Copper Plating

E-Brite Ultra-Cu non Cyanide Alkaline Copper Plating is a unique cyanide-free alkaline copper plating process with covering and throwing powers greater than cyanide copper.

EPI was the first with a heavy production proven, non-cyanide, non-pyrophosphate, alkaline copper plating process with E-Brite Ultra-Cu. It does the “impossible” by plating directly onto steel, brass, copper, stainless steel, zincated aluminum, electroless nickel, sulfamate nickel as well as diecast zinc surfaces with out a separate strike. Ultra Cu copper has outstanding adhesion to difficult-to-plate die-cast zinc surfaces. The single additive bath produces superior results in both barrel and rack installations as either a strike or plate bath.

Want more information about copper plating?

Read our Copper Plating FAQ, or our Technical Paper about "Alkaline Cyanide-Free Copper Plating Process for Functional and Decorative Plating".

E-Brite Ultra-Cu is an outstanding pre-plate copper strike for bright nickel, acid copper, tin and solder plates. It is an excellent heat treat stop off plate and EMI shield.

It is also an excellent decorative finish for buttons, rivets, lighting fixtures and builders’ hardware. The copper plate can be readily blackened or oxidized for a variety of attractive antiqued finishes.

There are no carbonates to be treated. It contains no strong chelators. It is supplied as a liquid concentrate which is diluted with water.

E-Brite Ultra-Cu produces a fine grained, smooth, dense and ductile copper deposit which is nonporous and has excellent bonding properties.

The throwing and covering power of the non-cyanide process is superior to cyanide processes. This is especially evident in barrel plating. It has uniform low current density distribution with excellent micro-throw. It also has greater throwing power than acid copper.

The grain is smaller than cyanide copper which increases the density of the deposit. This density provides excellent heat treat stop off and masking properties. The fine grained E-Brite Ultra-Cu deposit under nickel/chrome improves the overall corrosion resistance and helps to throw the nickel farther into the low current density areas.

The E-Brite Ultra-Cu produces a softer and more ductile deposit than cyanide or acid copper. The soft deposit imparts improved adhesion and corrosion resistance and greatly improved resistance to thermal shock.

It has a high deposit purity and hence no out-gassing with subsequent brazing, soldering or vacuum operations.

E-Brite Ultra-Cu is simple and inexpensive to use because it replenishes the copper in solution by dissolving the copper anode and here again it is a unique product with only one maintenance additive.

Copper Plating Benefits

One solution serves as both a strike and a plate bath.
Eliminates the inherent dangers of cyanide in the work place and improves employee health and safety.
Eliminates the concern for a catastrophic accidental acidification of cyanide.
No cyanide in F-006 sludges.
No danger of cyanide if a fire occurs in a plant.
Eliminates waste treatment costs for destroying cyanide.
Lower copper concentration which means less sludge generation.
No carbonates to be treated. No carbonate sludge containing cyanide.
Eliminates the Toxic Release Inventory report for cyanide.
The accidental drag-in of E-Brite Ultra-Cu into an acid copper solution poses no health hazards.
Reduces fire and liability insurance premiums.
E-Brite Ultra-Cu has excellent bath stability and high efficiency. The bath does not have to be dumped as with other baths due to breakdown products or iron buildup.
The bath is easily maintained by monitoring the pH and copper metal concentration.

It has a very wide operating window.

Increase Adhesion and Eliminate the Cost of Hazardous Cyanide

Switch to the NEW E-Brite™ Ultra Cu Non-Cyanide Alkaline Copper Plating

Get more information on
NEW E-Brite™ Ultra Cu

It is easily installed in existing plating lines with only a new liner required for the cyanide copper tank. One tank of E-Brite Ultra-Cu serves the purpose of both the copper strike and the copper plate.
E-Brite Ultra-Cu is supplied as a liquid concentrate which is diluted with water.

Start taking advantage of the E-Brite copper plating chemicals today!
Call 1-262-786-9330 to order E-Brite Copper Plating Chemicals, or use our online request form to request a sample or send us your parts.

E-Brite Ultra Cu-Mg copper plating process produces excellent adhesion and corrosion protection on AZ91 magnesium castings. Cyanide copper processes produce adhesion with average salt spray results 24 hours ASTM B-117 and parts can not be baked without blistering. E- Brite Ultra Cu-Mg process produces 96 hours on copper nickel chrome parts and as a base plate underneath electroless nickel achieved 400 hours salt spray!
Read our technical paper about High Corrosion Resistant Plating on Magnesium Substrates

E-Brite Ultra Cu produces a denser copper plate than cyanide copper process, plus it is used at a pH of 9.5- 9.8, while cyanide copper is used at 10.4- 11.0. Electroless nickel is another process that can plate on magnesium castings resulting in good adhesion and okay corrosion protection. The E-Brite Ultra Cu-Mg will produce a superior copper, nickel and chrome plate, while saving the plater money as it costs less to use then electroless nickel.

Copper Plating Process

    1. Polish AZ 91 to a high luster using magnesium buffing compound
    2. Vapor Degrease
    3. Soak Clean E-Kleen 148-E 10% by volume, 140 F, 3-5 minutes
    4. Rinse
    5. E-Pik 241 30% by volume, 70F, 2 minutes
    6. Rinse
    7. E-Prep 284 zincate 100% by volume, 160-170F, 5-7 minutes
    8. Rinse
    9. E-Brite Ultra Cu- Mg 40% by volume ,120-130F, 20-40 minutes
    10. Process through acid copper nickel and chrome process

E-Brite Ultra AC - Acid Copper Plating is a new and unique single additive acid copper plating process which has shown to provide superior plate distribution by plating more copper in lower current density areas and reducing the copper thickness in higher current density areas. The ratio of plating thickness between high current areas and low current areas is a low 4:1. A significant advantage is reduced consumption of anodes when Ultra AC is plated at the same thickness of copper in the LCD as with other processes.

