METAL FINISHING HEADQUARTERS
The QMS Challenge

Are you using spreadsheets, yesterday’s software, or paper logs in an effort to meet the requirements of AC7108 ¶ 4? If so, you are spending too much time, too much effort and too much money. ChemTrak covers every section of AC7108 ¶ 4.5 more elegantly than Appendix F ever imagined. Bath concentrations and additions automatically computed to stay within your control limits. All tank parameters, all analysis methods, all documentation, all in one place and instantly accessible. And with ChemTrak’s statistical analysis tools on your side, you can defend your continuous improvement to any auditor.

Getting Started with ChemTrak

ChemTrak comes with a library of ready-to-use chemistries from Atotech, Enthone, Henkel, MacDermid, MetalChem, OMG Fidelity, Rohm & Haas, Technic and others. These baths can be easily copied from the library list and pasted into your shop selection grid. Library baths are preset with vendor operating specifications and analysis methods. All you do is put in your tank volume, unique tank name, and tank description. The ChemTrak library currently offers more than 130 baths. Scroll down to the bottom of this page to see the current list of available chemistries. ChemTrak Library
Ready-to-use baths are placed into your shop selection grid with a single click. You can then select the tank in your grid and click on the Tank Setup tab to put in your tank name, volume, etc.; you may also customize the specification limits and tests to meet your needs.

ChemTrak’s analysis versatility is unsurpassed. There is built-in support for every metal finishing analysis you will ever need: two-step titrations for Watts and sulfamate nickel, two-step titrations for acid concentration and dissolved aluminum in anodizing baths, and two-step titrations for caustic and dissolved aluminum in alkaline etch baths. Stalagmometer surface tension analysis is also included.
ChemTrak Tank Setup
For electroless nickel baths, ChemTrak offers metal turn tracking, calculations for hypophosphite concentration, and calculation of both nickel and reducer additions from a nickel titration. ChemTrak supports printed circuit board and other plastic plating processes with slope-intercept equations that can convert specific gravity readings or refractometer readings into chemical concentrations for etch and catalyst baths. It also supports two-step titrations for formaldehyde in electroless copper baths. Two additions can be calculated from any titration to handle multiple acids for mixed acid baths and proportional brightener adds. Most metal finishing shops will use a small fraction of the ChemTrak tools, but it is good to know that they are there if you need them.

Titration instructions are also online for easy reference. The ChemTrak library includes the vendor-recommended titrations, but you are free to modify them to meet your needs: tools are provided to help with addition conversions, changes from metric to Imperial and back again, or just adjusting reagent normality or sample sizes to match your procedures.

Any questions about makeup, analysis, troubleshooting or other chemistry questions? No problem. Click the Tank Data tab and the vendor’s technical data sheet will open in the ChemTrak PDF viewer giving you instant access to all the data you need.

The ChemTrak PDF viewer may be used as a way to keep all of your tank documentation on-line and accessible. With Acrobat, you can create your own tank documents from Word or Excel files. You can also combine your own tank documentation with the vendor’s technical data sheet.
ChemTrak PDF Viewer
Using ChemTrak in Production

After a chemistry is copied from the library, it shows up in your selection grid when you click the Select Your Tank tab. The tank list may be sorted by your Tank name, by the Description or by the Tank Type. To select a tank, simply point and click in the grid and then click a test button. This will switch to the Select Test tab for entering titration results or checking SPC data. It is easy to see if any scheduled testing is due. As shown in the screenshot, tanks with tests due show up with a pink background.
ChemTrak Tank Selection
All required tests show up as command buttons in the upper-left part of the screen on the ChemTrak data entry dashboard. A red button shows that a test is due, while a green button shows that the test is up-to-date. When a test button is clicked, the titration calculator, test results table, and SPC data are shown below the dashboard.

When the titrant amount is entered into the ChemTrak titration calculator, concentration and additions are computed. The screen shot here shows an ENi bath tracking metal turns from nickel adds, one more tedious and error prone calculation that your chemists will not need to do any longer.

