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Reducing appearance issues on Decorative Chrome automotive parts

I am struggling with a supplier that is trying to eliminate the appearance of scratches in the product that they manufacture for my company. The substrate is a 1055 Steel that is heat treated, deburred, then NiCr-plated. We are experiencing small scratches that appear to be on the surface of the steel part. After the NiCr plating is applied the scratches become very visible. These are an appearance part that our customer will not accept with these imperfections. Is there any processing that can be done differently with the plating that can mask these scratches? Will adding more Nickel or even adding Copper prior to the Chrome tanks help to fill in these imperfections?

Any help is much appreciated.

Paul Turowicz
Automotive Engineer - Auburn Hills, Michigan, USA
October 29, 2010

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Try a ductile under coat such as dull nickel or sulphamate nickel.
Good luck

Khair Shishani
aircraft maintenance - Al Ain, UAE
November 3, 2010

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As Cair mentioned, look at the nickel deposit.

"Levelling Agents" can be easily added to the nickel bath to fill in any of these defects along the surface.

If these scratches are still visible after the nickel deposit, you need to re-evaluate your nickel bath before moving on to chrome.

Robert H Kinner
- Toledo, Ohio
November 4, 2010