For this wildcard week, I decided to explore electroplating as an experimental fabrication process that combines electricity, chemistry and material transformation. The objective of this exploration was to understand how electrical current can be used to deposit thin metal coatings onto conductive surfaces and how different parameters affect the final results.
Electroplating is an electrochemical process that uses electricity to deposit a thin layer of metal onto the surface of another conductive object. Although the process is commonly used on metal objects, non-conductive materials such as 3D printed parts can also be electroplated by first applying a conductive coating, such as conductive paint.
Electroplating is an electrochemical process that uses electricity to deposit a thin layer of metal onto the surface of another conductive object.
Electroplating works by creating a simple electrical circuit inside a conductive solution.
Electroplating works by creating a simple electrical circuit inside a conductive solution.
For this assigment, I first fabricated a small Snoopy figure using 3D printing. This is the piece that I will be using as an object for the conductive coating and metal deposition process.
These are the main materials used during the electroplating experiments, including the conductive carbon paint, the 3D printed figure, copper sulfate crystals, distilled water, copper plate, copper wire, alligator clip cables and the DC power supply used to regulate the electrical current throughout the process.
Since the 3D printed material is not naturally conductive, I applied three layers of conductive black paint to the surface of the figure to allow electrical current to flow during electroplating.
To prepare the electrolyte solution, I measured 200 g of copper sulfate crystals to them into 1 liter of ditilled water.
Then I added the copper sufate crystals in a plastic container with the distilled water and mix the solution until the water was completely diluted and without crystals. This solution will allow the transfer of copper ions between the electrodes.
I attached copper wire around the conductive-coated figure to create the electrical connection between the object and the power supply. This allowed the figure to function as the cathode and receie the copper deposition during the electrplating process.
I submerged the conductive-coated figure (attached to the copper wire) and the copper plate (attached to the alligator clip cable) into de copper sulfate electrolyte solution. The copper plate acted as the anode, while the Snoopy figure functioned as the cathode. As electrical current flowed through the solution, copper ions gradually began depositing onto the surface of the object.
I used a GW Instek GPE-3323 DC Power Supply to regulate the voltage and current during the electroplating process. I worked with values close to 32.2 V and 0.03 A. since the lower current values help create a slower and more controlled copper deposition.
However during this process, we discovered that the conductive paint used on the figure didn't provide enough conductivity for a unifrom copper deposition. Because of this, the process became slower and required to reposition the copper wire connection in different areas of the figure, so the electrical current could reach more sections of the surface.
Here I adjusted the position of the copper wire to prevent it from directly touching the lectrolyte solucion. This helped avoid copper deposition occuring mainly on the wire and improve the distribution of the electroplating process.
Over time, some areas of the figure slowly began developing a visible copper-toned layer.
Although the final result was not as successful or uniform as I initially expected, this experiment helped me better understand the importance of surface conductivity in electroplating processes. I learned how sensitive electrochemical deposition can be to parameters such as current, electrical contact and coating quality.
In this section, you can find the downloadable source files developed during this week.