Is it engineered chrome or chrome plating?

When it comes from Armor Clad Inc of Farmington Hills, Michigan it is engineered chrome. So what's the difference? Engineered chrome is actually hard chromium plating that is electroplated or fused via a process of electrically charging the material to bond with or electroplate an item.

Chrome plating on the other hand is a decorative finish that is applied via a process of dipping the part to plate it. Chrome plating is also know as nickel plating.

So what is the difference when it comes to application of either one of the processes?

Chrome Plating:

Decorative chrome plating is sometimes called nickel-chrome plating because bright chrome plating always involves plating nickel before plating the chrome. Nickel provides the reflectivity and most of the corrosion resistance. The chrome plating is exceptionally thin, measured in millionths of an inch rather than in thousandths

When you look at a decorative chrome plated surface, such as a wheel or automotive bumper, most of what you are seeing is actually the effects of the nickel plating. The chrome adds a bluish cast (compared to the somewhat yellowish cast of nickel), protects against tarnish, and minimizes scratching. But the point is, without the brilliant leveled nickel undercoating, you would not have a reflective, decorative surface.

Hard Chromium Plating:

The average person would not be familiar with hard chromium plating. Hard chromium plating is simply chrome plating applied as a fairly heavy coating (usually measured in thousandths of an inch) for wear resistance, lubricity, oil retention, and other 'wear' purposes. Some examples can be found on our dense hard chromium electroplating applications page. It is called hard chromium because it is thick enough that when a hardness measurement is performed the chrome hardness can actually be measured. It is almost always applied to items that are made of steel. It is metallic in appearance but is not really shiny or decorative.

There are variations even within hard chrome plating, with some of the coatings optimized to be especially porous for oil retention, etc.

Many shops who do hard chromium plating (such as Armor Clad Inc) do no other kinds of plating at all, because their business is designed to serve only engineered chrome, wear-type, needs.

Now that you have a better understanding of differences between chrome plating, chromium plating or engineered chrome and their purposes, we hope that when you need hard chromium plating or engineered chrome to help protect against wear or corrosion resistance, that you will visit us and request a no obligation quote for your hard chromium dense coating surfacing.