This newsletter is the first in a series with the objective of giving you, the purchaser of our services, a thorough understanding of the chrome plating process and other services offered by V & M Plating.

There are many vital industrial and engineering applications for electro-deposited hard chromium.

The characteristics which make hard chrome plating a practical and necessary application in its many uses are hardness, low coefficient of friction, chemical inertness, resistance to wear and corrosion, and an inherent micro crack pattern for the retention of lubricants.

Chromium is delivered to a plating facility in flake form in one hundred pound containers. These reddish brown flakes are combined with water at a concentration of thirty ounces per gallon of water.  This solution alone will not plate onto a metal substrate without the addition of sulfuric acid as a catalyst at a ratio of 100/1 chromic acid to sulfuric acid.  By using this properly balanced solution containing these three constituents and operating at a temperature of approximately 130 degrees Fahrenheit, a plater utilizes direct current from an electrical rectifier and plates at a rate of one-half to one thousandths thickness per hour onto a surface.

In this newsletter, we have covered only one hard chrome plating solution in our explanation. This solution type "Standard Chromic Acid/Sulfate" is used most commonly in industry today.

There are many variables in the "art" of hard chrome plating which will be covered in subsequent newsletters. We hope the presentation of this information is interesting to you and helps answer questions you may have.

With this newsletter, we plan to cover the following subjects in the coming months:

If you wish to discuss the services offered by V&M Plating, please call. We would also be delighted to have you stop by and take a guided tour of our facility and processes.