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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
Ted can be retained for immediate
answers or long term project help

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

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