WHAT'S NEW at APC?

Artistic Plating Featured in Products Finishing Magazine for Expansion in Medical Industry
Artistic Plating was recently featured in a cover story of Products Finishing Magazine…

Artistic Plating to once again Exhibit at 2012 Medical Design and Manufacturing Show in Minneapolis, MN
Artistic Plating will be exhibiting in booth 1436 at the upcoming 2012 MD&M Minneapolis show in Minneapolis, MN October 31st through November 1st…

Artistic Plating Launches Expansion of Precision Tin/Lead and Lead Plating Lines
Artistic Plating recently tripled the capacity of precision tin/lead and lead plating services due to recent growth in plating within the bearing, power distribution/transmission and energy sectors…

Artistic Plating Expands with New Flagship Heavy Build Copper Plating Line
Artistic Plating recently launched its newest plating line, which was designed to offer expansion in heavy build copper plating. "This line is truly a state-of-the-art machine that combines over sixty years of plating experience with today’s most modern PLC and SCADA controls…"

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CERTIFICATIONS

Copper Plating (Electroplating) Services per MIL-C-14550 and ASTM B734

Artistic Plating Company provides innovation and unsurpassed expertise in functional and heavy build copper plating services to MIL-C-14550 and ASTM B734.  Artistic Plating offers both traditional alkaline cyanide copper plating services as well has high-speed acid copper plating services for a wide range of engineering applications.  Our precision barrel, rack and vibratory copper plating services are currently employed in numerous industries including the ammunition, HVAC, power distribution, heat treatment, electronic, telecommunication and fastener industries.

Artistic Plating’s copper plating services can be utilized as a final plate or as an underplate to subsequent deposits such as our tin plating, gold plating, silver plating and nickel plating finishes.  Artistic Plating provides unmatched capability in heavy build copper plating services with plating thicknesses up to 0.020 inches per side.  Applications of heavy build copper plating services include the eddy current drives, lead and frangible core bullets (reference Heavy Build Copper Plating of Bullets in our Finishing Solutions section), braze fittings and heat treatment applications for a stop-off prior to carburizing or nitriding.  

Artistic Plating offers a proprietary tarnish inhibit of our copper plating services to maintain a clean copper deposit.  Unlike traditional “bright dips” our monatomic inhibit minimizes oxidation and enhances subsequent brazing or soldering applications while ensuring low contact resistance of the copper deposit.  This system can also be applied to raw copper components as well to enhance the appearance and functionality of copper deposits.  A inhibited copper substrate or deposit will pass 24-hour high humidity testing maximizing the shelf life and storage of products finished with our copper plating services.

Copper Plating Services – Copper Properties

Copper is a soft, ductile, lustrous metal with a pink hue that exhibits very high thermal and electrical conductivity.  Pure copper is very soft and malleable but can have considerable strength when alloyed with elements such as beryllium, chromium or tellurium.  Most commonly copper is alloyed with zinc to form brass or with tin to form bronze alloys.

Copper oxides are known in several oxidation states and can have distinctive blue or green hues in acidic environments as opposed to dark brown oxide products in alkaline environments.  An everyday example of this phenomenon is the green copper oxide or patina visible on the Statue of Liberty due to the acidic rain of New York City.      

Copper is one of the few metals to occur naturally as an uncompounded mineral.  Due to this fact copper’s use can be traced back to some of the oldest civilizations on record as far back as 10,000 years ago.  It is theorized that only gold and meteoritic iron have been utilized by civilizations longer than copper.

For plating applications copper is commonly used as an underplating to enhance adhesion of deposits, improve electrical properties, impair migration of alloying elements into the final plated deposit or to improve corrosion resistance of the overall deposit.  As a final deposit, copper plating services are used for enhancing the brazing, thermal or electrical conductivity of substrate materials, as a high temperature lubricant, as a heat treatment stop-off or for jacketing of projectiles.  Copper can be plated matte to bright and with a wide range of deposit hardness and ductility.

 

 

Copper Plating Services – Copper Specifications

The two most common copper plating services certified by Artistic Plating are MIL-C-14550 and ASTM B734.  Artistic Plating also can certify our copper plating services to AMS 2418 as well as most company-specific copper plating specifications.  A summary of copper plating services per the MIL and ASTM specs is as follows:

Copper Plating Services to MIL-C-14550

Type of Copper Plating bath is not specified.  Classes of copper plating services as follows:

Class 0 – 0.001-0.005 inches minimum deposit thickness
Class 1 – 0.001 inch minimum deposit thickness
Class 2 – 0.0005 inch minimum deposit thickness
Class 3 – 0.0002 inch minimum deposit thickness
Class 4 – 0.0001 inch minimum deposit thickness

Intended Uses per Section 6.1 of MIL-C-14550

Class 0 – for heat treatment stop-off shield
Class 1 – for carburizing shield, decarburizing shield and printed circuit board plated through holes or as specified on the engineering drawing.
Class 2 – for undercoating for nickel and other metals
Class 3 – to prevent basis metal migration into tin layer to poison solderability
Class 4 – 0.0001 inch same as 0.0002 inch

Copper Plating Services to ASTM B734

Type of Copper Plating bath is not specified.  Classes of copper plating services as follows:

Class 25 – 25um minimum coating thickness
Class 20 – 20um minimum coating thickness
Class 12 – 12um minimum coating thickness
Class 5 – 5um minimum coating thickness
Class x – Thickness as specified [um]

Copper Plating Services – Why Artistic Plating? 

Artistic Plating provides expertise in copper plating services and heavy build copper plating services to fulfill even the most demanding functional requirement.  From prototyping and PPAP qualification to full production processing – it is Artistic’s dedicated effort to exceed your expectations.  The following points highlight why Artistic Plating is a leader in copper plating services:

• Diversity of Substrates:  Artistic Plating provides copper plating services on nearly any metallic substrate including hardened and alloyed steels, stainless steels, beryllium copper, chromium copper, tellurium copper, brass alloys, Inconels, Hastalloys, Monels, ductile & cast iron and metalized plastics.
• High Production Commercial Applications:  Artistic plating offers high capacity rack and barrel lines to ensure competitive pricing and short lead times on high-volume applications of copper plating services. 
• RoHS and REACH Compliance:  Artistic is at the forefront of environmental compliance and can certify our copper plating services as needed to the current RoHS, ELV and REACH regulations.
• Competitive Pricing:  Artistic Plating has been providing quality copper plating services for over sixty years.  Competitive pricing in copper plating services is paramount to gaining and maintaining our customers in today’s competitive global marketplace. 
• Lean Lead Times:  With inventory a word of the past, rapid turn around is core company value to provide the service our customers need in copper plating services.
• Value Added:  Artistic prides itself on meeting the customer’s needs.  Whether it’s custom engineering packaging, vacuum or nitrogen sealed packaging to enhance storage, Kanban inventory management, light subassembly or multiple finishing combinations – Artistic will work with you to ensure we meeting your needs in copper plating services.
• Extensive in House Analytical and Quality Lab Services:  SPC is employed in all wet-lab work surrounding our copper plating services to ensure baths are analyzed and adjusted at optimum frequencies to ensure operation between critical upper and lower control points.  Our quality lab employs the latest in x-ray, coulometric and spectrophotometer technologies to inspect your parts and will work to your requirements to provide testing as needed.  Our quality lab can certify salt spray performance to ASTM B117, adhesion to ASTM B571 and solderability to ASTM B678.  Mounted cross sections of parts are also available.