Plating on plastics is useful for manufacturing many plated metal products. When using ABS resin, which is often used for plating, etching pretreatment with chromic acid is conducted. This etchant can dissolve butadiene in ABS, forming rough areas on the surface, which are later filled with metals during plating. The consequent anchor effect produces strong adhesion of the metal to the resin.
Nevertheless, few reports in the literature describe plating on polystyrene resin, which is widely used for home electrical appliances, amusement products, etc.
This report describes an investigation of pretreatment using ozone water for plating on polystyrene resin. Results show high adhesiveness achieved from optimized pretreatment conditions. Furthermore, no anchor effect was necessary, as inferred from SEM observation and FT-IR analysis. Treatment using ozone water is applicable as a beneficial pretreatment for plating on polystyrene resin.
