Letter 28088

Heat resistance of chromed plastics  

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We manufacture exhaust components for the aftermarket industry. We know there are several applications for chroming plastic in this area.We need to find out the heat effects on chroming plastic near areas that will be up around 600 degrees.Will any process allow that? If not what is the threshold for chrome plated plastic in degrees.

Richard Koester
custom fabrication - Phoenix, AZ, USA

I know Ted says anything can be plated, as long as you can hold it in a bath, but unless you can plate on silicon or teflon, which I personally doubt, 300 deg F seems unrealistic.

Guillermo Marrufo
Monterrey, NL, Mexico

Perhaps I exaggerate in saying that anything can be plated, Guillermo; I am really saying that the range of things that are unplateable is far smaller than people think, and the range of plateable things is far beyond most people's imagination. But, yes, even stainless and aluminum are hard to plate upon with full adhesion, titanium is very hard to plate on with full adhesion, and most plastics can't be plated with reasonable adhesion, only with a basically worthless "shrink wrap" effect.

I would agree with you that chrome plated plastic exhaust systems may not be realistic.

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

I am designing a plastic part that must be chrome plated and it will be assembled within 5 mm of a component that has surface temperatures around 400F.

I am also very interested in finding a plastic that can withstand these sustained temperatures and still be a chromable (chrome adhesion, not like wrapping paper on a gift) one. Anything with butadiene is typically very chromable, as some of the butadiene etches out of the matrix and is replaced by the copper (copper-nickel-chrome). But, the butadiene variants commercially available have a heat deformation temperature of around 160 to 220 F. These will not be adequate, unless someone knows of one that can withstand these elevated temps.

Otherwise, please spill the beans about the miracle plastic that is chromable and high heat-resistant. Thanks, Mark M

Mark Marqueling
- Fort Wayne, IN, United States

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