Fengfan OX-608 CAS 26468-86-0 POLYETHYLENE GLYCOL MONO(2-ETHYLHEXYL)

Product Overview

Fengfan OX-608 is polyethylene glycol mono(2-ethylhexyl) ether, CAS 26468-86-0 — a low-foaming, non-ionic surfactant with a high cloud point, supplied as a colorless to pale yellow transparent liquid at a solid content of 80% or more. Two jobs in a plating shop call for exactly this profile: holding organic brighteners in solution in an acid zinc bath, and wetting the work in an electroless nickel plating bath so the deposit builds evenly instead of chasing the current.

In an acid zinc line the product earns its place where the current density is highest. Corners, edges, thread roots and the outer faces of racked work all draw more current than the rest of the part, and that is where a bath short of surfactant burns, dulls or builds a coarse deposit. With enough of it present, those areas build a smooth, bright layer and the brightener stays in the bath rather than separating out.

Shops that run both zinc and nickel keep one grade for the pair. The same wetting action that steadies a zinc tank is what makes electroless nickel plating on aluminum practical, because an aluminum surface and the hydrogen it gives off both work against an even coating.

Specifications

Beyond the standard grades, products and solutions can be customized around the unique requirements of your own line, with the aim of achieving maximum efficiency and performance in your process. Share your operating conditions with us and we will confirm what is feasible for your bath before you order.

Acid Zinc Bath Applications

• Brightener solubilisation. Organic brighteners used in acid zinc plating chemicals are not fully water-soluble on their own; this surfactant keeps them dispersed through the working bath, so the concentration reaching the cathode stays even from the first rack of the shift to the last.
• High-current-density areas. Edges, corners and the outer faces of racked parts pull more current than the body of the work. With enough surfactant present, those areas build a smooth, bright deposit instead of burning or going coarse.
• Air-agitated tanks. Because the grade is low foaming, air agitation does not raise a foam blanket across the surface; the bath stays visible, the exhaust keeps pulling and the filter keeps circulating.
• Barrel work. Parts tumbling in a barrel meet fresh solution mainly in the gaps between them. A lower surface tension helps the bath reach the metal in those gaps, and the load comes out without a head of froth sitting on top of it.
• Deep recesses and shielded faces. The same surface active agent lowers surface tension enough for the bath to wet into recesses and behind shields, where a brightener solution on its own tends to leave dull or skipped areas.

Role in Electroless Nickel Baths

In electroless nickel plating there is no current to push solution into a recess, so everything depends on the bath wetting the metal and on the hydrogen it gives off leaving the surface promptly. A wetting agent is what makes both happen: it lowers surface tension so the bath reaches the wall of a blind hole, and it lets the gas bubbles detach instead of sitting on the work and masking the deposit.

The visible result is a more uniform coating. Thickness builds more evenly between the outside of a part and its inner faces, and the finish is smoother and more consistent from one batch to the next — which is what most buyers of plated work actually inspect for.

It is worth being clear about the boundary. This is a surfactant — the wetting agent in electroless nickel plating chemicals — not the nickel source: it does not set the phosphorus level, the deposition rate or the pH and temperature window, and it will not rescue a bath that is out of balance on nickel or reducer. What it does is keep the chemistry you already run working evenly across the surface.

Surfactant Behaviour and Bath Stability

• Solubility is set by temperature. A non-ionic surfactant is fully soluble up to its cloud point and separates above it. In a plating solution running hotter than that point the bath turns hazy and the wetting effect is gone, even though the product is still in the tank.
• What stability means here. The same wetting behaviour at the start of a shift and at the end of it, no scum on the surface and no residue on the tank walls, so bath analysis results stay comparable week to week.
• What it does not do. It is not a brightener and not a grain refiner. If the brightener is under-dosed or the zinc metal is low, adding more surfactant will not compensate, it will only cloud the picture.
• Reading a problem. A hazy bath usually means the temperature has climbed past the cloud point or an incompatible additive has gone in; a patchy, dull deposit points at dose, pretreatment or current rather than at the surfactant itself.
• Hot processes. Nickel baths often run hot, so keep the working temperature under the cloud point for the wetting effect to hold. If your bath sits above it, tell us the temperature and the process before you dose.

