Effect of different pretreatment processes on the properties of copper plating on titanium alloy tubing surface

This paper investigated on the non-cyanide copper plating processes on titanium alloy tubing surface. The properties of copper plating on titanium alloy surface were studied under different pretreatment processes; adhesion strength of copper plating was tested by using scratch and tensile method, the coating microstructures were analyze by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and EDS. Comparing the performance of the copper coating on titanium alloy surface under different pretreatment processes, the best pretreatment process of copper plating method was optimized, the full-size titanium alloy tubing thread samples with copper coating were also tested by make-up/break-out experiment. Based on the systematic analysis it can be concluded that the copper coating on titanium alloy surface with activation and nickel plated pretreatment had advantages of high adhesion strength, compact coating and low porosity, this non-cyanide copper plating process can solve thread galling problem of titanium alloy tubing and promote large-scale application of titanium alloy materials in petrochemical industry.