Jewelry Plating Terms

Type of finish:
Shiny - Bright, smooth, level plating with good reflectivity. The brightest plating is called mirror bright. This
plating is very shiny
Matt - Tumbled finish or a finish simulating a tumbled finish with matt lacquer.
Burnished - a tumbled finish which also has black oxidation or black plating which is partly or mostly removed by
the tumbling
Antique bright plating which has a black coating which is partly or mostly removed. Often used to fill in
recessed letters so they can be seen more easily.
Type of Plating:
Silver the whitest metal
Gold - some suppliers plate a gold alloy which is acceptable
Palladium - PDP - pure palladium. Most platers in Qingdao have contaminated baths and plate a flash of
Imitation rhodium over the palladium to make it white.
PCP palladium-cobalt alloy plating containing about 73% palladium. A very white plate used a lot in S. China,
this is acceptable
PNP palladium-nickel alloy plating containing about 80% palladium
Rhodium very white but very expensive now
White Bronze Miralloy White Copper Tin WCS a white alloy that is a good migration barrier
Imitation Rhodium is similar to white bronze but only a flash can be plated.
Brass copper zinc alloy, can be lemon yellow or greenish
Imitation Gold similar to brass but includes with some tin in the alloy.
Silvertone can include any silver colored plating or clear anodized aluminum
Goldtone gold plating, (avoid using this term for brass or imitation gold plating)
Hematite plating Black Nickel Free Gun metal plating - is a thin black plating that uses a nickel free cobalt,
ruthenium or cobalt alloy plating bath for the black or dark brown finish. A typical gun metal plating alloy
is a tin-cobalt alloy.
Worn gold a thin gold plating that is plated over silver to give a pale gold color, rings should have same gold as
normal gold plating.
Ion Plating this is a sputtering or evaporation technique performed in a high vacuum (PVD). Special
machines are required and many metals and metal compounds, such as titanium nitride, can be
deposited that cannot be plated in wet baths. All Ion plating relies on nickel or white bronze underplating
for brightness and corrosion resistance
IPG Ion plated gold is a titanium or zirconium nitride deposit sometimes with pure gold deposited on top to
match a specific gold color
IPS a white deposit with a composition like stainless steel
Two tone describes plating one metal and then plating another metal over the 1 st in selected areas.
Techniques for plating the second metal include pen plating which looks like a pen, masking to cover the
areas not being plated with the second metal, or assembly of a second component plated separately.
Barrel plating a plating technique used to plate a lot of items together in a barrel that rotates while plating
Rack plating a technique for preparing pieces for plating by attaching pieces to wire or hooks mounted on a
rectangular or circular metal frame, the rack.
Flash plating is plating that is very thin only to achieve a particular color. Plating thickness cannot be specified
because it is so thin.
Chain plating - a technique which uses a rotating mechanism that constantly moves the chain during plating.
By far this is the best way to plate chain. Very few current suppliers do this kind of plating in copper.
Most only do this for the precious metal which helps to make the plating thickness more uniform.
Type of Coating:
Spray lacquer clear lacquer applied by spray then heat cured. Most commonly applied in Qingdao.
e- coating electrophoretic or cataphoretic lacquer a clear or colored lacquer applied by plating that is then
heat cured.
Dip coating - a new type of coating that needs more investigation to fully except. No electricity or heat curing is
necessary.

Processes:
Anodized aluminum aluminum metal that has been processed to increase the natural oxide thickness
Sterling silver a silver alloy with 92.5% silver. This alloy cannot be formed by plating although sometimes the
manufacturer will plate pure silver on top of sterling silver to whiten the sterling silver color.
Purity vs Color:
Purity refers to the percentage of precious metal in the alloy. With gold this is commonly referred to as Karat of
gold. For example 24 karat is 100% pure gold or fine gold. Gold can be plated alloyed with silver or copper to
make different alloy gold plates.
Color of gold is different from purity. Many different types of gold color can be formed with different alloying
metals by plating but the purity is very high like 22 or 23 karat purity. Gold color is described as the color that
matches gold of a certain purity, such as 12 karat gold color. The purity of the gold is high but the color matches
a low karat gold. Sometimes special names are given such as Hamilton gold or 1N, 2N 3N designations.
Sometimes rose or green golds are plated.
Tarnish Free:
The major plated metals that dont tarnish when exposed to oxygen and moisture are gold, rhodium and
palladium and their alloys. Nickel and white bronze have good resistance to tarnish. All other metals require a
lacquer or e-coat (cataphoretic lacquer) to protect the metal from tarnishing. If the plated precious metals are
very thin, or not separated from the copper plate underneath (with a barrier plate like palladium, nickel or white
bronze), the copper plated underneath can migrate to the surface and tarnish.
Some suppliers claim a tarnish free sterling silver. This is not correct since silver will always tarnish under
certain conditions. The best sterling silver alloys will have a slower tarnish potential than the traditional 92.5%
silver copper alloy. By wearing the sterling silver alloy, the tarnish that forms will be worn off and not be
noticeable.
Ranking of White Types of Plating:
Silver - whitest
Palladium-Cobalt alloy
Imitation Rhodium
Rhodium
White Bronze
Clear Anodized Aluminum
Palladium
Nickel - grayish

Almost the same color