Titanium tanks for HEEF 25 Hard Chroming?

A. Hi, Peter. Titanium has been used for hard chromium plating tanks (letter 42796 briefly addresses this), and I don't think the non-fluoride catalyst in HEEF-25 would be a problem. Still, we see a lot of periodic reports of titanium react strangely in the plating industry, perhaps due to the many different alloys.

I guess I would suggest that end users get a guarantee from their tank supplier, whereas suppliers should acquire some experience from jar-testing welded samples and building small tanks before committing to big ones :-)

Sorry that this answer probably isn't much help! But after many years in this industry, I've seen a fair number of spectacular failures of titanium that were never satisfactorily explained, so I can't claim a full understanding of the electrochemistry in plating applications. Good luck!

Regards,

Chromium Plating
Weiner & Walmsley

A. Hi, Abdulla.

There are 3 different hard chroming formulations: the Sergeant bath, the fluoride catalyzed bath, and the HEEF bath. Materials of constructions could be different, depending on your choice, but the most common material is hot rolled steel with PVC lining. Also, the fluoride bath cannot be used for etching, so you need a separate etching bath if you go that route. You need cleaning, rinse, etch, rinse, hard chrome, and multiple rinse tanks. Depending on what substrates you intend to chrome plate, you may need others. But equipment is not as important as knowledge.

If you cannot retain a consultant or experienced hard chrome plater to guide you, please see if you can get access to a copy of Guffie's book =>

It's a small book of about 180 pages so it doesn't cover absolutely everything, but it does address a lot of very important points. Good luck!

Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E. finishing.com Brick, New Jersey

Hard Chromium Plating