Chrome Plating — Decorative & Hard Chrome

What it is and when to specify it

Chrome plating is an electrolytic finish that deposits a layer of chromium onto a metal surface. In practice it splits into two families that are specified for very different reasons. Decorative chrome is a thin, bright deposit used for appearance, normally applied over a nickel undercoat, on handles, trim, bezels, knobs and other visible parts. Hard chrome is a much thicker deposit applied to working surfaces such as hydraulic rods, shafts, pins, slides and cylinders, where resistance to wear matters more than appearance.

The decision between the two belongs on the drawing. If the part has a load-bearing or sliding surface, hard chrome is usually the right call. If the goal is a durable bright finish on a visible component, decorative chrome is the standard route. Both are arranged and managed by us through our vetted partner network, managed under one quality process, so one drawing, one set of masking notes and one document package covers either route. For how this finish sits alongside the rest of the range, see surface finishes.

Specifications

Chrome thickness is confirmed per drawing rather than assumed. In common trade practice, decorative chrome sits in the fraction-of-a-micron range, usually around 0.25–0.5 µm, because its job is appearance and it rides on a nickel undercoat. Hard chrome is a functional deposit that commonly runs from about 10 µm upward, and on heavy wear surfaces it can be substantially thicker where the drawing requires it.

Surface preparation sets the final result. Parts are ground, polished or brushed to the finish the drawing calls for before plating, and any surface that must stay free of chrome is masked. Appearance options range from a bright mirror look to a satin finish, and the base preparation is what establishes the tone. The common appearance choices are:

• Bright mirror chrome
• Satin or brushed chrome

Plated parts ship with a material certificate (MTR) and pre-shipment photos. Lead times follow our standard finishing schedule: samples in 5–10 days and production in 25–35 days after sample approval, with the MOQ from 50 pieces and samples from 1 piece.

Which materials and parts it suits

Chrome plating suits ferrous and copper-based substrates. We arrange it on stainless steel 303, 304, 316 and 316L, carbon and alloy steel 1045, 1215 and 4140, and brass, bronze and copper. The substrate matters because the chromium layer bonds and performs differently on each metal, and the base material must be machined to leave allowance for the deposit before finishing.

The finish earns its keep on wear surfaces and hydraulic parts: rods, pins, shafts, slides and cylinders where a hard, low-friction surface extends service life. Decorative chrome shows up on visible trim, knobs, bezels and handles. Chrome is also the wrong choice in some situations — when a thin, very uniform corrosion barrier is all that is needed, or where part geometry would make a thick deposit uneven. In those cases nickel or zinc is often the better fit, and we will say so when the requirement points that way. Compare the options on our nickel plating and zinc plating pages, or see the full materials list.

Corrosion, wear and dimensional impact

Hard chrome is specified first for wear resistance and a low-friction running surface, and secondarily for its corrosion behaviour. Decorative chrome works the other way around: the nickel undercoat beneath it carries most of the corrosion protection, while the chrome layer supplies the bright, hard top surface.

The dimensional impact is what engineers care about most in practice. Chrome is an additive process — the deposit grows outward from the surface, so a plated part gains thickness wherever the finish is applied. Threads, bores and tight-fit features must be masked or designed with allowance for that growth. We machine precision features to ±0.01 mm and hold ISO 2768-m as a general tolerance, and we confirm the plating allowance against the drawing so the finished part meets the same callouts. The exact thickness requirement is confirmed per drawing rather than quoted as a blanket figure, and every order starts with a quote within 24 hours that includes DFM feedback.