Plating on Aluminum

Aluminum arrives at the tank with a passive oxide film that re-forms within seconds of the deoxidiser, and that film is the main reason aluminum parts are harder to plate than steel. The bath has to wet the fresh surface immediately and keep wetting it while the first layer builds; a surfactant that lowers surface tension does that work.

Hydrogen makes it harder still. Gas released during deposition clings to aluminum more readily than to steel, and every bubble that stays put becomes a pit or a nodule. A low-foaming wetting agent lets the bubble release and the solution re-wet the spot before the deposit closes over it.

The same logic applies when aluminum parts go through an acid zinc line after a zinc immersion step: the finish is only as good as the wetting in the first few seconds. On electroless nickel plating on aluminum, inspect the first trial pieces on the top face and inside any blind hole before you release a production batch, and send us the alloy and pretreatment sequence if the finish comes out uneven.

Deposit Quality and Corrosion Resistance

• Even build across the part. A bath that wets properly builds similar thickness on the flats, the edges and the inner faces, so a part measures consistently instead of being thick where the jig touched and thin where it did not.
• Brighter, more level deposits. With the brightener held in solution, work comes off the rack bright and level, with less hand finishing and fewer parts sent back for polishing.
• Pits are where corrosion starts. A deposit that closes over a trapped hydrogen bubble leaves a pit, and in nickel plating that pit is the first place salt spray finds.
• Coverage buys corrosion resistance. A plating process that leaves a continuous layer over edges and recesses holds up in service far better than one that is bright on the flats and nearly absent at the corners.
• A better starting point for passivation. Zinc parts usually go straight into a passivation step after plating; a smooth, fully covered deposit takes a more even passivation film and shows fewer streaks afterwards.

Compatibility with Baths and Substrates

The product is made for the acid zinc plating chemicals that most lines run, and it behaves the same in rack and in barrel equipment. It goes in as a liquid addition, so the make-up of the bath stays as it is; what changes is the wetting and the way the brightener stays in solution.

It is not confined to zinc. The same grade is used as a wetting agent in the electroless nickel plating chemicals we supply for aluminum and steel work, so a shop running both processes can share one drum between the two tanks.

Steel and copper parts also pass through baths using this surfactant, but that is not the same as saying it fits every bath unmodified. Before a switch, run a jar test with the brightener package you actually use, watch for haze or separation over a few hours, and check the first production rack against the finish you are getting today. If you run an unusual additive set, send us the bath make-up and we will check it against the product.

Cost Efficiency in the Bath

• One additive, two roles. In an acid zinc line the same drum both solubilises the brightener and wets the high-current areas, so there is one fewer product to buy, store and dose.
• Rejects cost more than the additive. A part that has pitted or burned has already been through the whole plating solution, the rinse chain and the dryer before it is scrapped; the gain from a smoother deposit shows up in yield, not in the drum.
• What leaves the tank is what you paid for. A low-foaming grade does not build a foam blanket that holds product at the surface, and less comes out on the work and in the barrel.
• A dose that stays put. Because the product does not separate below its cloud point, the figure set at make-up is still the figure running at the end of the shift, which means less chasing and less re-dosing.
• The honest case. The saving is in fewer rejects and fewer bath corrections rather than in a dramatic change in consumption — treat it as a yield measure, not a purchase-volume one.

Safe Handling and Environmental Profile

The product is a near-neutral, water-soluble liquid. As a non-ionic surface active agent it has no strong acid or alkali character to manage on the shop floor, which keeps the routine short: gloves and eye protection as for any bath additive, a closed drum between additions, and a measure kept for this product only.

Store the drums on a pallet in a cool, dry place, closed and out of direct sun. A drum left open in a humid plant will pick up water over time, and that shows up later as a lower solid content on the next check.

