 2000 film ‘Erin Brockovich’, starring Julia Roberts and Albert Finney, which was based on a true story. The film highlighted the dangers of not properly controlling the safe disposal of hexavalent chrome (CR6) as a passivation agent. Similar issues have recently emerged in relation to the use of cadmium in the aerospace industry.

Modern electroplating plants are light years away from the dirty, smelly, polluting monstrosities of yesteryear. As well as being environmentally sound and energy efficient, they incorporate a number of improvements in order to achieve a higher quality of finished result. New practices enable greater plating speed, better ‘throwing’ power (the ability to produce a more uniform distribution of metal on products of irregular shapes), as well as a far greater variety of robust and decorative plating finishes.

This precious metal plating plant was relocated within the UK and reconfigured for zinc plating

New materials and processes

In addition, the electroplating of materials such as platinum, osmium and ruthenium are now used widely in electronics for connectors, circuit boards, contacts etc. Keeping up with the ever more demanding needs of the electronics, computing, aerospace and automotive industries is what is driving through improvements to electroplating worldwide, creating ever more sophisticated materials and processes.

In the UK, a particular growth area for electroplating is in the medical prosthetics sector. Hip, knee and whole limb replacements are heavily dependent on the precision surface finishing of metals such as titanium, platinum and rhodium.

The development of more sophisticated and specialised electroplating processes for niche industries has brought about a major change in the structure of companies supplying the industry. Until the 1980s, the surface finishing requirements of Britain’s manufacturing and engineering sectors were largely served by electroplating sub-contractors (otherwise known as ‘jobbing shops’) that dominated the industry. The decline of heavy engineering throughout the 1980s and 90s saw a parallel downsizing of electroplating sub-contractors, with many disappearing altogether.

As the UK economy has moved towards more high end and specialised manufacturing, such as the hugely successful Formula One industry, many bespoke and confidential metal coating processes have moved in-house. Today’s electroplating operations are more likely to feature clean room environments populated by people in white coats, with correspondingly safe and efficient working practices.

Modern plants include computer controlled automation of product transportation, chemical dosing, pre-treatments and other critical process stages. PLC controls are replacing manual systems and modern rectifiers are delivering far more reliable current densities to ensure consistent results.

This general purpose plating plant was relocated from Ireland to Pakistan to be used by a large fasteners manufacturer

Recycling of redundant plant and machinery

The restructuring of the industry has created a large number of redundant electroplating plants and ancillary equipment that need to be put to good use. Just as legislation requires the safe recycling of chemicals, waste water etc., there is also a duty of care to the environment in relation to the de-commissioning and recycling of complete process plants. 

Developing countries such as India, Brazil, South Africa and Turkey are emerging markets for recycled electroplating plants. At Riley Surface World, we are seeing an increased demand for used process plants both at home and overseas.

A good example is this fully automated barrel acid zinc plating plant (pictured) that was de-commissioned in the UK, shipped to Durban, South Africa and re-assembled there for inline production. The client, one of South Africa’s largest plating specialists, enjoyed the benefits of a modern, efficient European plant at a fraction of the cost of having it built locally from scratch.

Another recent development is the adaptation of used electroplating plants for different applications within the UK. Wet treatment lines are relatively easy to re-design and re-configure, sometimes with the introduction of transportation, heating and PLC controls to an outdated manual plant. 

There are two good examples of this. Firstly, a precious metal plating plant (pictured) which was sold, relocated and converted to zinc plating for a global remanufacturer of automotive parts in a different part of the country. Secondly, we assisted an Irish company, by auction, to exit electroplating and to sell and relocate two modern electroplating plants (pictured) to a large manufacturer of fasteners and die castings for the automotive industry in Pakistan.

Even effluent treatment plants can be subjected to the resale and recycle process. Our company recently carried out the sale of a substantial K-Pack dissolved air flotation facility (pictured) from the paper industry to the oil industry in the UK.

There has been much speculation in recent times about paint and powder coating overtaking electroplating as the metal coating process of choice for many companies. Whilst this may be viable for lots of products, there is no substitute for the fine layers of coating and the range of quality finishes that electroplating can achieve. As a new industrial revolution takes shape in the re-balancing of the UK economy back towards manufacturing and exporting, electroplating is once again coming into its own, in ways which the Elkington brothers could hardly have predicted.