Tin electroplating

Tin is a non precious metal. The main advantage of this metal is its low price. Therefore, if the expected vibration or temperature change is not too severe, it can be used as a surface coating for the automotive industry. It forms a hard tin oxide layer on its surface and is easy to wear. In order to obtain a good and stable effective contact area and a lower and stable contact resistance, the oxide layer must undergo plastic deformation and fracture through a high positive force, or rather, through a high surface pressure. This high positive force is required, while tin has a relatively high coefficient of friction, which results in a high insertion and pull-out force, and therefore increased wear.

This limits the swap cycle to about 20. Therefore, it is suitable for large capacity applications that do not need multiple insertion and extraction cycles, and for the termination process of pressing or welding electrical contacts.