Fengfan OX-105 Potassium Chloride Zinc Plating Intermediate High Temperature Zinc Plating Carrier

Product Overview

A high-temperature carrier for potassium chloride zinc plating, supplied as a viscous, high-solids liquid and added to the working bath as part of the additive package. Its job there is to hold the brightener in solution and spread it evenly through the electrolyte, so the brightener does its work at the surface of the part rather than being consumed in the tank.

An acid zinc bath is a balance of conducting salt, boric acid, brightener and carrier, and the carrier is the component that decides how much of the brightener actually reaches the work. This grade is built for the baths that are hardest on that balance: a high potassium chloride concentration, a warm working temperature, and the sort of daily throughput that keeps a tank hot from the first load to the last. Under those conditions a carrier with little tolerance for heat and salt drops out, the brightener follows it, and the deposit dulls no matter how much brightener is added afterwards.

Typical users are plating shops running potassium chloride zinc on rack or barrel lines, and formulators who build their own brightener systems around a chemical intermediate of this type. It sits inside a wider metal plating process rather than replacing it: the bath, the rectifier settings and the rest of the additive package stay as they are, and the carrier is the variable being changed. Brighteners, purifiers, wetting agents and the rest of the Fengfan range come from the same technical team, so an additive set can be matched as a group instead of assembled supplier by supplier.

Specifications

High-Temperature, High-Salt Performance

The number that matters most when carriers are compared is the cloud point. It is the temperature at which the carrier begins to come out of solution, and once it does, the brightener it was holding separates with it. What the operator sees is a deposit that goes dull or patchy towards the end of a shift, and the instinct is to add brightener, which raises the organic load in the bath without removing the cause. A carrier is a surface active agent by nature, and like any surfactant it has a temperature above which it stops doing its job.

The cloud point of this grade is measured in a potassium chloride zinc bath and sits well above the temperatures a working acid zinc line reaches in normal service. That leaves room for the days when the margin is tested: a summer shift with no chilling, a tank that has carried heavy work since early morning, or a barrel line where drag-in keeps pushing the salt concentration higher.

Margin is what separates one metal plating carrier from another in practice. One that only just copes at working temperature looks fine on paper and becomes a problem in August. Choosing by cloud point rather than by price per drum is how acid zinc plating chemicals are matched to a line that has to hold its finish all year, and it is the reason this grade is specified for hot shops rather than for temperature-controlled ones.

Salt resistance works the same way. A potassium chloride bath is already close to saturation in conducting salt, and every rack or barrel that leaves the tank drags solution out while contamination comes back in. A carrier that stays effective as the electrolyte gets harsher keeps the brightener distribution even across the load, instead of leaving the parts at the edge of the jig visibly different from the parts in the middle.

Brightness and Leveling Behavior

• Brightener solubilisation. The carrier keeps the organic brightener fractions dissolved and evenly distributed through the bath, so the brightener reaches the work instead of sitting in the tank as a separate phase.
• Reach into recessed work. Good dispersibility and penetrability carry the additive package into low-agitation areas — recesses, blind holes, the inner faces of a barrel load — where coverage is normally the first thing to suffer.
• Leveling, not only brightness. Working with the brightener, the carrier helps the deposit build evenly rather than simply reflecting more light, which cuts the polishing and sorting a decorative acid zinc finish otherwise demands.
• Steady colour across the shift. Because the carrier holds its place in the bath as the tank warms, the deposit at the end of a run matches the panels plated at the start, and operators stop chasing the tank with brightener top-ups.
• A carrier is not a brightener. This is the surface active agent that lets the brightener do its work; it is dosed as one component of the package, not as a single-additive cure for a dull bath. When a deposit goes flat, the cause can be the brightener, the carrier, contamination or current density, and it is worth finding out which before anything is added.
• One variable at a time. The carrier is added to the metal plating process already in the tank rather than replacing it, so the change can be judged on its own — plated panels before and after, compared across the full current density range, before a production tank is committed.

