Gold Plating Services

…is a chemical element with a bright, slightly reddish yellow color in its purest form. As a precious metal and one of the least reactive chemical elements, it does not oxidize in air, remaining stable under standard conditions, and its electrical conductivity is constant over long periods.

Gold plating can enable metal pieces to be soldered together in situations where this would not have been previously possible and increase wear resistance when mixed with cobalt. Its corrosion resistance makes gold electroplating suitable for connector pins, electrical switch contacts, and other applications where electrical contacts occur intermittently.

MIL-G-45204, MIL-DTL-45204, ASTM B488, Gold Plating, AMS 2422, AMS 2425

• Type I requires a minimum of 99.7% gold with a hardness grade of A, B, or C. This gold plating service can be used for improving solderability, electrical contacts that require a high reliability, as well as many other general purpose applications.
• Type II requires a minimum of 99.0% gold with a hardness grade of B, C or D. It tends to be used for more general purpose applications as the hardening agents in the gold plating will oxidize under conditions of high temperature.
• Type III requires a minimum of 99.9 % with hardness grade of A only. This gold plating service is used for thermocompression bonding, nuclear engineering, high temperature applications and semi-conductor components.

Metal ions from base metals such as brass, bronze, or beryllium copper, can disseminate into a gold layer applied on top and degrade the non-oxidizing and hardness properties of the gold. An anti-diffusion underplate such as electro-less or sulfamate nickel applied to the surface of the metal can prevent such occurrences and create a bright finish.