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Q&As since 1989


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Chrome Plated Steel or Stainless Steel

How can you tell between chrome plated steel and stainless steel. Is there a test that one can conduct to tell the difference between the two?

Titus Aye
student - Glen Burnie, Maryland, US
2005

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You can easily do it with sophisticated tests like XPS, ESCA or AES. If you are a student you probably have some equipment at your college to do this.

There are other less sophisticated observations that can be made on the surface under high magnification. Depending on the grade of steel underneath (assuming it is plated) you can also do combinations of scratch tests and magnetic tests.

The quickest and easiest is to run an X-Ray analysis with one of the new instruments available on the market if you can find someone who has one. They are very expensive to purchase, but excellent at determining the alloy of the base metal.

Any good analysis Lab can tell you quickly.

Lee Kremer
Stellar Solutions, Inc.

McHenry, Illinois

2005