Investigation of electroless nickel plating on rapid prototyping material of acrylic resin

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to investigate the layer of material deposited on a sample of acrylic resin by electroless nickel plating process. Acrylic resin is a popular material in rapid prototyping (RP) which uses the additive manufacturing technique to build prototypes for visual inspection, assembly, etc. Metallization of the RP materials can extend application envelop of RP techniques, as they can be used in decorative or functional applications.

Design/methodology/approach

Unlike electroless nickel plating on a metal substrate, the plating process for an acrylic resin substrate is different, as there is no metal ion for the auto-catalytic electroless reaction. Pre-treatment processes are performed on an acrylic resin sample to initiate electroless nickel plating. The morphology, chemical composition and structure of the layer deposited on the sample are examined using scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction.

Findings

The investigation shows that a nickel phosphorous alloy layer is plated on to the substrate surface of the acrylic resin sample.

Originality/value

Plating a layer of nickel phosphorous alloy layer on an acrylic resin RP material can widen the application of RP technology. An application of nickel plated acrylic resin sample to rapid tooling for low-volume production plastic parts is presented.

Citation

Rajaguru, J.C., Duke, M. and Au, C. (2016), "Investigation of electroless nickel plating on rapid prototyping material of acrylic resin", Rapid Prototyping Journal, Vol. 22 No. 1, pp. 162-169. https://doi.org/10.1108/RPJ-05-2014-0060