# Can plastic be plated?



## drtyTshrt (Nov 9, 2013)

Can plastic be plated?
I have some. I just have not tested it to see if it is gold.
Looks to be.


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## chlaurite (Nov 9, 2013)

Yes.

Though as with fingers and pins, you won't find just a straight gold plating on it. For plastic, you'll most likely find a nickel or aluminum base coat, then that metallic layer makes the part conductive enough to use in more conventional gold electroplating.


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## Palladium (Nov 9, 2013)

http://www.pfonline.com/articles/plating-plastics-at-guardian-automotive-trim


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## goldsilverpro (Nov 9, 2013)

chlaurite said:


> Yes.
> 
> Though as with fingers and pins, you won't find just a straight gold plating on it. For plastic, you'll most likely find a nickel or aluminum base coat, then that metallic layer makes the part conductive enough to use in more conventional gold electroplating.


You will never find an aluminum base coat on plastic underneath the gold. Never. Nickel, very possibly. Aluminum, never. 

Aluminum is never electroplated on anything. It can't be plated out of an aqueous solution. It can be vacuum deposited. Even if it were, gold could not be plated directly on it and so it would never be used.

It is possible to find gold plated on plastic, but they would have needed a good technical reason to have done it. No manufacturer ever wastes money.

As in the link Palladium provided, the plastic is sensitized with a Pd/Sn (usually) solution. Then, a layer of electroless nickel (usually) is built up and, finally, the gold (or, whatever) is applied. There are variations but aluminum is never involved.


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## macfixer01 (Nov 10, 2013)

The only gold on plastic I've seen was a roll of NASA surplus gold-coated mylar film that was up for sale on Ebay several months ago. I had looked for info on the forum to determine the possible value and found an older thread that referred to the same material. Although the coating was only a few hundred angstroms thick, when you get a large enough surface area it still adds up. Unfortunately it sold for too much money to bother with it.

Here is the older thread I referred to:
http://goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=16325&hilit=gold+coated+mylar

macfixer01


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## niteliteone (Nov 10, 2013)

Last year I was given a sandwich baggy full of gold plated jewelry, mainly ear rings, and most of it was gold plating on some type of plastic. I still have the bag of stripped plastic jewelry. Don't really know why I kept it though :shock:


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## Palladium (Nov 10, 2013)

I've seen plastic Christmas tree ornaments that were plastic and plated with gold.


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## Anonymous (Nov 10, 2013)

goldsilverpro said:


> It is possible to find gold plated on plastic, but they would have needed a good technical reason to have done it. No manufacturer ever wastes money.



Like the spinning and other mirrors in POS scanners/ barcode readers.


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## Pantherlikher (Nov 10, 2013)

Tons of "holiday" decorations have some gold for color. Some on glass, on plastic and some metal. Adds to the stock pot nicely. Except the tons of glass I get. I have to wash the dishes and get paid well below minimum wage to do it.


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## chlaurite (Nov 28, 2013)

I know you have moderation powers here, but you _probably_ should post as yourself, not as me.


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## butcher (Nov 28, 2013)

I do not know what happened for sure, but I think that may have been a mistake in editing, or trying to quote...

I think, I see what I believe you are talking about, but I cannot see a moderator doing that except in a mistake. 

Under no reason would a moderator here on this forum post as someone else's name, this had to be a mishap.


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## goldsilverpro (Nov 28, 2013)

Sorry, chlaurite, I've been having posting problems.

Anyway, the initial question involved plating on plastics. Your arguments involved metal evaporation, which is a totally different process than plating. Apples and oranges.

Almost any metal can be evaporated on most anything. Plating is much more restrictive. I have never heard of anyone plating gold directly on aluminum. It won't stick!

By the way, in the link you gave, gold isn't mentioned.


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## steyr223 (Nov 29, 2013)

I have seen gold plate to the plastic spoon i did a spot test in with stannous
And then used the spoon to stir my addition of smb into my auric chloride 

Never get anything near your solution when precipitateing that you used with stannous 8) 

Steyr223 rob


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## niteliteone (Nov 30, 2013)

steyr223 said:


> I have seen gold plate to the plastic spoon i did a spot test in with stannous
> And then used the spoon to stir my addition of smb into my auric chloride
> 
> Never get anything near your solution when precipitateing that you used with stannous 8)
> ...


Ouch :!: 
Hope you didn't misplace too much gold.


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