A new method of etching ABS plastic for plating by ultrasound

An ultrasonic etching method is effective for pretreatment of ABS plastic for plating with fewer chemicals and lower cost of wastewater treatment. After ultrasonic etching for 40 min, the improvement of adhesion strength can increase by 30 percent, compared with that of chromic acid etching in the same or other conditions. The mechanism of adhesion improvement was studied by examination of weight loss, surface roughness, image analysis, SEM and XPS.