SILVER PLATING
HISTORICAL INFORMATION
In Ancient civilisations
the noble metals were
objects of great beauty, believed to be imbued with the
mystic qualities of distant heavenly bodies.
Classically gold is seen as the symbol of
the sun and silver the moon. The ancient
Egyptians called silver "white gold."
Some famous attributes of silver are its
mythical powers against enchantment and the use of silver
bullets, thought to have unique powers
against witches and vampires in some
cultures.
Historically, silver plate was used to
provide a cheaper version of items that
might otherwise be made of silver, including
cutlery and candlesticks. The earliest kind
was Old Sheffield Plate, but in the 19th
century new methods of production (including
electroplating) were introduced. Sheffield
plate is a layered combination of silver and
copper that was used to produce a wide range
of household articles. These included
buttons, caddy spoons, serving utensils,
candlesticks and other lighting devices, tea
and coffee services, serving dishes and
trays, tankards and pitchers, and larger
items such as soup tureens and hot water
urns. Almost every article made in sterling
silver was also crafted by Sheffield makers,
who used this manufacturing process to
produce nearly identical wares at far less
cost.
SILVER
PLATING CONSUMER PURPOSES
SILVER PLATED products have the highest
conductivity of all metals, can be used for
soldering, are corrosion resistant, durable
and wear resistant. Silver Plating is
used extensively for a wide variety of
consumer purposes.
SILVER
PLATING INDUSTRIAL USAGE
In electroplating, plating silver is primarily used
for industrial applications. It is
extensively used in the telecom and
automotive industries. Another use of Silver plating
is for
fasteners which are widely used in industry where
lubricant cannot be used or where fasteners
are assembled into materials where galling
is a serious risk. Silver plating is very
soft and has very low shear strength, and so
acts as a solid lubricant, lowering the
coefficient of friction where it is used
dry. This means that less torque is required
to produce a given level of preload, and
this means that a stress is induced in the
fastener during tightening. Silver also has
the advantage in that it doesn’t oxidise
significantly at temperature, making it
ideal for exhaust use.
Silver plated nuts are also used in some
applications where high loads make it
difficult for lubricants to remain in highly
loaded parts of the contact. In these
instances a low-shear strength coating such
as silver can be beneficial. The
effectiveness of silver as a lubricant has
given rise to a number of silver-doped
pastes and greases available commercially.
SILVER PLATING ELECTRONICS
For less demanding applications in
electronics, silver plating is often used as a
cheaper replacement for gold. (Although
silver is a better conductor than gold it
does oxidize and so gold is better for
contacts. However, variable capacitors are
considered of the highest quality when their
plates have been silver plated.
SILVER PLATING
JEWELLERY
Solid silver can be quite expensive. For
this reason, jewellery is often made of a
less expensive base metal and then plated
with a thin coating of silver. Silver
plated jewellery is widely used in the
costume jewellery market for fashion
accessories.
SILVER PLATING FOR
DECORATION
Silver plating is also used for its aesthetic
value. Silver coatings enrich the look
and feel of a product adding to the
impression of quality. SILVER PLATING
is widely used in the dinnerware industry
and for other home ware decoration
applications.
