Electroforms - Gold

Drawing upon over 40 years of experience, a new patent pending electroforming technology allows us to now supply solid gold electroforms. Electrodeposited products are formed by machining a precision mandrel to the shape of the desired form and then depositing the correct thickness of quality metal on to the mandrel. The mandrel is then dissolved away leaving the precision finished product behind.

Enabling the use of gold within applications has allowed some remarkable properties of the material to be exploited. For example, gold is the most non-reactive of all metals. It is benign in all natural and industrial environments. Gold does not react with oxygen, which means it will not oxidise or tarnish. Gold is among the most electrically conductive of all metals and is able to convey even a tiny electrical current in temperatures varying from -55° to +200° centigrade. Gold is also the most reflective and least absorptive material of infrared (or heat) energy. High purity gold reflects up to 99% of infrared rays but is it also an excellent conductor of thermal energy or heat. Lastly, Gold is ideal for invasive or implantable medical devices as it is one of the least rejected materials in the human body. This unique combination of properties makes gold a vital component in many medical, industrial, and electrical applications.

By refining the gold electroforming technique we can supply extremely intricate parts with unusual shapes, thin walls, deep crevices and other design features. The electroforming process is especially crafted for tolerance-critical miniature parts and makes them suitable for both flexible bellows and rigid electroformed components.The controlled electroforming process can also vary the wall thickness in different places on the same part for selective rigidity and flexibility allowing hollow parts with walls as thin as 0.0127mm (0.0005inch) for miniature applications including electrical bellows contacts and precision instrument applications.

GOLD-PLATED CONTACT SPRINGS -  we have supplied bellows spring contacts where the connection cannot or should not be permanent, particularly when the parts are to be connected, separated and re-connected. The two types of spring contacts best suited for these applications are gold-plated wire mesh cylinders and gold-plated miniature metal bellows.

Typical applications include: diodes, delay lines, waveguide components, and printed circuit boards.

Our bellows type contact springs are manufactured from electrodeposited nickel alloy, and gold plated according to ASTM B 488-01 to enhance their conductivity. They are flexible and dynamic, and designed to provide a lifetime of reliable interconnection. Furthermore, they can help overcome tolerance buildup and thermal expansion problems in critical assemblies.

ADVANTAGES:

• Minimal self inductance

• Extremely low DC resistance

• Minimal insertion loss

• Lifetime spring repeatability

• Only small forces are required for compression

• Seamless and non-porous

• Can be as small as .020 inch (0.5mm) in diameter

For high frequency applications,  bellows contacts have low losses ranging from .20 dB to .45 dB at 6 GHz with a total bandwidth much higher.