Application of electroless nickel plating prior to sulfate copper electroplating

In order to avoid copper replacement reaction during sulfate copper electroplating on steel surface,electroless nickel plating process was introduced as the pretreatment of electroplating.The effect of electroless nickel plating on sulfate copper electroplating was studied.The results show that there is no copper precipitation on the surface of steel samples electroless nickel plated at least for 6 min after dipping in sulfate copper electroplating solution for 10 min.The effects of electroless plating coating on the both the surface appearance and the adhesion of copper coating are not obvious,so the electroless nickel plating can be used for the pretreatment of sulfate copper electroplating.