ChemTrak Data Entry
As with all Anoplex tools, the focus is on SPC. ChemTrak has unique features to help with chemical bath process control: these features include detailed analysis of the distributions at the upper and lower control limits to increase the accuracy of Cpk estimates and to give you insight into addition accuracy, analysis procedures, and adequacy of control limits and testing frequency. ChemTrak statistical analysis is designed specifically for metal finishing process control.

ChemTrak SPC


The ChemTrak database and executable program are normally installed on a network server allowing company-wide access. Shortcuts are placed on client PCs, and the shortcut properties insure that the program runs on the client PC instead of on the server; however, it’s easy to make the program run on the server if you have a couple of older PCs around the shop. Users are assigned usernames, passwords and privilege levels to control access.

ChemTrak is in use at small shops with as few as 10 tanks and large shops with over 100 tanks. Although every chemist and technician has his or her own way of doing things, it does not take long for them to appreciate the value of ChemTrak. They don’t like to spend their days doing repetitive calculations, and the long-term users of ChemTrak report that titration times are cut in half - that is significant time savings in a week of ENi testing or a month of anodize tank testing. That means more time to run the AA for impurity analysis, more time for new process development, and more time for lunch.

Please check the following list to see if your baths are included. Anoplex will add any commercial chemistry to the library without charge for any ChemTrak customer who provides a TDS (with solution control requirements). As of May 2010, the following tanks have been tested and are included in the library.

