All chromium is about the same hardness; 800 to 1000 VHN - very hard! The main difference lies in the thickness of the deposit. For decorative chrome purposes, sits best on nickel which itself adheres very well to copper - this combination also offers the best corrosion protection resistance. Decorative chrome thickness will vary from a few hundredths of a mil to 1 mil. The mirror finish will only be as good as the finish you put on the surface before you put on the chrome.
For functional purposes, to take advantage of the extremely low chrome plating coefficient of friction, or for wear build-up (bearing surfaces or pistons, as examples), hard chrome is plated in thickness as required from 1 to 50 mills.
When used as a bearing surface. Chrome must be micro-finished (more on this later) and will then provide a coefficient of friction lower than any other metal when used against steel, iron, brass, bronze, babbitt, or aluminum alloys. Do not use chrome against chrome. Because chrome is also much harder than casehardened steel, we then have a perfect set-up for longwearing working surfaces. Chrome will resist mostly all organic and in organic compounds and acids, except hydrochloric acid (muriatic).
Find more about pickling scale and type of metallic coating like chrome plating, bright chrome plating, dull black chrome plating, white chrome plating, gold color chrome plating, silver plating, gold plating, copper plating, anodizing, aluminum anodizing, black anodized, red anodized, yellow anodized, bronze color anodized, silver anodized, gold anodized, zinc coating, galvanizing.
For functional purposes, to take advantage of the extremely low chrome plating coefficient of friction, or for wear build-up (bearing surfaces or pistons, as examples), hard chrome is plated in thickness as required from 1 to 50 mills.
When used as a bearing surface. Chrome must be micro-finished (more on this later) and will then provide a coefficient of friction lower than any other metal when used against steel, iron, brass, bronze, babbitt, or aluminum alloys. Do not use chrome against chrome. Because chrome is also much harder than casehardened steel, we then have a perfect set-up for longwearing working surfaces. Chrome will resist mostly all organic and in organic compounds and acids, except hydrochloric acid (muriatic).
Find more about pickling scale and type of metallic coating like chrome plating, bright chrome plating, dull black chrome plating, white chrome plating, gold color chrome plating, silver plating, gold plating, copper plating, anodizing, aluminum anodizing, black anodized, red anodized, yellow anodized, bronze color anodized, silver anodized, gold anodized, zinc coating, galvanizing.