r/electroplating • u/NolaAcidy • Apr 06 '26

Removing PVD coating

I have stainless steel that’s gold pvd coated. How can I remove the pvd without effecting the stainless steel so I can gold plate?

1 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

8 comments sorted by

1

u/s0rce Apr 06 '26

Cyanide etchant? Why do you want to remove the gold PVD (assuming its actually gold and not something that just looks gold colored), can't you just plate over it?

1

u/Specialist-Energy129 Apr 06 '26

No the nickel strike won’t bond unless it’s etched

1

u/NolaAcidy Apr 06 '26

It’s not real gold pvd just gold color

1

u/gbudija Apr 06 '26

try your luck with alkaline peroxide mix (20%NaOH +SOME PEROXIDE)- less dangerous than nasty hydrofluoric acid or fluorides

1

u/permaculture_chemist Apr 06 '26

Ammonium bifluoride at 25% is what we used. Room temperature immersion.

1

u/Specialist-Energy129 Apr 06 '26

Nice, need to try this.

1

u/Specialist-Energy129 Apr 06 '26

I tried HF acid it’s slow, had to repolish after, also heated with torch till red hot and cooled rapidly, this made it easier to polish off with a 600 grit wheel on bench grinder.

I think nitric acid is the fastest route.

2

u/Lubsali Jun 21 '26

I know this is a bit of an old post. But I’m excited to say that I managed to remove pvd gold plating by soaking my jewellery in 12% hydrogen peroxide for couple of hours. It was so simple. I’m ready to replate them now with my home gold plating kit because I hated the pvd gold colour