Letter 38072

Smallest substrate material thickness for chrome plating [Tennessee] 

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I need to know what is the smallest substrate material thickness possible for chrome plating without warping. The piece that i need to chrome plate is 3.0mm wide X 76.0mm long X 1.0mm thick. Is this possible?

Tim Brown
iPod accessories - Nashville, TN

Decorative chrome plating is actually a heavy layer(s) of nickel plating followed by less than 40 millionths of an inch of chrome. Although the chrome is highly stressed, it is so thin that it has little ability to warp anything. The nickel can, however, be stressed. I don't think it's going to be a problem, but I suppose there is that possibility if things are not carefully specified. Suppliers will usually plate a few samples for you at no cost.

 
Ted Mooney, P.E.
finishing.com Inc. - Brick, NJ

Hard chrome or decorative? Is electroless nickel an option? It fingerprints more than chrome. What is the substrate? what is the function of the chrome?
Aactually, the thickness is not bad considering the length and the width. You might need to bake at 400F before and after plate to reduce stress a small amount.

James Watts
- FL

Adding to what Ted said above, you may use a high purity sulfamate nickel solution and the stresswill be very low.

Robert H Probert Robert H Probert Technical Services Garner, NC, USA Editor's note:        Mr. Probert is the    author of Aluminum How-To

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