In the rinse chain the product rinses freely and does not leave a film on the work. The rinse water still carries surfactant, so check it against your local discharge limits before it goes to drain, and ask your sales contact for the current safety data sheet so the classification can be checked against your permit.

The routine does not change between processes: the same handling, the same storage and the same record keeping apply whether the drum is going to an acid zinc tank or to a nickel plating line.

Quality Control and Batch Documentation

1. Release against the written specification. Appearance, solid content, pH and cloud point are the four figures that decide how the product behaves in the plating process, and each one is checked before a batch is released.
2. Comparison with a retained reference. Colour and clarity are matched against a sample kept from the reference batch, which is how a slow drift towards a darker liquid is caught before it reaches a customer.
3. Batch number on the drum. Every drum is marked with the batch it came from; quote that number when you raise a technical question and the record can be pulled.
4. Packing and label check. Drum, closure and label are checked before dispatch so the product arrives identified and sealed.
5. The same routine across the range. Our electroless nickel plating chemicals go through the same release steps, so the paperwork looks familiar whichever drum arrives.
6. Documents on request. Ask your sales contact for the current safety data sheet and the batch information you need for your incoming-goods file.

Related Products in the Range

Ordering and Delivery

• Standard packing for this product. 200 kg/drum.
• Other pack formats. 10 kg/box; 25 kg or 50 kg/bag; 20 kg, 25 kg, 30 kg or 200 kg/drum; 1,000 kg/IBC drum — confirm the format you need with your sales contact.
• Minimum order quantity. Varies by chemical; confirmed with our sales team per order.
• Lead time. 2 weeks.
• Payment. 100% T/T in advance.
• Shipping. Per the terms agreed in the current contract.
• After delivery. An inspection certificate is issued after delivery stating the batch number and the warranty period.

Technical Data and Documents

Dosing and Bath Addition

1. Agree the starting figure with us before the first drum goes in. The right addition depends on the brightener package in your acid zinc plating chemicals, the bath volume and the current density you run at; send us the make-up, the working temperature and the brightener you use, and we will set a starting concentration to trial instead of leaving you to guess.
2. Check the bath temperature first. The cloud point on the specification is the temperature above which a non-ionic surface active agent separates out; if the tank runs hotter than that, the addition will haze the plating solution and do nothing for the deposit.
3. Pre-dilute before adding. Measure the product, dilute it in water or in a bucket of the working bath, and add it slowly under agitation at a point away from the work, so it disperses rather than reaching the cathode as a concentrated dose.
4. Add on the low side and step up. Make the first addition at the bottom of the agreed range, plate a rack, and look at the edges, thread roots and outer faces where current density is highest; if those areas are still dull or coarse, add the next step.
5. Judge the result on the work, not on the drum. An even, bright build at the high-current areas means the bath has enough; a dull or burnt edge means it is still short; a foam blanket or a hazy bath means too much has gone in, or the temperature is wrong.
6. Write it down. Record the batch number from the drum, the weight added, the bath volume, the date and the finish you obtained, so the next addition repeats a known result instead of starting from zero.
7. Replenish with the brightener, not on a calendar. Top up as brightener is consumed and the high-current areas begin to dull; a fixed weekly addition tends to over-dose a slow line and under-dose a busy one.
8. If the plating solution turns hazy straight after an addition, stop and check before adding more — a bath running above the cloud point and an incompatible additive are the two usual causes.

Non-Toxic and Eco-Friendly

Made with safer ingredients

The product is manufactured with non-toxic, eco-friendly ingredients that are formulated to comply with global safety standards. Because requirements differ from market to market, tell us your destination country and application and we will confirm which standards and documents apply to the grade you are buying.

Expertise and Proven Track Record

Two decades in the field

With over 20 years in the industry, we bring deep expertise and detailed knowledge of acid zinc plating to every project. Share the substrate, bath type and operating conditions you are working with, and we will help you identify the grade that fits your process.

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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