Is anyone aware of any reducing agents that can be substituted for the H2PO2 in an electroless nickel plating solution?
I would prefer not to have to make or acquire the quantities of WP it would take produce enough NaH2PO2 for a large plating bath. And I live in the
US, so our ridiculous laws regarding hypophosphites would come into play if I were to try to purchase it.
Is anyone aware of any reducing agents that can be substituted for the H2PO2 in an electroless nickel plating solution?
There's a nickel-boron electroless process, but I know little about it.
But you should be able to buy hypophosphite, salt or acid, directly from a plating supplier. Caswell Plating, for example, sells nickel platings kits,
but also bulk solution in bottles from pint to 5 gallon. Part A is the nickel (it's colored). Part B is used to make up the initial bath and Part C
used to replenish. I'd guess that these are just solutions of the salt and the acid you're looking for.
More generally, there really shouldn't be List I issues if you're buying plating reagents from a plating supplier in order to do nickel plating.Hilski - 24-9-2012 at 06:11
Thanks.
I'll look into the nickel-boron process. I've bought stuff from Caswell before, but from what I remember, they're REALLY proud of all their products
and prices reflect as much.
