Letter 26120

Hexavalent chrome dangerous after plated on a part?  

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Is hexavalent chrome after it's plated any danger to the person touching day after day, like a house wife holding a vaccum cleaner tube on a vaccum?

Debbie C
Secretary - Stoney Creek, Ontario, Canada

It's not hexavalent chrome, it's zero valence chrome metal. And it's not dangerous. The solution that it was plated out of was hexavalent chromium but that has nothing to do with anything in the end, Debbie. Some food service items are chrome plated. Gold plated and silver plated items are plated out of gold and silver cyanide, which is substantially more toxic than hexavalent chromium, but that has nothing to do with anything in the end either.

However, decorative chrome plating is always a very thin layer of cracked chrome over nickel plating and a lot of people have nickel allergy. So if the contact was prolonged and daily and particularly if working up a sweat were involved, a nickel allergy is a possibility.

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

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