Fengfan CAS 102-60-3 Plastic Electroplating Intermediates Raw Material For Pcb Chemical Q75

Product Overview

Q75 is an aqueous solution of N,N,N',N'-tetrakis(2-hydroxypropyl)ethylenediamine, supplied at 74.5-75.5% concentration as a transparent yellow viscous liquid with an alkaline pH of 8.0-12.0. It mixes with water in all proportions, with no solubiliser and no insoluble filler to filter out.

The main job is chelation. In an electroless copper plating bath, free copper ions would precipitate as hydroxide in the alkaline range; this molecule holds them in solution so metal can deposit in a controlled way on catalysed hole walls. PCB fabricators use it in through-hole and microvia metallisation; formulators use the same material as the chelating component of alkaline cleaners and descalers.

Two naming points are worth settling before you order. The compound travels under several trade names, EDTP among them, and under two chemical names: the systematic N,N,N',N'-tetrakis(2-hydroxypropyl)ethylenediamine and the older 'hexamethylene tramine tra hydroxy propy chloride' wording you may still see on a legacy label. Match on CAS 102-60-3 and on the assay in front of you, not on the name alone.

It is supplied as one of a range of chemical intermediates, not as a finished bath. The addition rate comes from your own formulation, and our technical team will confirm a working window once we have your bath sheet.

Technical Specifications

Complexing Function In The Copper Bath

A complexing agent is what allows an alkaline copper bath to exist at all. Copper(II) ions are not soluble as free ions in alkaline solution; bound to this ethylenediamine backbone they stay in solution and are released at the work surface at a controlled rate. The bath therefore runs clear instead of throwing down hydroxide sludge.

Deposition from a complexed bath is slower and more even than from a free-ion bath, which is what a circuit board needs. Coverage down a hole wall, around the knee of a microvia and across fine tracks depends on the same copper concentration reaching every wetted surface, and the complex holds that concentration steady through the shift.

A bath short of complexing agent shows it early: haze in the solution, a coarse or dark deposit, sludge in the filter. Running a large excess is not a fix either, because deposition slows and control gets harder. Both directions usually show on a titration plus a Hull cell panel before parts reach the line, which is why the assay window on the batch record matters more than the drum price.

It is not a brightener and cannot be dosed in place of one. As with other chemical intermediates in a plating bath, it sits alongside the reducing agent, stabilisers and additives already in your formulation; if one of those changes, tell us what changed so we can confirm the complexing side still balances.

For electroless plating of copper on high-aspect-ratio boards, that balance is the difference between a bath that holds its thickness target all shift and one that drifts away from it.

Process Sequence On A PCB Line

1. Desmear and clean. Resin smear from drilling has to come off the hole wall before anything will adhere, and the desmear stage also opens the resin surface for the steps that follow.
2. Condition. A conditioning step adjusts the surface charge so the catalyst is adsorbed evenly, including inside small vias.
3. Micro-etch. A controlled etch of the copper gives the next layers a mechanical key and removes oxide at the same time.
4. Catalyse and accelerate. The catalyst is deposited on the conditioned dielectric and then exposed in an accelerator so copper deposition can start.
5. Electroless copper. This is where the product works: it keeps copper complexed in the alkaline bath so electroless plating of copper proceeds on the catalysed walls at a controlled rate. Thickness targets belong to the line, not to the chemical alone.
6. Rinse and pass on. Thorough rinsing after the copper bath stops drag-in carrying complexed copper into the next stage.
7. A metal plating process is only as stable as its bath chemistry, and this stage usually shows a problem first: a dull, patchy or slow deposit normally traces back to the copper bath rather than to the catalyst.

Cleaning And Scale Removal Uses

• Alkaline pre-treatment cleaners. Chelation holds calcium, magnesium and dissolved metal ions so lifted soil stays suspended instead of settling back onto the part before any metal plating process begins.
• Scale and smut removal. In alkaline cleaning blends it keeps scale-forming ions in solution while the solution works, so parts come out evenly clean rather than patchy.
• Residue removal before plating. Parts that arrive with polish residues, fingerprints or light oxide clean more evenly when the cleaner can reach the soil film beneath the contamination.
• Line and tank maintenance solutions. Formulators use it as the chelating component of cleaning blends for tanks, racks and pipework where hardness scale builds up.
• Cleaner formulation. It is a component, not a finished cleaner: tell us the soil type and the working pH, and we will confirm a sensible addition window for the blend you are building.
• Working with formulators. Shops that build their own baths from chemical intermediates can carry one drum for both the plating bath and the pre-treatment cleaner, which keeps the store list short.

Solubility And Bath Integration

At 20 °C the material is miscible with water in all proportions, which removes a step some complexing agents demand: no dispersion stage, no solubiliser, no haze to filter out afterwards. Pre-dilute it in water and add it at the rate your bath sheet gives.

The liquid is viscous, so let the drum come to workshop temperature before you pump it and size transfer lines accordingly. Once it meets water it disperses quickly, and because the solution is homogeneous, the last litre in the drum matches the first.

It is already alkaline, with a specification window of pH 8.0-12.0, so keep additions away from acid streams and rinse transfer equipment afterwards. Face shield, gloves and apron are the normal precautions for a liquid in this pH range.

If you formulate coating production chemicals, an aqueous solution is simple to build into a liquid blend: no wetting-in step, no settling in the drum, no re-homogenising before filling.

Water quality still belongs to your process. Where your bath sheet calls for demineralised water, use it; the product dilutes cleanly either way, but hardness in the make-up water is a variable you do not want to add to a copper bath.

