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Electroplating enhances the mechanical, thermal, and tribological properties of components in industries like aerospace, computing, pharmaceuticals, and telecommunications. To achieve high-quality electroplated coatings, control of process parameters is essential. This study focuses on the challenges associated with the black nickel electroplating process, particularly its nonlinearity which makes traditional linear methods inadequate. We employed machine learning techniques to develop models capable of predicting defects, coating colour, and coating mass specifically for black nickel electroplating process adhering to the MIL-P-18317 specification, a boric acid-free method that is more environmentally friendly but more sensitive to bath conditions, hence making process optimization more challenging. Our research addresses significant gaps in the literature, focusing on boric acid-free black nickel plating, which requires unique modelling approaches different from other electroplating processes. Unlike previous studies that mainly focused on predicting coating mass, our models also predict defects and colour, ensuring comprehensive quality control. The best-performing models achieved an F1 score of 0.9875 for defect prediction, an F1 score of 0.95 for colour prediction, and R 2 = 0.9561, MAE = 0.0039, and MSE = 0.00001 for mass prediction. Additionally, we developed a novel optimization algorithm based on these models to fine-tune process parameters, ensuring that the resulting coatings meet strict standards for quality, appearance, and productivity. The validity of our approach was confirmed through experimental results. This research demonstrates how machine learning can help surface finishers, by providing effective strategies for optimizing processes in nonlinear scenarios, thereby improving product quality and productivity.

In this paper, dendritic copper powder with an average particle size of 9.941 ± 0.042 lm was synthesized using the electrodeposition method, employing laboratory copper-containing electroplating wastewater as the raw material. The synthesized copper powder served as the substrate for electroless nickel-phosphorus alloy plating, acting as an intermediate layer. Subsequently, electroless silver plating was performed on the surface of the Cu@Ni- P composite powders to produce the Cu@Ni-P@Ag composite powders. The influence of various factors on the properties of these powders was investigated, and the optimal experimental parameters were determined. A comprehensive analysis of the micromorphology and properties of the core-shell structured powder was conducted using various characterization techniques, including XRD, SEM, EDS, TGA, and XPS. The results indicated that the onset oxidation temperature of the core-shell powders, prepared under a 5% ammonia reaction system with 30% silver content, at 50°C and a glucose concentration of 0.4 mol L-1, was approximately 450°C. This finding demonstrates a significant improvement in antioxidant properties compared to Cu@Ag core-shell powders. Additionally, the electrical resistivity of the prepared core-shell structured powders was measured at 9.30 × 10-4 Ω cm at a high temperature of 400°C.

In this work, a meta-aramid (PMIA) substrate was pretreated by embedding a Ag catalyst, and an environmentally friendly ammonia-free silver plating bath was designed for electroless silver plating to fabricate a silver-plated material (PMIA-Ag). Furthermore, a graphene oxide/polyethylenimine (GO/PEI) 10 film was prepared via the layer-by-layer self-assembly technique. By implementing hydrophobic modification of heptadecafluorodecyltriethoxysilane (PFDS) on the film surface, a (GO/PEI) 10 -PFDS composite protective film was also fabricated. The results showed that PMIA-Ag prepared via the improved electroless plating technique had good electrical properties. The sheet resistance was 20-30 mΩ/sq and the average electromagnetic shielding effectiveness was 68.23 dB in the frequency range of 30-3000 MHz. Moreover, the prepared (GO/PEI) 10 -PFDS composite protective film exhibited excellent anti-corrosion and anti-tarnish properties. The electrochemical data showed that the surface coverage of the protective film on the silver coating was 96.48%, while the corrosion inhibition efficiency on the silver coating reached 85.28%.

In this paper, TW-60 was selected as a suppressor for acidic copper plating. The ability of TW-60 to inhibit copper deposition was investigated by Galvanostatic measurements and Cyclic voltammetry. The electrochemical studies showed that TW-60 has excellent inhibition ability. Metallographic section testing demonstrated TW-60 exhibits outstanding performance in filling miniature blind holes with a diameter of 150 micrometers and a depth of 75 micrometers.

