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Alternatives to decorative chrome plating

June 10, 2008

Is there a viable alternative to chrome plating that is comparable to the chrome finish, but less of an environmental issue? It need not be show quality, but a chrome look with similar durabilty. For example, zinc plating with a clear powder coat finish?

Larry Eaton
consumer products - El Paso, Texas

Hi, Larry. Although the chrome plating process can be an environmental issue for the shop which is doing it, chrome plated parts are not an environmental issue whatsoever. There are alternatives to decorative chrome plating in specific cases, when second-best is good enough, but they have to be looked at on a case by case basic, not in the abstract.

Zinc plating followed by powder coating has been used for such products as bicycle wheels. Other alternatives include vacuum metallizing, sputtering, metallic powder coatings, and chrome-like paint. Please describe the kind of parts you are thinking of, what they are made of, and the exposure situation they see. Thanks.

Regards,

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

I remember seeing chain dog leashes in a store that looked great. They had a very bright zinc plate with a blue chromate that at a couple of feet distance looked like chrome.

Bright nickel was used for years on toasters and etc.
Bright cobalt costs more than nickel but looks very much like chrome when it is new, is a lot harder than nickel and does not cause nickel itch, which affects more and more people each year.

James Watts
- Navarre, Florida

Ted - thanks for the quick response. The parts are storage/organization made of steel (wire) and would be in a damp environment, such as a bathroom or kitchen. Chrome like paints don't seem to have the correct look.

Larry Eaton
- El Paso, Texas

The zinc plating, followed by chromate conversion coating, followed by powder coating sounds good then. Ironically, as you convert away from chrome plating you will have to, for the first time, be concerned about the environmental issues of chrome :-)

While chrome plated parts bring no environmental problems for anyone but the shop producing them, zinc plated parts require a chromate conversion coating. Traditionally this coating was a hexavalent chromium conversion coating. Much of the world has moved to trivalent chromating but you must be sure to specify trivalent coating and RoHS compliance.

Regards,

Ted Mooney finishing.com Brick, New Jersey

If you considering powder coating do not miss the obvious problem that lies ahead (rusting). You state that the item to be coated is made from steel wire - if these criss-cross one another and are then anchored to a MS frame, you maybe producing a Faraday Cage. This will repel the application of the powder or result in low film wts at that point - A FORMULA FOR RUST CREEP when you consider the final destination of the item.
Terry Hickling
Powder mf

Terry Hickling Martex Paints Ltd    Birmingham, UK