Tin plating is a process which provides a bright silver finish and is composed of at least 99.5% tin. This type of plating is commonly used to provide a surface with great solderability and some corrosion protection. Typically tin plating is used in the printed circuit board industry, the food industry, as well as for decorative purposes. The main application for tin plating in the circuit board industry is to make use of the tin's solderability. On such substrate materials as brass or zinc die cast it is necessary to use a barrier layer of either copper or nickel to impede the migration of the zinc into the tin deposit. This barrier layer will further increase the shelf life of the tin plating on these substrate materials.
Base Materials that Tin Plating can be applied to include steel, stainless steel, brass, copper, zinc die cast, and aluminium.