When thinking of electroplating and electroplating chemicals, it often feels like a modern phenomenon. However, the processes and coating methods we know today have footsteps trailing all the way back over 2000 years! Yes, that’s how old metal coating processes have begun. The evolution of electroplating begins with the evolution of coating methods throughout history’s timeline. Let’s take a walkthrough across millennia of electroplating and coating principles.
Some key developments since the early days of plating metals:
2000 – 500 BC: Bronze Age
Many archaeologists have discovered metal inlays in the Middle East and North Africa dating back as far as the third millennium BC. They witnessed the finds to have grooves cut into stones and wood with inlaid metal foils and sometimes the original substrate was entirely wrapped in the metal foil with the surface hammered and shaped to create effects. By the second millennium, the metal foil turned into metal leaf, proving the gold leaf wrapping to be a popular choice for statues.
625 BC – 476 AD : Roman Period
This was when displacement plating was first discovered during the roman period. Mercury gilding was first mentioned in the first century AD. A solution of small pieces of gold mixed with mercury was brushed onto the substrate metal. Once finished, the substrate object was then heated to evaporate the mercury, leaving behind a beautiful layer of gold plating.
5th-15th Century : Medieval Period
Historians regard this period as a dark time in history, but the medieval period witnessed many tech advances in metal plating. From the 9th Century, iron armour suits were plated using the displacement method. They would plate iron with copper for gilding it with mercury. Another technique called the inlay method was then developed involving a design cut into the substrate and then hammering a decorative, pliable metal in the grooves.
15th-17th Century : Renaissance Period
The displacement plating technique was still upgrading and heavily used in appliances and inventions which further popularised metal plating and coating. For instance, clock dials were plated using silver salts as pastes and solutions for silver plating.
18th-19th Century : Industrial Revolution
Previous techniques and methods prevailed to be the groundwork for developing electroplating methods. Electroplating originated truly during the industrial revolution after the first electric battery was invented by Alessandro Volta in 1800. The voltaic pile, named after Volta, stacked galvanic cells to create electric current. This key invention became a catalyst to take displacement technique to a new level. By 1805, it was easy to deposit gold layers onto a metal surface. Using Volta’s technique, Luigi Brunatelli, an Italian scientist, plated gold on silver objects by submerging them in a ‘gold solution’ and applying an electric charge using Voltaic pile, giving birth to the electroplating method. But during Napoleon’s rule, Nrunatelli never received credit for ‘electroplating’ silver with gold. After such silencing by rulers, electroplating was forgotten for decades. But the process resurfaced by the 1830s where the Russian and British inventors created processes to electroplate copper printing plates. The use of potassium cyanide as an electrolyte for electroplating began in 1840. The Ellington cousins and John Wright found commercial success in plating silverware and decorative products, including the flatware on the RMS Titanic which sank!
20th-21st Century : Silicon Age
Throughout the 19th century, there has been immense progress in the electroplating industry with an increased use of gold electroplating in electric circuits because of its excellent conductivity and corrosion resistance. The increase in its popularity forced scientists to develop a much safer and effective electroplating method that ceased the use of dangerous cyanide baths used previously. Electroplating continued to stay with a new focus: expansion of electroplating chemicals and applications. The current Silicon Age that officially began in the 1970s saw a safer evolution of electroplating that faced environmental concerns while simultaneously upgrading. The possibilities that evolution opened up for the electroplating industry were so vast that Brugnateli wouldn’t have even fathomed back in 1805. Some of the notable developments of electroplating applications are computer chips. The electronics industry is now widely reliant on electroplating for protective coatings. The further experimentation opened up possibilities to electroplate non-metal substrates too like glass, plastic, ceramic, Kevlar, etc. which became a great deal. Many industries like the automotive industry choose to plate these materials to achieve specific results without sacrificing finish quality while indirectly making it more stronger, durable, and more resistant to corrosion.
These developments and evolution is incredible to make massive changes in an industry this large from 2000BC to the 21st Century. Businesses are now working closely with electroplating companies that offer customised plating and metal finishing services. For these electroplating companies, achieving the perfect electroplating chemical solution or electrolytic solution is of prime importance. That’s where DU Organics come in. We offer a large arena of electroplating chemicals that various industries can use to achieve targeted results. Connect with us today to know more about the preferred electroplating chemicals.