CHROME PLATING POT METAL

We are specialized in chrome plating and restoration of Pot metal and Aluminium.

We can chrome Pot metal parts up to a length of 1.2 m.

Pot metal chrome plating is very difficult. 50 to 60% fails at least 1 time. As a result, the delivery time can be very long. Think of delivery times longer than 3 months. Pot metal chrome plating is also very expensive.

What is POT METAL?

Pot metal (also: Zamac) is a trademark for a group of alloys with zinc as the main component. The alloys have a relatively low melting point and are easy to cast. The main components are zinc and aluminum, with small amounts of magnesium and copper. The name is derived from the initial letters of the German names for the metals of which the material is composed: Zinc, Aluminium, MAgnesium, Copper.

TREATMENT

All Pot metal and Aluminum are first provided with a copper layer. This layer is applied in a cyan-containing copper bath. Cyan-containing copper baths still have an application where base materials are difficult to treat (such as zinc alloy). It is used here as a kind of adhesive layer. It ensures that further treatments do not affect the base material and that there is sufficient adhesion of the different layers (usually nickel and chromium). Cyanidic copper has excellent dispersion but no real shine and certainly no padding.

Unfortunately, Pot metal has the nasty property that it contains air bubbles. These can become visible during the grinding work. They may even be visible after chrome plating. We cannot prevent this. This is simply the property of the material.

The order of operations is as follows:

  • Dechroming (by blasting and grinding)
  • Grind to grit P800
  • Copper plating (cyanotic)
  • Nickel plating
  • Chrome plating