Gold Plating
Gold Plating Services from Precision Plating
Gold Plating is valued for its physical properties. As a noble metal, gold has a natural ability to resist corrosion and oxides which can form on the surface of other non-noble metals. Corrosion and oxides can create electrical conductivity issues resulting in poor performance or shortened product life-cycles, which the gold plating process can help avoid.
Reduce Your Gold Plating Costs with Precision Plating Company
With gold costs at an all-time high, every bit of savings and performance is needed to remain competitive. If your business is looking for gold plating services, Precision Plating Company's product development and technical support teams can help you eliminate unnecessary costs to meet stringent pricing targets and win more business. When starting the product specification and design process, Precision's team of electroplating engineers gets involved early to minimize costs and deliver high quality gold plating, while still remaining cost effective. To learn more about our services and gold plating processes, contact the Precision Plating Company today!
Precision's Gold Plating Process
The process of Gold Plating requires the application of a thin layer of gold onto the exterior surface of another metal. At Precision Plating, our specialization in electroplating allows us to offer gold plating services for orders of all sizes. Precision's services use either hard gold or soft gold based on your intended use for the item being plated. Depending on your application, our gold finishing capabilities include:
The Difference between Hard and Soft Gold
Gold's hardness is measured on the Knoop scale , which tests the microhardness of brittle and thin materials. Commonly, gold is broken into two categories; hard and soft gold, each having their own unique applications. When choosing a gold plating service, figuring out whether to use hard or soft gold can be tricky. Here is a summary of the key differences between the two and common applications they are used in:
Hard Gold
- Is an alloy of 99.7% gold and 0.3% of a hardening agent, most commonly either nickel or cobalt.
- Gold plating is used as an electrical or electronic contact finish because it is a noble metal that does not oxidize or chemically react in corrosive environments.
- Has a Knoop hardness between 130 – 200 and is used where electrical conductivity (especially very low current applications), solderability and/or corrosion resistance are important design requirements.
- When compared to soft gold, hard gold proves superior contact wear resistance.
Hard Gold Plating Specifications: ASTM B488, MIL-G-45204, MIL-DTL-45204
Soft Gold
- Soft gold, also referred to as pure gold, is naturally soft because it has little to no grain refiners or additives to make the deposit hard.
- Soft gold is 99.9% pure gold and has a Knoop hardness between 91-115.
- It is pliable and is easier to solder than hard gold.
- Soft gold is typically used in lead frame wire bonding applications and high reliability solder applications where hard gold would not be appropriate.
Soft Gold Plating Specifications: ASTM B488, MIL-G-45204, MIL-DTL-45204
