Sharretts Plating Company - Plate While You Wait

Our Capabilities

Type*	Rack	Continuous	Barrel
Chem Film	Yes	—	Yes
Copper	Yes	Yes	Yes
Gold	Yes	Yes	Yes
Lead-Tin	Yes	—	Yes
Nickel	Yes	Yes	Yes
Electroless Nickel	Yes	—	Yes
Palladium	Yes	Yes	Yes
Pd-Ni	Yes	Yes	Yes
Silver	Yes	Yes	Yes
Tin	Yes	Yes	Yes
Tin-Lead	Yes	Yes	Yes
Tin-Zinc	Yes	—	Yes
Zinc	Yes	—	Yes
Zn-Ni	Yes	—	Yes

* Please click on the type name for more information

Chem Film

• Corrosion protectant for Aluminum & its alloys
• Base for organic films, i.e. paints, plastics, adhesives
• Coating also serves as a low electrical contact impedance

Copper

• Used as underplate for improved adhesion
• Heat treat stop-off
• Highly conductive
• High thickness build

Industry uses:

• Printed circuits through hole plating
• Semiconductor
• Electroforming
• Metallization of non-metallic materials

Gold

• High corrosion & tarnish resistance
• Wear resistance (fretting)
• High conductivity
• Low and stable contact resistance
• Bondable
• Solderable

Industry uses (main):

• Semiconductors
• Printed/Etched circuits
• Contacts/Connectors

Lead-Tin

• Dense
• Ductile
• Highly corrosion resistant
• Fusible

Common uses:

• Solders
• Pewter
• Building construction of lead-acid batteries
• Bullets & Shot
• Weights

Nickel

• Corrosion resistant
• Solderable
• Magnetic
• Wear resistant
• Electroforming
• Low stress deposit
• Bright or matte finish

Electroless Nickel

• Superior corrosion protection
• Uniform film deposit thickness
• Magnetic
• Wear resistant
• Hard
• Viable replacement for chrome plating
• Low coefficient of friction
• Bright finish

PalladiuM

• Potential replacement for gold & platinum plating
• Deposit has comparable corrosion resistance to gold and is lighter
• Semi-bright silver-blue finish
• Deposit is harder than gold, but more stressed
• Common practice is to build deposit thickness with palladium and flash a small layer of gold for connectors/contacts
• Most common application is for catalytic converters since it can absorb a lot of hydrogen

Pd-Ni

• A newer deposit meant to decrease deposit stress of palladium plating and to reduce the risk of the deposit cracking from wear-related applications

Silver

• Matte, semi-bright & bright finish can be achieved
• Ductile & Malleable
• Slightly harder than gold
• Lowest contact wear resistance (even better than gold)
• Best optical reflectivity
• Low UV reflectivity
• Poor corrosion protection
• Highest electrical & thermal conductive metal known to mankind
• Used heavily by the telecom industry on contacts, conductors, & mirrors
• Also used by the medical sector for its antimicrobial trait, which does not allow germs to spread

Tin

• Matte, semi-bright & bright appearance
• Solderable
• Corrosion resistant
• Environmentally friendly (ROHS Compliant)
• Soft
• Can be re-flowed for added corrosion protection

Tin-Lead

• Matte, semi-bright & bright appearance
• Solderable
• Corrosion resistant
• Soft
• Can be re-flowed for added corrosion protection

Tin-Zinc

• Great corrosion protection
• Replacement for cadmium plating
• Finish is grey-white
• Can be passivated to provide even more corrosion protection
• Ductile
• Diminished fretting

Zinc

• Most common protective corrosion finish due to its low cost
• Yields a silvery-grey finish before passivated
• Passivation treatments and organic top-coats can be applied to make the part even more corrosion protective
• Such passivates are yellow, clear-blue, and black with available lacquers to enhance and seal the part from the environment

Zn-Ni

• Substantially increased corrosion-resistant properties of the finish as a result from the alloying of nickel to the zinc in the deposit
• Out-performs regular zinc plating in corrosion resistance up to 10 times the atmospheric exposure
• Passivation treatments and top-coats also available to increase finish performance above and beyond the most stringent requirements