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Carbon smut problem before chrome plating

adv.    
u.s chrome


May 15, 2008

We are having problems after reverse etching carbon steels of carbon smutting the surface to be plated. could you suggest a suitable solvent for its dissolution or a chemical which we may add to a hard chrome bath so that the carbon occurred on rev . etching forms a complex or a removable byproduct?

Application is for Hard Chrome plating a water cooled chill roll of 25 microns and having a hardness of 45 Hrc

Surojit Bhattacharjee
plating shop incharge - Calcutta,W.Bengal, INDIA



My thought is that you are etching at too high a voltage and / or too long. If reducing the etch does not help, put in a chromic acid etch tank and you will not have the problem.
There is a high amperage anodic/cathodic process that is published, but I do not like it. I have used a sulfuric and hydrofluoric etch at low amperage that forms a very tight smut that can be plated over with good adhesion in SOME cases. It requires a lot of trial and error testing.

James Watts
- Navarre, Florida
May 16, 2008


adv.    
u.s chrome



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