Gold Plating

MIL-G-45204 Gold Plating, Electrodeposited

Gold Plating & Gold Electroplating - purity and coating thickness:

Co-deposited impurities can make soldering more difficult, and for this reason high purity gold plating is preferred. Soldering requirements are best achieved when gold electroplating coatings range between 0.00005 and 0.0001 inch (50 and 100 micro inches) thickness.

Gold Plating & Gold Electroplating - Hardness Grades:

1. 90 knoop, maximum
2. 91-129 knoop, inclusive
3. 130-200 knoop, inclusive
4. 201 knoop, minimum

Gold over silver is not recommended for electronics hardware:

Gold Plating - Underplate Recommendations
Gold Electroplating - When gold is applied to a copper rich surface such as brass, bronze, or beryllium copper, metal ions from these base metals will diffuse into the gold layer and degrade its hardness and non-oxidizing properties. An antidiffusion underplate such as nickel (electroless or sulfamate) should be applied to prevent this. We recommend electroless nickel under gold where part flexure of deformation is not expected and a bight finish is desirable. Where part flexure or deformation is expected, we recommend sulfamate nickel as the underplate because of its higher ducility.