Electroless Chrome Part A

ELECTROLESS CHROME PART A SOLUTION

This is a refill for our Electroless Chrome Plating System

ELECTROLESS CHROME PLATING 

Looks Like Chrome - Has that Daylight Silver Colour - Not A Yellow Silver 

Hard Like Chrome - Tougher Than Nickel!
Keeps Its Shine - Just Like Chrome! 
No Dangerous Chemicals - No Disposal Problems - No Fumes - No Cyanide
No Corrosive Acids!
One coat system - eliminates 2 steps!
The Ideal Way To Plate Small Parts - Easily - Economically - Quickly
No Batteries, Rectifiers or Other Power Sources Required
Plates  - All Steels, Irons, Copper, Brass, Bronze, Lead Free Solders, Nickel Alloys, and Titanium
Pot Metal (with Pre-treatment)
Aluminium (with Zincate treatment).

Electroless Chrome Plating

Electroless Chrome plating, also called chemical or autocatalytic Chrome plating, serves as a viable alternative to traditional electroplating. Unlike electroplating, There is no dependency on an electric current to apply a chrome coating. Instead, a chemical reaction known as catalytic reduction deposits a layer of Chrome-phosphorous alloy. Different percentages of phosphorous present in the alloy deliver unique metallurgical properties

Benefits of Electroless Chrome Plating

Electroless Chrome plating provides numerous advantages over alternative plating techniques (such as electroplating). Some of these benefits include Uniform deposit thickness regardless of part geometry, Reduced porosity (provides superior corrosion resistance) Improved hardness Solder ability of low phosphorous and electroless Chrome boron alloys, Ability to create compressive or non-existent stress

For most applications, the uniformity of electroless Chrome plating is the main reason manufacturers use the process. This is opposed to electroplating, which often results in thicker deposit buildups around the edges and corners of the base material.

Electroless Chrome plating is not new; it has many applications in industry. Because the system plates evenly over all areas of the part even inside tubes and holes, it is frequently used to plate firearms and small hand tools. For the motorcycle restorer, electroless Chrome is a great tool for for the workshop, having the ability to Chrome plate parts easily and quickly reduces the time and money spent on sourcing new parts, there is some calculations to get this right, but once you understand it, it really is as simple as boiling an egg.

With Traditional Electroplating becoming more difficult due to a blanket ban on Chromium Trioxide which is a main ingredient, together with the cost of Chroming and and the turnaround time, many companies are now looking to bring this process in house. 

How Electroless Plating Work

Traditional Plating requires an external power source, that would normally have adjustable Voltage and Amps, together with the use of anodes to create the chrome in the chemical solution, although not "Rocket Science" it can be complicated and quite a learning curve. 

Electroless Plating is often described as "Simple as boiling an egg", which is almost correct. here is the basics on how it works:

There are 3 chemicals, A, B and C, First decide how much total Solution you would like to mix, below is a chart that explains the mix rates, the initial Mix is Just Part A, B and Distilled Water

Once you have completed your initial mix, use a level marker inside the tank to record the level you are at. Now its time to start cooking !!

Heat the liquid to just below boiling (around 90°c), and hold it at that temperature, all you need to do then is to hang the prepared item item using string from the bus bars on the top of the tank into the Nickel or Chrome solution mix, the length of time it is left determines the thickness of the Chrome, please see chart below.

You will now have a Nickel/Chrome plated item that can be polished or left as is depending on the finished needed.

So thats the easy bit, and you may be wondering what happened to the Part C Solution. After using for a time, you need to replenish the mix in order to maintain a consistent plating finish, this is were we have to do some maths and it gets a bit more technical, but do not worry as there is simple solution.

When you make your initial mix, you use a system called "Nickel Credits", this is approx 900 Nickel Credits per litre of mix, eg if mix a 20 Litre Tank Mix, you will have 18,000 Nickel Credits.

You would then calculate the total surface area of the items that you have plated, lets say for example you have plated a number of items that had a total surface area of 100 square centimetres.

The system uses approx 0.156 Nickel Credits per minute of plating time, this is how the calculation works

We start with the length of time, lets say 60 minutes x 0.156 = 9.36 x (sq cm plated) 100 = 936 Nickel Credits, so now we know the amount of Nickel Credits we have used, so we use that calculation to get the amounts of chemical to top up.

We need to add 0.016ml of Part A, per Nickel Credit ,so 936 x 0.016 = 15ml volume Part A Needed

We need to add 0.033ml of Part C, per Nickel Credit, so 936 x 0.033 = 31ml volume Part C Needed

Finally we would top up with distilled water back to level mark we started with when the initial mix was made, thats it.

As I mentioned earlier there is a simple solution to work this out without to many calculations. We have written an App for smart phones and tablets, this takes out all the hard work, and gives you the figures by simply entering initial tank volume, surface area plated in sqcm, and the time left in the tank, and instantly get the amounts needed to top up your mix

SHIPPING INFORMATION

Please note that our shipping prices are a higher than it would cost to send a normal parcel via the post, the reason for this is because any product that contains chemicals must be sent and packed as per the "hazardous goods" regulations, and be transported by a carrier that is licensed to be able to transport. we are unable to send by regular post as it is now a criminal offence to send undeclared hazardous goods.