The article first updates the concept and typology of gold-plating of EU law. In this respect, it makes the distinction between various types of gold-plating of EU law and submits that it should now be understood as any national transposition of EU directives as well as any national normative implementation of any other EU legal acts which exceeds the minimum regulatory requirements of the transposed or implemented EU act and which remains within EU legality. Secondly, it provides an updated view of the use of gold-plating in the Czech Republic. It does so by comparing the current gold-plating situation in this Member State with that of a decade ago. This comparison has revealed a predominantly positive development in this area, namely the almost total eradication of inadvertent gold-plating and the consolidation of deliberate justified gold-plating of EU law in Czech legislative practice. Still, the article pleads for some further refinements in the area concerned.

Electroless nickel–phosphorus (Ni–P) plating is a widely used surface treatment method due to its excellent corrosion and wear resistance properties. However, the inertness of copper to hypophosphite oxidation necessitates a palladium activation process for the preparation of Ni–P coating on copper. In this study, a convenient approach is presented for the deposition of a cobalt layer on copper using galvanic replacement, facilitated by the special complexing ability of iodide. The results demonstrated that the actual potential of copper could be adjusted to be lower than that of cobalt in a solution containing 8 mol L −1 NaI, enabling the deposition of a cobalt layer on copper in 15 min at 90 °C. Furthermore, the deposition rate of the cobalt layer was found to increase with the concentration of CoCl 2 in the NaI solution. Importantly, the Ni–P coating obtained through cobalt layer activation from either acidic or alkaline plating solution exhibited morphology, structure, corrosion resistance, and tribological performance similar to the Ni–P coating obtained using the common palladium activation. The Ni–P coatings obtained through cobalt and palladium layer activation from alkaline plating solution had a larger thickness than the Ni–P coating obtained from acidic plating solution. Therefore, the cobalt layer prepared on copper through galvanic replacement may serve as a viable alternative to palladium for activating electroless Ni–P plating. Graphical abstract

Voids in electroless copper (Cu) plating layers critically influence the reliability of microvias in high-density interconnect (HDI) packaging substrates. This study investigates void formation mechanisms by fabricating multilayered Cu structures that simulate microvia interconnections and performing electroless Cu plating under controlled nickel (Ni) ion concentrations and bath temperatures. Void morphology and distribution are analyzed using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and quantitative image analysis. The results reveal that increased Ni content and elevated bath temperatures accelerate the plating rate, thereby promoting void formation at the initial stage of deposition. Theoretical analysis suggests that this behavior is driven by surface cohesion forces acting on nascent voids. A void growth mechanism is proposed, wherein voids predominantly originate within the initial Cu layer due to localized hydrogen accumulation near palladium (Pd) catalysts. In contrast, subsequent layers—deposited after Pd sites are buried—exhibit reduced maximum (max.) void sizes and lower void fractions. These findings provide mechanistic insight into void evolution in electroless Cu layers and underscore the critical role of Ni content and bath temperature in enhancing HDI packaging substrate reliability.

The production of high-purity hydrogen from hydrogen storage materials with further direct use of generated hydrogen in fuel cells is still a relevant research field. For this purpose, nickel-molybdenum-plated copper catalysts (NiMo/Cu), comprising between 1 and 20 wt.% molybdenum, as catalytic materials for hydrogen generation, were prepared using a low-cost, straightforward electroless metal deposition method by using citrate plating baths containing Ni2+–Mo6+ ions as a metal source and morpholine borane as a reducing agent. The catalytic activity of the prepared NiMo/Cu catalysts toward alkaline sodium borohydride (NaBH4) hydrolysis increased with the increase in the content of molybdenum present in the catalysts. The hydrogen generation rate of 6.48 L min−1 gcat−1 was achieved by employing NiMo/Cu comprising 20 wt.% at a temperature of 343 K and a calculated activation energy of 60.49 kJ mol−1 with remarkable stability, retaining 94% of its initial catalytic activity for NaBH4 hydrolysis following the completion of the fifth cycle. The synergetic effect between nickel and molybdenum, in addition to the formation of solid-state solutions between metals, promoted the hydrogen generation reaction.

AbstractA cyanide-stabilized electroless copper plating process with nickel as a stress-regulating additive was investigated. Small amounts of nickel or cyanide increase the deposition rate, while large amounts of cyanide decrease the deposition rate. The steady-state mixed potential shifts by – 0.23 V when about 0.05 at.% nickel is co-plated with copper. Cyanide by itself does not change the mixed potential. If nickel is also present, cyanide causes an anodic shift by + 0.09 V. Nickel changes the stress during deposition towards tensile, while cyanide changes it towards compressive. Both nickel and cyanide accelerate the transition to steady-state plating conditions.Graphic Abstract