Q. I currently do 24-karat gold plating, but now wish to do 18-karat gold plating. What do I have to do in order to do this type of plating? D.I.
A. Gold alloy plating is fairly common. In general, you have to add metal salts to the gold plating solution. Copper, cobalt and nickel salts have been classically used as additives. Today, nickel compounds are generally not used because of their potential to cause skin dermatitis and their environmental problems.
Vendors of gold plating chemistry have plating bath formulations available that can be used to plate 18 karat gold. If your vendor does not have such a formulation you can find the names and contacts of such vendors by going to pfonline.com and accessing the supplier list. This is a lot easier than trying to formulate a “home brew” plating bath.
