Electrolytic Metallic Coatings for Carbon Fibers

This paper concerns electrolytic metallic coatings for carbon fibers and the related processes. Plating bath design, electrolyte selection and other aspects were investigated. Experimental results especially in copper electroplating show that the uniformity of metallic coatings on carbon fibers can be improved by the modification of plating bath and the selection of electrolytes. Thus continuous and uniform metallic coatings can be obtained on carbon fibers, even if the cross section of carbon fibers has irregular shape. Polarization tests on different copper baths was performed. Electrodeposition of other metallic layers such as nickel, cobalt, and copper/tin duplex layer was also introduced. A process of two or more than two plating steps in which different electrolytes may be used for same metal deposition was proposed to expedite the coating procedure