Fengfan OX-401 Acid Zinc Plating Intermediate Low Foam Anionic Surfactant For Acid Zinc Plating

Product Overview

OX-401 is the acid zinc plating intermediate that carries the brightener system in a potassium chloride zinc bath. It is an anionic polyether, one of the industrial surfactants used in plating, supplied as a red-brown, transparent, slightly viscous liquid that dissolves fully in water and stays in solution at the chloride concentrations these baths run at. In the tank it does not brighten or clean on its own: it keeps the organic brighteners dissolved and evenly delivered to the cathode, wets the work so gas leaves the surface instead of clinging to it, and keeps the foam head down while the barrel turns or the air sparger runs. Additive formulators buy it as the backbone of a low-foam carrier package; plating shops buy it to replace a carrier that keeps climbing out of the tank. Rack lines and barrel lines both use it, and it also runs in acid zinc-nickel alloy and acid copper baths.

The distinction that matters most is what it is not. Most anionic surfactants on the market are designed to build and hold a foam head, because that is what a cleaning or washing formulation wants. This one is designed to let the foam go, which is why it can be dosed into a bath that is being agitated hard all day.

Specifications

Product Advantages

• Built to break foam, not hold it. The surface active agent carries a modified anionic head group, so lamellae collapse as soon as gas reaches the surface; you can hold vigorous air agitation for better current distribution without the tank climbing.
• Keeps OCBA and BAR in solution. o-Chlorobenzaldehyde and benzylideneacetone are hydrophobic, and undissolved brightener means pits and dull patches. This carrier emulsifies and disperses both and delivers them to the cathode instead of letting them settle out of the working volume.
• Holds up in concentrated chloride. It resists salting out at potassium chloride levels above 220 g/L, so a strong make-up or a heavy drag-in does not drop the carrier out of solution.
• Hydrolysis resistance means fewer top-ups. The addition stays intact in the working bath across a long service cycle instead of breaking down and forcing you to chase the brightener level.
• Throwing power where the parts need it. Good throwing ability and high current efficiency put metal into recesses and thread roots, and cut the gassing that burns the edges of a heavy load.
• Drops into an existing package. It works with nonionic carriers, emulsifiers, the other industrial surfactants and the usual components of acid zinc plating chemicals, so a formulator can change the carrier without rebuilding the whole system.
• Forgiving on iron. It keeps iron in suspension instead of letting it co-deposit as roughness, which helps in any metal plating process where water quality and drag-in vary from week to week.

Bath Dosing & Control

1. Confirm the bath before you dose. The figures below are written for a potassium chloride acid zinc bath; in a different metal plating process such as acid zinc-nickel alloy or acid copper, the same acid zinc plating intermediate is used, but treat the additions as a starting point and confirm them with us.
2. As the main brightener, dose 20–50 g/L. The surface active agent can go in with an emulsifier or on its own, depending on how the rest of the package is built.
3. As a softener, 40–100 g/L gives a consistent overall balance; many lines draw both fractions from the same drum at different ratios.
4. Hold the working window at pH 5.5–6.5 and 20–35 °C. Dosing outside that window wastes addition and shows up as dullness in the low current density band.
5. Prove the change on a Hull cell panel before you commit a full tank. Read the low current density band for dullness, the high current density edge for burning, and the surface after ten minutes of agitation for standing foam.

Use Scenarios

• A formulator building a low-foam carrier. An additive maker is asked for a brightener system that will not foam out of a customer's barrel tank. They build the package around this low foam anionic surfactant, confirm on a panel that the solution stays clear at working temperature and produces no stable foam, and can quote the package for high-throughput barrel lines.
• A fastener plant with tanks that overflow. A continuous barrel line running screws and bolts is losing solution over the walkway. A carrier built on this product drops the foam to a thin layer, which lets the line raise air agitation, improve thickness distribution on the threads and reduce drag-out losses.
• A shop adding an alloy line. A plant that already runs acid zinc and is now commissioning a zinc-nickel plating line can evaluate one carrier for both duties instead of qualifying a second wetting system from a different supplier.
• Rack plating of recessed and threaded parts. Good throwing power and deep plating behaviour put deposit into blind holes and thread roots, and the low foam head keeps the solution clear enough that dropped parts are easy to find and retrieve.
• Acid copper lines. Acid copper plating, particularly where a wetter must not foam, is the second bath type where this carrier is used; it is chosen among anionic surfactants for its low-foam behaviour, so trial it on a panel before changing a production tank.

Related Products

Ordering & Delivery

1. Tell your sales contact which bath you are running and which acid zinc plating chemicals it already contains, plus the volume you expect to use per month. Minimum order quantity varies by chemical and is confirmed with the sales team for each order.
2. Agree the packing. This carrier ships in 25 kg, 50 kg and 200 kg plastic drums; across the range the standard options are 10 kg/box, 25 kg or 50 kg/bag, 20 kg/25 kg/30 kg/200 kg/drum and 1,000 kg/IBC drums.
3. Payment is 100% T/T in advance.
4. Allow two weeks of production lead time.
5. Shipping is arranged on the terms agreed in the current contract.
6. Store the drums in a cool, dry, ventilated warehouse. After delivery the inspection certificate states the batch number of the lot and its warranty period.

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