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Chrome plating small plastic parts

2004

How can I nickel base plate plastic ABS type and then Chrome on top? What is best method, electroplating or electrodeposition and how do you get the plating to take?

Thank you.

This is for small plastic parts, decorative only but may go to mass production

Tom Ward
Engineer - Westlake, Ohio, USA

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Electrodeposition and electroplating are the same thing, Tom. There are a few different ways to electroplate plastic (it depends on what your needs are), but the most robust method (used on OEM auto parts) involves etching the plastic, sensitizing it with a proprietary palladium chloride solution, electroless nickel plating, then conventional copper, nickel, chrome plating.

But there are other ways, and you need to decide whether copper will be involved, and whether you need duplex nickel (or beyond), and you need to be sure your ABS is electroplateable grade, and a number of other things. You need to talk to a jobshop that offers plating on plastic (unless you want to read several books) because it is a quite complex and highly regulated process and you're not going to learn enough from this posting and the responses to get far unfortunately. You might consult "Standards & Guidelines for Electroplated Plastic". Good luck.

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
2003

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ABS is one of the easiest plastics to metallise, as long as it is the right grade. As Ted says, it needs to be suitably etched, sensitised and activated. This is followed by coating in electroless nickel, followed by electrolytic nickel and then chromium. If the end use is such that the part may suffer from mechanical shock, it may be advisable to put a layer of copper onto the ABS as well as the electrolytic nickel. All these processes are easy if you know what you are doing. If you do not, it can be a tedious and difficult task, so I would suggest you ask a reputable supply house to give you the full chemistry to meet your needs. If you cannot do that, you should approach a sub contractor to do the job for you. If you are in a research and/or development area, you should seek the requisite technical information and then decide if you have the resources to do the job.

Trevor Crichton
R&D practical scientist
Chesham, Bucks, UK
2004