Acid Activator Generic Nitric AB Acid Copper Enthone Udylite UBAC WP
Acid Copper Rohm-Hass Copper Gleam Acid Dip Atotech Quatrasid
Acid Gold Strike Enthone Aurobond TCL Acid Gold Strike Technic ACR40
Acid Hard Gold Technic E-74 Acid Hard Gold Technic E-94
Acid Pickle Enthone Actane 70 Acidic Activator MacDermid Isoprep 192
Acidic Al Etch Enthone Actane E-10 Acidic Cleaner MacDermid Isoprep 190
Activator Enthone Actane 342 Alballoy Umicore Miralloy 2800
Alkaline Cleaner Clariant Anodal NFO Alkaline Cleaner MacDermid Isoprep 49L
Alkaline Cleaner Fidelity 1143 Alkaline Cleaner Fidelity 3152
Aluminum Deox Chemetall Oakite Deox LNC Aluminum Deox Stone Chemical AN650L
Aluminum Etch Chemetall Oakite 160 Anodize II Anodize Type II
Anodize III Anodize Type III Anodize Strip Miles SA-200 Strip
Bright Acid Tin MacDermid TinMAC Bright Dip Sulfuric/Nitric
Cadmium Plate Atotech ROHCO 20-XL Catalyst Modifier Rohm-Haas Accelerator 19
Caustic Etch Enthone Enprep 14 Caustic Etch Clariant Anodal Etch Add B
Chromate MacDermid Iridite 14 Chromate MacDermid Iridite 14-2
Chromate Clear Henkel Alodine 1000L Chromate Clear Henkel Alodine 1500
Chromate Gold Henkel Alodine 600 Chromate Gold Henkel Alodine 1200S
Clear Zinc Chromate Atotech RODIP Zn25 Olive Drab Chromate Atotech RODIP O.D.
Copper Etch Enthone Entek ME-1020 Copper Plate Generic Acid Copper
Copper Strike Cyanide Copper Cyanide Copper Technic Techni-Copper C
Cyanide Silver Enthone Silvrex 3 Desmutter Generic Nitric AB
Electrocleaner Chemetall Oakite 90 Electrocleaner MacDermid Isoprep 172
Electrocleaner MadDermid Metex 662SE Electrocleaner MacDermid Anodex NP-2
Electrocleaner MacDermid Metalex W Electroless Copper MacDermid E-Copper 22
Electroless Copper OMG-Fidelity 1120 ENi Boron MacDermid Niklad 752
ENi Hi-Phos Atotech 5100 ENi Hi-Phos Coventya H15
ENi Hi-Phos Coventya EF583R ENi Hi-Phos Enthone Enplate ADP-300
ENi Hi-Phos MacDermid Vand-Aloy 4200 ENi Hi-Phos MetalChem MetaPlate 2500
ENi Hi-Phos OMG-Fidelity 5023 ENi Hi-Phos OMG-Fidelity 9961
ENi Mid-Phos Atotech 2500 ENi Mid-Phos Enthone Enplate EN-7601
ENi Mid-Phos MacDermid Vand-Aloy 5000 ENi Mid-Phos MacDermid Niklad 767
ENi Mid-Phos MacDermid Niklad 787 ENi Mid-Phos MetalChem MetaPlate Platinum Plus
ENi Mid-Phos OMG-Fidelity 9189 ENi Mid-Phos OMG-Fidelity 9012
ENi Mid-Phos Rohm-Haas Duraposit 88 ENi Mid-Phos Coventya EF592
ENi Bright Mid-Phos MacDermid Niklad 768 ENi Bright Mid-Phos MacDermid Vand-Aloy 6000
ENi Lo-Phos OMG-Fidelity 9045 ENi Lo-Phos Enthone Enplate NI-429
ENi Lo-Phos MacDermid Niklad 797 ENi Lo-Phos MetalChem MetaPlate 3500
ENi Strike Enthone Enplate AL-100 ENi Strike OMG-Fidelity 4009
ENi Strip - CuSteel Enthone Enstrip EN-86 Alkaline Cleaner Americlene 8
ENi Teflon MacDermid NiFlor ENi Teflon MetalChem MetaPlate 8500T
ENi Teflon OMG-Fidelity 9013 General Strip ROSTRIP M-10
Hard Gold Enthone BDT510 Fluoride Glass Etch Rohm-Haas Neutralizer 3313
Hard Gold Technic Orosene 999 HCl Acid Dip Generic HCl-15%
HCl Etch Generic HCl-50% HF Activator Generic HF-30%
Matte Acid Tin Rohm-Hass SatTin Ni Acetate Seal Clariant Anodal MS-1L
Nickel Plate Generic Woods Strike Nickel Plate Generic Watts Nickel
Nickel Plate Generic Sulfamate Nickel Nickel Sulfamate Technic Techni-Nickel S
Nickel Watts Technic MX-5 Nickel Strip Fidelex 3136
Nickel Strip Fidelex 3701 Nickel Strip Fidelex 3702
Nickel Sulfamate MacDermid Barrett SN Nitric Activator HNO3-25%
Nitric Etch HNO3-40% Passivate T2 HNO3 w Na2Cr2O7
Passivate T6 HNO3 25-45% Plastic Prep Rohm-Haas Conditioner 211A
Plastic Prep Rohm-Haas Conditioner 3320 Plastic Prep Rohm-Haas Promoter 3308
Plastic Catalyst Rohm-Haas Catalyst 44 Plastic Catalyst Rohm-Haas Pre-dip 404
Platinum Technic Platinum TP Rhodium Technic Rhodium TS
Seal - Na2Cr2O7 Sodium Dichromate Seal Silver Plate Rohm-Hass Bright Silver
Silver Plate Rohm-Hass Matte Silver Silver Plate Technic Silversene DW
Silver Strike Rohm-Hass Silver Strike Silver Strike Techni-Silver Strike
Soft Gold Technic ACR414 Sonic Cleaner Brulin 815 GD
Steel Descaler Enthone Enprep 114 Steel Descaler Enthone Enprep 214
Sulfuric Acid Dip Generic H2SO4-10% Sulfuric Etch Generic H2SO4-35%
Zincate Atotech AlumSeal 2000 Zincate Enthone Alumon EN
Zincate Enthone Alumon 5825 Zincate MacDermid Metex 6811
Zincate MetalChem MetaMate Zincate 40 Zincate OMG-Fidelity 3116M