Cadmium plating is the process of depositing a thin, uniform layer of cadmium onto another substrate, such as a metal or plastic workpiece. Cadmium (Cd) is a bluish-white metallic chemical element that features similar properties as the more well-known chemicals zinc and mercury. Not considered to be a member of the transition metals group, cadmium is a fairly abundant element with a comparatively low melting point.
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A highly malleable and ductile metal, cadmium does, however, have its pitfalls. The main disadvantage of cadmium is its toxicity as well as its carcinogenicity even at very low concentrations. As a result of the potential environmental concerns as well as health concerns for industry workers, cadmium plating has seen a decline in recent years. However, for the applications that cadmium plating is still utilized for, varied industries include: aerospace, for the plating of steel aircraft components due to the high corrosion-resistance of cadmium; industrial manufacturing, to plate low-alloyed steel parts such as steel storage tanks and fasteners; and military, in which cadmium plating is used on a wide range of military parts according to military specifications (MIL-SPEC). Some advantages of cadmium include excellent lubricity, high corrosion-resistance and cathodic protection of steel.
Used to enhance the longevity of the product, the cadmium plating process is very similar to other metal plating processes. Also referred to as cad plating, cadmium can be plated using either an electrolytic plating process or an electroless plating process (although the electroless process is fairly rare). Cadmium is typically accomplished by means of electro-deposition utilizing either cyanide or acid solutions in containers such as barrels or vats. In addition, cadmium can be achieved through mechanical plating, vacuum deposition and metal spraying. However, in terms of commercial applications, only electroplated cadmium is considered to be of any significant importance. Electroless plating is only really used for cadmium when that cadmium that is used in conjunction with nickel, since nickel is an extremely common electroless-plated metal. One type of cadmium-nickel plating is referred to as diffused nickel cadmium plating. In this process, the part is first nickel plated using a chemical bath such as sulfamate (without the use of an electric current). Next, a thin layer of cadmium is deposited over top of the nickel layer. Lastly, the part is placed in an oven so that the cadmium can be properly diffused over the layer of nickel.