A recent breakthrough in nickel leveling measurement has come out of the R&D lab at Columbia Chemical and is the cover feature and lead article in the January issue of Products Finishing magazine. 

Dr. Larry Seger, in conjunction with Mark Schario and Christian Kissig, authored an article on nickel leveling measurement that offers an in-depth look at using precision-scratched Hull cell panels and a hand-held profilometer to finally capture reliable measurement of the leveling performance of semi-bright and bright nickel solutions. This groundbreaking test method quantifies the leveling characteristics of the bath performance and quickly identifies if there is a plating problem or a substrate problem.

Measuring the exact amount of leveling provided by semi-bright and bright nickel has long been a less than precise science, resulting in lower throughput and increased nickel costs – a plating manager’s main headaches.  

To complement the article and provide readers with an opportunity to learn more, we featured a full page ad on the back cover with a link to columbiachemical.com/nickeltest to help determine if they are getting the best leveling out of their decorative nickel bath.