Hard gold is not much used in electronics. We use microhardness tester (Vicker diamond) to check in case of uncertainty. 'Ordinary' component and board gold use to be approx. 80 HV, while the hard type can be over 300 HV. Hard gold is used when the part is exposed to mechanical wear. Unfortunately, you can get unwanted impurities into the bath without knowing, resulting in a somewhat harder than normal gold.

Ingemar Hernefjord
Ericsson Microwave Systems

-----Original Message-----
From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: den 12 januari 2005 18:14
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [TN] soft vs. hard gold


Janoch

Galvanic gold is more commonly referred to as immersion gold. It is
essentially pure gold and consequently "soft".

What is referred to in the industry as hard and soft golds are usually
electroplated. If only gold is plated, it is called soft gold. When a
hardener is added as is often the case for contacts or connector fingers
the plated metal is no longer pure gold and is called hard gold.

Best regards

Lee

-----Original Message-----
From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Janoch Jiøí, Ing.
Sent: Wednesday, January 12, 2005 3:18 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [TN] soft vs. hard gold

Hello Technetters,
If galvanic gold plating used, what is the difference between soft and
hard gold ?
(appearance, durability, environment resistance etc.)

Thanks for reply

J.Janoch, TSE

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