Riley Industries, Europe's leading dealer in plant and equipment for all aspects of surface treatment, from fully automated production lines to benchtop electroless nickel plating units.

The electroless nickel plating process consists of a specially prepared nickel alloy that is deposited on to a base metal, plastic or ceramic surface without the use of an external power source, such as DC power, as in electrolytic plating processes. The electroless nickel solution is made up of nickel ions combined with a reducing chemical agent, such as sodium hypophosphite. Using a wide range of electroless nickel plating equipment, the nickel phosphorous alloy is introduced to a chemically activated surface, which acts as a catalyst to ensure that the nickel bonds cleanly and evenly to all aspects of the component.

The result is an extremely corrosion-resistant and non-abrasive surface, with an even coating that cannot be achieved by electrolytic methods. This makes the use of both automatic and benchtop electroless nickel plating equipment the ideal solution for engineering components in a wide spectrum of industries. These include automotive, aerospace, oil & gas, chemicals, electronics, computers, hydraulics, mining and plastics.

The process of benchtop electroless nickel plating is widely used by many sub-contract industries that are engaged in the surface treatment of metals, both electroless and electrolytic. Electroless nickel provides a non-decorative but essentially protective surface that is widely in demand in light engineering.

The benchtop electroless nickel plating process can be applied to a large selection of base metals and other materials. The most common is stainless steel, as this is widely used for general engineering purposes. In addition, electroless nickel plating can be used to treat other metals, such as titanium, aluminium alloys, brass, copper, tin and precious metals.

Electroless nickel can also be used for plating non-conductive materials, such as plastics and ceramics. It is one of the most common applications for providing a hard wearing, non-corrosive and abrasion-free surface to plastic and ceramic components in engineering, electronics and computer parts such as pcbs.

Riley Industries specialises in all aspects of the surface treatment industry. The company buys and sells equipment for fully automatic and benchtop electroless nickel plating all around the world. Some examples of the equipment available from Riley Industries includes wet treatment tanks, rinsing tanks, immersion heaters, filtration units, drying units, heat treatment ovens for surface hardening, cooling systems, effluent water treatment equipment and fume extraction plant.