Organic pre-etch treatment for metal plating of cyclic olefin polymers

Abstract

The process of metal plating an object formed out of a cyclic olefin polymer is improved by first immersing the object in an organic solvent, such as an aromatic hydrocarbon or a halogenated aliphatic hydrocarbon, that serves to swell the object at its surface, for example sufficiently to increase its weight by about 0.1 to 70%. In this way objects molded out of, for example, poly(dicyclopentadiene) can be pre-etched by being immersed in xylene for 5 minutes at room temperature, and then plated by the electroless deposition of nickel on the surface of the etched part. The pre-etching facilitates adhesion of the plating metal to the surface.

I claim: 
     
       1. In a process of metal plating the surface of an object formed out of a cyclic olefin polymer, the improvement wherein the object is first immersed in an organic solvent that serves to swell the object at its surface. 
     
     
       2. The process of claim 1, wherein the polymer is a thermoset polymer of dicyclopentadiene, the organic solvent is one or more compounds selected from the group consisting of aromatic hydrocarbons and halogenated aliphatic hydrocarbons, the immersion is performed for a long enough time to cause the weight of the object to increase by about 0.1 to 5 percent, and the metal plating is performed in an electroless manner.