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Platewise - Metal finishing glossary Category: General technical and industrial > Electroplating Date & country: 16/12/2007, UK Words: 22

Work
The components, articles or work pieces being processed.

WEEE Directive
EC Directive on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE)

Tank
The length of a process or rinse tank in automated lines is always expressed as the dimension along the length of the line. The width of the tank is the dimension across the width of the line. Manual tanks are usually expressed in the converse.

Station
One or more tanks (stages) making up a single process, e.g. a three stage plating / rinse station.

Stage
A single process / rinse tank making up a station of one or more stages.

RoHS
Directive on the Restriction of Certain Hazardous Substances in electrical and electronic equipment (RoHS). This legislation is applied in conjunction with the WEEE Directive.

Rack
The electrically conductive frame onto which the work is manually mounted, and which, in turn is attached to the transporter flight bar. It is sometimes called a jig.

PPC Regulations 2000
Pollution Prevention and Control (PPC) Regulations is a regime for controlling pollution from certain industrial activities. The PPC regime implements the European Directive (EC / 96 / 61) on integrated pollution prevention and control.

Jig
The frame onto which the work is mounted.

Plating window
The window defines the width and depth of the envelope available for plating within the process tank. The dimensions of the envelope are such that there is adequate physical clearance between the racks / work and the tank walls, submerged pipe work, and the electrolyte operating level.

ETP
Effluent Treatment Plant

Flight bar
The transportable carrier to which racks of work are attached and which serve to transfer the work from tank to tank. Transporters usually carry a single flight bar, but some plants have twin flight bars.

ELV Directive
End of Life Vehicles (ELV) Directive (2000 / 53 / EC) aims to reduce the amount of waste from road vehicles

Electrochemical Equivalent
The theoretical quantity of a metal deposited from a plating electrolyte during the passage of 1Ah. Actual deposit values may be much less, depending on the nature and operating conditions of the electrolyte.

Eco rinse
A static rinse tank that is used for the work prior to the plating tank and again after the plating tank. Hence the alternate name: drag-in / drag-out tank. It has the effect of reducing drag-out by half.

Drag-out tank
A static rinse tank used to wash the work immediately after plating and prior to the running rinse station. A very effective drag-out removal system provided the concentration is not allowed to rise to more than 50% of that of the plating tank. It is only a BAT however if the collected electrolyte can be recovered.

Drag-out coefficient
The quantity of process fluid transferred (dragged-out) from stage to stage, expressed as l / m sq.

Current efficiency
A measure of the efficient use of current in the electrolytic deposition of a metal. For example, the theoretical rate of deposition for zinc is 1.22 g / Ah. In practice, the rate for an alkaline plating process may be as low as 50% of the theoretical value.

Current density
The current applied to a unit area of work surface in electroplating, anodising, electro-cleaning or other electrolytic process.

Chrome
The term 'chrome' is loosely used to describe chromium plating. Historically, 'chrome' plating is meant to describe the decorative plated finish that comprises a chromium deposit over a copper-nickel or a nickel substrate. The term chromium plating is to be preferred to 'chrome' when it refers to single deposits, eg hard chromium plating or the chromium plating station in a decorative chrome plating line.

BAT
Best Available Techniques as defined in 'Guidance for the Surface Treatment of Metals and Plastics by Electrolytic and Chemical Processes'

Autocatalytic plating
The EU vocabulary name for plating that does not involve an electric current. It is more commonly known as electroless plating in the UK and chemical plating in Germany.