Platable propylene polymer compositions

A propylene polymer composition having the characteristic of being readily electroplatable with a metal such as nickel to provide a strongly adherent metal coating;

• said composition consisting essentially of about 100 parts by weight of a propylene polymer, a quantity of electrically conductive carbon black sufficient to reduce the electrical resistivity of the composition to less than about 1,000 ohm-centimeters, a minor amount of sulfur, of a sulfur donor, sufficient to increase the rate of metal deposition on the polymer, and a minor amount of maleic anhydride-modified propylene polymer sufficient to improve the adhesion of the plated metal to the polymer;
• said maleic anhydride-modified propylene polymer containing about 0.1 to 5 weight % chemically combined maleic anhydride and having been prepared by heating a propylene polymer and maleic anhydride in an inert solvent in the presence of a free radical generating polymerization initiator;
• said sulfur donor being selected from the group consisting of sulfur chloride, 2-mercapto-benzoithiazole, N-cyclohexyl-2-benzothiozole sulfonomide, dibutyl xanthogen disulfide, and dipentamethylene-thiuram hexasulfide.