Because tin coating is non-toxic, it is widely used in objects that come into contact with food and drink. The biggest use is to make tin cans, and others, such as kitchen utensils, food knives and forks, ovens and so on.

Because tin is easy to weld and has good electrical conductivity, it is widely used in parts that need to be welded in electrical appliances and electronics. The parts that need to be welded in electronics can improve the weldability of copper wire and the barrier between copper wire and insulating sheath, and prevent tin from nitriding steel. Tin plating and its alloy are a kind of coating with good weldability and certain corrosion resistance.

Dip tin and dip plating is to immerse the workpiece in a solution containing the metal salt to be plated, and deposit a metal coating on the surface of the workpiece according to the principle of chemical replacement. This is different from the general principle of electroless plating, because the plating solution does not contain reducing agent. Different from contact plating, contact plating means that when the workpiece is immersed in the metal salt solution to be plated, it must be closely connected with an active metal. The active metal enters the solution as an anode to release electrons, and the metal ions with higher potential in the solution get electrons and then deposit on the surface of the workpiece. At present, tin dipping is only carried out on iron, copper, aluminum and their respective alloys.

The reductant used in electroless tin plating or autocatalytic deposition of nickel can not be used to reduce tin. The simplest explanation is that the overpotential of hydrogen evolution on the surface of tin is high, and the above reductants are all hydrogen evolution reactions, so it is impossible to reduce tin ions into tin simple substances. In order to electroless tin plating, it is necessary to choose another kind of strong reducing agent that does not evolve hydrogen, such as Ti3+,V2+,Cr2+, etc. At present, only T3+/Ti4+ system has been reported.

The main uses are as follows:

(1) Manufacturing tin cans: Because tin coating is non-toxic, it is widely used in objects that come into contact with food and beverages. 　　

(2) Electrical and electronic industry: Because tin is easy to solder and has good conductivity, it is widely used in parts that need to be soldered for electrical and electronic devices.

(3) On copper wire: improve the weldability of copper wire and the barrier between copper wire and insulating sheath. (4) Activity: tin can be used as a solid lubricant because it is soft and can prevent scratching.

(5) Prevent steel from nitriding.