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Looking for chrome alternative for cosmetic part

I am looking for an alternative to decorative chrome that would be more maleable and fill in machining marks instead of magnifying them. Currently brass components are being machined to a 20 micro-finish, buffed and then Copper-Nickel-Chrome plated. We are experiencing a 1-2% fallout due to minute scratches after plating. My goal is to eliminate the polishing and reduce the fallout by going to an alternative plating.

Mark Huber
Outsourcing Consultant - Machined Components - Des Plaines, Illinois, USA
2003

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2003

Some newer substitute finishes, based on cobalt or other metals, replace the chrome layer in copper-nickel-chrome plating, but this doesn't sound like something that would fill your needs. Electroless nickel would plate uniformly; while it would not hide the scratches, it wouldn't accentuate them either. Organic substitutes would flow better and might help fill in machine marks. But it's not solely topography--a reflective surface draws attention to its defects whereas a non-reflective surface doesn't.

There is a good reason that people have put up with the labor, difficulty, and expense of copper-nickel-chrome plating for all these years, though. And it's because nothing equals it for reflectivity, surface hardness, freedom from scratching, and corrosion resistance. Sometimes a substitute can be a disaster.

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey

There are decorative processes on the horizon. Some use UV, liquid or powder fill primers, PVD then a top coat (most often). What are the parts and what environment are they subject to?

Brian Boley
- Columbus, Ohio, US
2005