palladium plating

Palladium plating is a cost-effective option for plating requirements. At Spectronicswe specialize in Palladium-Nickel alloy plating, the properties of Palladium are similar to gold with excellent corrosion resistance, low porosity, low contact resistance and good solderability. It is also chosen when there is a requirement of a barrier between base metals such as nickel or copper and gold.

Palladium Nickel alloys were originally developed as a low-cost replacement for gold. Alloy deposits can range from 70 percent palladium to 80 percent palladium with the remaining 30-40 percentage being nickel.

Palladium provides a substantial advantage in terms of metal cost. The reasons for its usage initially were technical, in order to eliminate cold welding problems occurring in the mating of connectors plated with a conventional cyanide gold deposit.Palladium offered a solution because the ammonical electrolytes that were available were mildly aggressive. For these reasons, palladium found significant properties.

The functional properties of Palladium Nickel plating are:

• Excellent corrosion resistance
• Low porosity
• Low contact resistance
• Good solderability