DROP IN TANK LINERS FOR ELECTROLESS NICKEL
Electroless nickel plating (ENi) is a process where the metal deposit is made by a chemical reaction versus an electric current. A traditional heavy gauge PVC tank liner can handle the solution but it may not be the most practical way to protect your tank.
Because an ENi solution produces a chemical bond, the solution will deposit metal on everything it is in contact with – parts, racks, heaters, tank walls, etc. Drop in tank liners are no different. After a short period of time the liners will have developed enough deposits that the liner will need to be immersed in a solution of nitric acid to strip any metal deposits off of it. Naturally this is time consuming as well as expensive in both acid costs and waste treatment costs.
One solution we offer to stripping a tank liner of metal deposits is a thin gauge PVC drop in liner. These liners are typically 20 or 30 mil thick and are designed to be disposable. When the liner has plated out it can be pulled out of the tank, probably disposed of, and a new one dropped in its place. This eliminates both the time and cost of acid leaching as well as providing for a longer service life of your tank as well.
We can make the liners in whatever quantity needed but most customers prefer to buy in quantities of 10 or 20 liners at a time. We have quantity discount points as well.
Francisco Rojas
It is necessary to leach a 0.020 gauge PVC liner before first use??? What is the probability of plasticizer release at 160 F?
Thank you!!!
Andrew Hotchkies
Francisco
Thank you for such a great question. For solutions that might be sensitive to the oils in the plasticizers we recommend leaching a liner prior to service. Higher temperatures will also pull out surface plasticizers faster which is why we recommend a leach be done at 140 deg F. Different PVC formulations will exhibit different amounts of surface plasticizers. The formulation we use for ENi has a low level of surface plasticizers. Furthermore, our experience has been that the liner plates out before any other issues come into play. Therefore, we don’t typically recommend a leach for disposable liners in ENi solutions. If you have been experiencing such an issue then I would recommend a leach.
PVC Tanks
Which kind of Water tanks is best?
Andrew Hotchkies
“best” is a rather open ended discussion. Best for what? Service life? Corrosion resistance? Temperature range? Cost? If you can be more specific on the application I would be happy to provide my thoughts.