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Hot rolled vs. cold rolled steel as substrate for chrome plating

I occasionally have custom products done for both myself & for projects ( contractor ).
I recently had several custom pieces made of new curved 1/4 " steel plate electroplated ( copper / chrome ).
Though the new mild steel plate looked & was smooth to the touch before plating, the final chrome finish came out evenly distorted, similar to someone taking a paint brush and applying a thin, even gloss clear coat in one direction over the entire chrome side of the pieces leaving brush strokes ; ( 10" W x 45" L ) . Expectation was a relatively smooth mirror like finish.

The plating company informed me that this was due to the fact that the plate was HOT rolled steel & that COLD rolled steel is needed to achieve mirror like finish .

QUESTION : Is this true or false ?

Rick Mac Donald
buyer - Canada
June 25, 2011

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July 1, 2011

CR Steel is rolled when the metal is cold and is harder than HR which is in some way softer.
I have plated both I see no difference between them.

Maybe the brush you talk about are the abrasive band marks.

acid copper can alleviate this.

you can always improve the polishing operation to achieve a finer finish.

so better polishing plus acid copper could lead to a better finish.

which means it could be better, no matter HR or CR

this text is based on an idea taken from the letter; it's possible to have a misunderstanding of it! So I can be wrong.

Daniel Hernandez
- Bucaramanga Santander Colombia