Effect of reverse pulse current on the internal stress of electroformed nickel

In recent years, much attention has been paid to electroforming as a high-technology manufacturing technique for micro-devices. However, internal stress is one of the major problems required to be solved before this technique can be used widely for the microforming of premium products. There have been a lot of research effort in controlling internal stress, most of which has focused on adjusting the bath, although, this approach has not lead to a significant improvement in the quality of the deposit. In the present paper, the use of reverse pulse current in electroforming has been proposed to enhance the quality of the deposit. A series of experiments have been carried out to study the effect of reverse pulse current on the internal stress of electroformed nickel, a significant reduction in internal stress being achieved.