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AssigneeAtotech Deutschland GmbH
InventorsPhilip Hartmann, Michael Jonat, Mathias Wuensche
Estimating the term…
For fast and secure determination of the quality of a metal coating as well as of an electrolyte for depositing a metal, in particular for electrolytic deposition of nickel such as of semi-gloss nickel and bright nickel and for analytical control of the deposition electrolyte, a method of inspecting a metal coating is provided, which involves the following method steps: a) depositing the metal coating from a deposition electrolyte onto a working electrode; b) electrolytically dissolving the metal coating through anodic polarisation of the working electrode with respect to a counter electrode, which is in electrolytic contact with the working electrode; c) recording an electrical dissolution potential at the working electrode over time, said potential occurring during a dissolution of the metal coating; and d) determining a time-averaged vale of the dissolution potential.
A method of inspecting a metal coating, comprising:
The method of inspecting a metal coating as set forth in any one of the previous claims, characterized in that the metal coating is a constituent part of a multilayered metal coating system.
The method of inspecting a metal coating as set forth in any one of the previous claims, characterized in that, prior to performing method step b), the method further comprises:
The method of inspecting a metal coating as set forth in any one of the previous claims, characterized in that the electrolytic dissolution of the metal coating takes place under galvanostatic conditions.
The method of inspecting a metal coating as set forth in any one of the previous claims, characterized in that the working electrode is a rotating platinum electrode.
The method of inspecting a metal coating as set forth in any one of the previous claims, characterized in that the metal coating is an electrolytically deposited nickel coating.
The method of inspecting a metal coating as set forth in any one of the previous claims, characterized in that the metal coating is an electrolytically deposited semi-gloss nickel coating or an electrolytically deposited bright nickel coating.
The method of inspecting a metal coating as set forth in any one of the previous claims, characterized in that values of the dissolution potential at the working electrode are determined within an imposed time interval and that the values obtained are averaged in order to determine the time-averaged value of the dissolution potential.
The method of inspecting a metal coating as set forth in any one of the previous claims, characterized in that the deposition electrolyte originates from a coating tank and is transferred continuously to the working electrode.
A method of analytical control of a deposition electrolyte serving for depositing a metal coating, involving:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.