Handling and Bath Control

1. Homogenise the drum before drawing product. The liquid carries a high solids load and separates out easily on standing; roll or stir the drum until it is uniform, otherwise the first draw and the last draw are not the same concentration.
2. Pre-dilute before it goes into the tank. Draw the measured volume into a bucket of water and stir until it is dispersed, then add it with the bath agitating rather than pouring the neat liquid in.
3. Add on analysis, not on appearance. Track the carrier against brightener consumption and plated test panels; a bath short of carrier looks very like a bath short of brightener, and topping up the wrong one hides the real problem.
4. Let the bath circulate after the addition. Give the tank time to move the product through the electrolyte before the next load goes in, so the carrier is evenly distributed when it meets the work and the plating process is not disturbed by a fresh pocket of additive.
5. Confirm the starting addition level with us before the first full charge. The right figure depends on your bath volume, your brightener system and the work load, so ask your sales contact to set it for your tank rather than scaling it from another line.
6. Write the batch number on the drum against the tank it went into. If a question comes up weeks later, the lot can be traced back to the bath and the date it was charged.

Documentation and Compliance Support

• Safety data sheet. A safety data sheet is available for the grade you receive. Ask your sales contact for it before the first drum is opened and keep it with the tank instructions, where the operators can find it.
• Identity details for a registration file. This is a formulated chemical intermediate rather than a single-number commodity, so match the CAS number and molecular formula against the documentation for the specific lot rather than against a catalogue line. Request them at quotation stage if your import file needs them.
• What we disclose, and what we do not. Composition disclosure follows the safety data sheet. The full formulation is not published and is not released in parts; if your quality system needs a restricted-substances statement, say so early so the right document can be prepared for the lot.
• REACH and RoHS questions. A declaration against a named regulation is issued for the specific lot on request. Tell us the destination market and the regulation you are answering to — a general statement will not satisfy an auditor, and a specific one takes time to prepare.
• Export paperwork. This carrier is one of a group of chemicals for the acid zinc plating process rather than a finished consumer article, but it still has to clear your own import file and any customer specification the plated work is measured against. Raise the requirement before the order is placed rather than after the drum has shipped.

Packing and Ordering

OX Carrier Series Selection

Rack and Barrel Line Practice

• One product serves both configurations. The carrier is dosed into the electrolyte rather than applied to the part, so a rack line and a barrel line use the same grade; what differs is how quickly fresh solution reaches the surface of the work and how evenly current spreads across the load.
• Rack work rewards dispersibility. On a jig, solution exchange depends on air or mechanical agitation, and shielded faces, recesses and the inside of a frame see far less of it. The dispersibility and penetrability of this grade are what carry the brightener into those areas instead of leaving them dull.
• Barrel work rewards penetration and low foam. In a barrel the load turns through the solution and each part meets the current path only intermittently, so the solution has to wet the work through a tumbling mass. This is also where a carrier that foams heavily becomes a handling problem rather than a brightness one.
• Brightener balance follows the current density profile. A barrel load presents a different spread of current density from a rack of flat panels, so a ratio that looks right on a rack test piece can come out dull or over-bright in a barrel. Set the balance against panels plated in the configuration you actually run.
• Drag-out is heavier on a barrel line. More solution leaves the tank on the work and in the barrel, and more contamination comes back with it, so potassium chloride concentration and pH are worth checking at fixed intervals rather than when the deposit starts to drift.
• Confirm the starting addition against your line data. Tank volume, agitation, load area and whether the work is racked or barrelled all change the figure we would recommend, so send those details with your enquiry and we will set a starting point for your tank instead of a number copied from another shop.

Storage and Transport

The grade arrives as a 200 kg drum of viscous, high-solids liquid and is stored the way most acid zinc plating chemicals are: upright, sealed, in a cool, dry, ventilated place out of direct sunlight, with the drum closed again straight after each draw. The solids load is high enough that the liquid separates out on standing, so a drum that has been in store for a while is brought back to a uniform state before it is drawn down for the tank.

Two habits keep a store in order. Rotate stock so the oldest lot goes first, and mark each drum with the batch number and the date it was received, so a bath that behaves unexpectedly can be traced to the lot that went into it. Then bring a cold drum back towards room temperature before drawing from it: a viscous liquid thickens as it cools, and a drum that pumps slowly is usually cold rather than short of product.

Transport classification and labelling depend on the destination and the mode of shipment. Ask us for the safety data sheet and the transport documents for the lot before freight is booked, and pass them to the forwarder rather than relying on what is printed on the drum alone; tell us the destination country at enquiry stage, because export documents take time to prepare.

If a drum arrives with a broken seal, a swollen body or a separation that does not clear on stirring, record the condition and contact us before the product goes into a bath. Keep the safety data sheet with the drum rather than in an office file, so the people handling the metal plating process can read it where the work is done.

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.

FAQ