Product Advantages

• High active content. At 74.5-75.5% you ship less water per active kilo and hold less volume in the store than with a dilute grade.
• Replenishment arithmetic that stays valid. With the assay held to a defined window, the addition figure you worked out on the first drum still applies on the tenth.
• Two jobs from one line item. The same drum serves as the complexing agent in an electroless copper plating bath and as the chelating component in alkaline cleaners and descalers.
• No equipment change. It goes into existing alkaline electroless copper chemistry as it stands; confirm the addition rate against your own bath sheet before the first production lot.
• Back-up from the rest of the bath. It is one line in a plating chemicals range that covers the additives around it, and the technical contact who answers questions on this drum answers questions on those too.

Quality Control And Batch Consistency

Every lot is checked against the same three anchors: assay inside 74.5-75.5%, pH inside 8.0-12.0, and appearance against a retained standard of transparent yellow viscous liquid. A retained sample from each batch stays with us, so when a drum behaves differently from the one before it there is a reference to compare against rather than a disagreement.

A certificate of analysis and a safety data sheet are issued against the batch number printed on the drum. Ask your sales contact for them with the order, and for any statement your market requires, so you know before shipping exactly what the batch documentation will and will not cover. If your incoming inspection titrates, ask us for the method so both laboratories read the same endpoint.

The material sits inside a wider range of chemical intermediates, plating additives and coating raw materials for electronics and industrial surface finishing. Batch records stay with the technical team, so a question about a specific drum is answered against the record for that lot rather than from memory.

Consistency earns its keep here. A two-point shift in assay moves the replenishment arithmetic on a running bath, and a bath that has to be re-analysed mid-shift costs far more than the difference in drum price. Buyers who formulate coating production chemicals say the same thing: what matters is that the fifth drum behaves like the first, and that there is somebody to call when a blend does not.

Drum Handling And Distribution

• Labelled at the drum. Product name, CAS number and batch number sit on the label, so goods-in can book the lot without opening it, which matters when several plating chemicals arrive on the same pallet.
• Palletised for sea freight. Drums are stacked and secured for container loading; keep them upright in transit and in the store.
• Handled as an alkaline liquid. Use a drum trolley or a pump rather than manual lifting, and never decant into an unlabelled container.
• Checked on arrival. Look at the closure and the drum body before the drum goes into stores; damage on any metal plating process chemical should be reported and photographed first.
• Space ready at goods-in. Have pallet space, a bunded area for alkaline liquids and the batch book ready before delivery, so the lot is logged the day it lands.

Storage And Supply Planning

Store the drums in a cool, dry, ventilated place out of direct sunlight, closed, and off the floor on pallets. Like most electroplating chemicals, this one is stable under those conditions, and the batch number on the label lets you rotate stock oldest-first rather than guessing which drum has been sitting longest.

Cold weather thickens a viscous liquid and a warm store thins it. If a drum has been somewhere cold, let it come back to workshop temperature before dosing, then stir it gently rather than shaking it, which only draws air into a viscous product.

Plan supply against your bath volume. Replenishment on a running line is a steady trickle rather than a bulk event, so most customers order on a repeating cycle instead of one annual shipment. Tell your sales contact the monthly figure and the delivery rhythm you want, and the schedule is built around it. Keep one spare drum above your calculated buffer so an unplanned bath dump does not stop the line.

If a drum has sat in the store for a long time, run the same incoming check you would on a new lot: assay, pH and appearance.

Typical Buyer Scenarios

• PCB fabricators running PTH lines. Several copper baths in parallel, each with its own addition log; a consistent assay means one replenishment figure can be used across baths.
• Captive electronics plating departments. Connector and moulded-part lines that plate copper onto catalysed plastic or ceramic and need a complexing agent sized to a smaller bath volume.
• Formulators building cleaners and descalers. Buyers who blend plating chemicals for resale use it as the chelating component and need the same behaviour from every batch they fill.
• Distributors stocking a plating range. Buyers who resell coating production chemicals to their own accounts care more about documentation and repeatable specification than about a sales pitch.
• Job shops adding copper capacity. When a second bath is commissioned, the last thing anyone wants is a complexing agent that behaves differently from the one in the first.

Ordering And Delivery

Role in Surface Treatment Processes

This functional intermediate is designed to act as a metal complexing agent in electroplating. It supports non-electrolytic copper plating processes, especially for printed circuit boards where surface preparation demands precision and stability. Its good water solubility and alkaline nature help optimize cleaning and descaling steps and improve coating adhesion. For coating chemical suppliers and production teams, it helps maintain uniform finishes on complex substrates while fitting common industrial specifications. Exact compatibility with a given bath should be confirmed against your process requirements.

Solubility and Process Efficiency

The material dissolves completely in water, and its alkaline properties allow smooth integration into industrial baths. This helps reduce interruptions caused by insoluble residues and supports cleaner, more controlled plating operations. It also contributes to adhesion and coating stability, particularly in printed circuit board applications. Its versatility supports coating chemical workflows with lower risk and improved overall processing efficiency. Actual bath performance will depend on your specific process, so confirm the details before use.

Technical Support & Model Matching

Choosing the right match is where most sourcing decisions stall. As a trading supplier, we keep one point of contact from first enquiry to after-sales: tell us what you are making and the conditions you work under, and we shortlist the closest matches from our supplier network, compare specifications and arrange samples before you commit to a bulk order. If something does not behave as expected, we work with the supplying partner on the cause and a practical fix, and stay with the case until it is settled. Email, WeChat or WhatsApp enquiries get a reply within 24 hours.

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