Electroplating and Dangerous Chemicals

The electroplating and finishing industry is an essential industry in our economy. The surfaces of parts in our computers, appliances, automobiles, trucks, airplanes, and trains are finished to make the products stronger, more durable, more useful, and less corrosive.

However, the process to apply plating or finishings to such parts requires the use of dangerous chemicals. It is to a customer’s advantage to utilize the services of experienced platers and finishers such as the professionals that work at F.M. Callahan & Son. We have over 100 years of experience handling chemicals in such a manner to produce high quality results for our customers, protect our employees from danger, and protect the environment from harm. Our personnel use personal protective equipment (PPE) in well-ventilated areas. We properly store and transport hazardous chemicals according to industry safety requirements. Our employees regularly attend safety training and are required to know chemical safety data sheets (SDS).

Our experts have been trained to avoid making the following mistakes:

• Do not carelessly mix cyanide solutions with acids. Such an act will be lethal to not only the operator but also to many others in the building.
• Do not mix strong acids (i.e. nitric acid) with strong bases (i.e. potassium hydroxide). Mixing these chemicals can produce heat and cause a violent explosion.
• Do not mix ammonium salts with acids. Mixing these chemicals can produce toxic gases.
• Do not mix reducing agents with heavy metal salts. The fumes will be dangerous to employees.
• Do not mix hydrochloric acid and bleach. It will create mustard gas, the lethal battlefield gas that killed many soldiers in WW I.
• Do not create a spark around foam that contains hydrogen gas.
• Avoid generating harmful fumes by not mixing steel and nitric acid.

Our employees have been trained to avoid splashing drops of corrosive acid onto their skin or into their eyes. Such acids include but are not limited to chromic, hydrochloric, sulfuric, and nitric acids. For example, nitric hydrofluoric acid will eat through the layers of skin unless it is immediately washed off.

Fine dust is often created when parts go through grinding, polishing, or buffing. Long-term exposure to such dust can disrupt normal lung functions.

Knowing how to handle dangerous chemicals is not merely about employee safety. Such knowledge also protects our customer’s parts from damage or destruction.

• We know not to put brass into nitric acid.
• We know not to put aluminum into hydrochloric acid.
• We know not to use nitric hydrofluoric acid on any substrate other than aluminum and stainless steel.

In summary, avoid the dangers of electroplating and finishing and trust your parts into the care of the experienced professionals at F.M. Callahan & Son. We know how to safely deliver the results you require for your parts.