Electroplating on Plastic

A process for the electro-deposition of a metal layer includes immersing an electro-conductive plastics material in a solution of a salt containing a source of halogen ions in water and connecting said material as the anode of an electrolysis system. The salt may be sodium chloride and the solution may further contain sodium hydroxide. The electrolysis system may use an asymmetric alternating current. The plastics material is preferably plastics with a conducting filler that may be carbon. The process may further comprise the steps of immersion in a preparation comprising tin and palladium to precipitate a tin/palladium metal complex into a porous structure of the material and using the population of palladium particles as a nucleating landscape for electroless deposition of a primary layer of copper or nickel. The process may alternatively comprise the step of electrolytic deposition of a primary metal layer directly onto the conductive plastics material.