With the greater thickness in the LCD, cut-through when buffing and polishing the copper plate is virtually eliminated.

Click here for additional information on "How to Decrease Cut Through & Reduce Anode Consumption" with Brite Acid Copper Plating..

E-Brite 200 - Acid Copper Plating is an acid copper plating process which produces a highly leveled and exceptionally bright, ductile deposit with low internal stress.

It is the preferred acid copper process when an exceptional high degree of leveling is required.

The E-Brite 200 acid copper plating process is the fastest and best leveling acid copper available and is unsurpassed in brightness, ductility and resistance to treeing and burning. It is the easiest to buff acid copper on the market. The soft deposit will flow with buffing to cover defects in the base metal.

E-Brite 200 is a non-dye type process which yields extremely bright, ductile deposits with low internal stress. It also eliminates problems of adhesion of subsequent plating operations to the acid copper which can be a problem with dye type processes.

The E-Brite 200 bath exhibits excellent low current density brightness and leveling. It is tolerant to high temperatures (95-100F) and is resistant to contamination and it does not form breakdown products which have to be frequently carbon treated as with dye baths and other baths on the market. Carbon treatment of E-Brite 200 is less frequent than with all other acid copper baths. It does not load up with organics.

It has excellent tolerance to impurities, with excellent anti-burn and anti-treeing properties.

E-Brite 200 has very good brightness and coverage in low current density areas making it an ideal process for plating irregularly shaped parts.

It has excellent bath stability minimizing start-up problems and eliminates the need for adjustment after idle periods or weekend shut-downs.

It exhibits a high degree of leveling at all normal current density ranges which smoothes out rough surfaces for subsequent nickel/chrome plating. It exhibits reduced nodulation in high current density areas.

An E-Brite 200 bath is unique because it is easily maintained with a single maintenance additive - - another first for EPI - - making it very easy to control.

E-Brite 202 - Acid Copper Plating Bright acid copper for high speed plating of wire and grounding rods.

E-Brite 202 produces exceptionally bright, ductile deposits with low internal stress which is necessary for drawing or threading the finished product.

E-Brite 202 does not contain dye-type materials which are messy to work with, can cause staining of the plated surfaces and reduce ductility of the deposit.

It produces consistent results due to excellent bath stability, minimizes start-up problems and eliminates the need for adjustments after idle periods or weekend shut-downs.

There are no harmful breakdown products which eliminates frequent carbon treatment. The bath is tolerant of variations in working conditions and impurities lending to ease of operation and process control

E-Brite 202 is formulated to eliminate high current density nodulations even at current densities over 800 asf.

E-Brite 203 Acid Copper Plating

E-Brite 203 a high throw bright acid copper for Barrel and Rack plating. It produces ductile and low-stress deposits over the entire recommended brightener range. The bath exhibits excellent brightness and throwing power in extreme low current density areas.

E-Brite 203 is a functional process whereas E-Brite 200 produces the optimum in brightness and leveling. It is recommended for rack electroforming and barrel plating of lead after an appropriate strike.

It can be applied after a strike of E-Brite 23-11 cyanide copper or E-Brite Ultra Cu non-cyanide alkaline copper to build a bright layer of copper before nickel on steel, zinc diecast or other substrates.

E-Brite 203 does not contain dyes thus eliminating the buildup of undesirable decomposition products common to other acid copper processes.

E-Brite PC - Acid Copper Plating

E-Brite PC a high throw bright acid copper and throughhole plating of printed circuit boards. E- Brite PC deposits are low in stress and very ductile.

E-Brite 23-11 Cyanide Copper Plating

E-Brite 23-11 is a unique leveling bright cyanide copper plating process.

EPI’s first products were cyanide based processes for plating copper and brass for the plumbing, lighting fixture and builders’ hardware manufacturers. E-Brite 23-11 was the first single inorganic maintenance brightener additive for cyanide copper plating in 1954. This product has been continually improved over the years and now is the best performing cyanide copper process available worldwide. Being inorganic, overdosing the brightener does not cause blistering, peeling, pitting or any other plating problem. The inorganic brightener does not decompose and no breakdown products are produced. It is relatively unaffected by the presence of organics or metallic contaminants that affect other brighteners.

The unique E-Brite 23-11 plates bright from 1 amp to 120 amps per square foot because it is an air agitated bath. It is a high speed bath that plates brighter over a wider current density range than any other cyanide copper process. It can be plated at much higher current density and hence higher plating speeds, resulting in greater thickness in less time. This very important characteristic of the E-Brite 23-11 process is advantageous when minimum thickness specifications must be met in the low current density area because the current can be increased to plate faster in the low current density area without burning in the high current density range.

The build up of carbonates from the air is not a problem because the process uses Electrosolv, a truly unique additive that not only retards the formulation of carbonates, it is twice as effective as Rochelle Salts. It also functions as a very effective anode corroder replenishing the metal in the bath producing a more economical plate. Greater plating thickness can be obtained in less time with the greater efficiency of Electrosolv. It will greatly improve the performance of any cyanide copper bath and is consumed only by drag-out. It contains no chealators.

The E-Brite 23-11 is a real money saver in nickel plating processes because of its bright and level underlying copper plate, which reduces the amount of nickel plate required. This is true with steel and zinc die castings.

Click below to view additional Metal Plating Chemicals.