Cybershield offers chrome plated plated plastic with environmentally friendly trivalent chrome plating chemistry (RoHS Compliant).
- Equivalent appearance, corrosion resistance and wear resistance as hexavalent chrome plating
- Cybershield offers bright chrome plating on plastic without the environmental issues associated with traditional chrome plating.
Contact Cybershield to review your requirements or to discuss design options. We will promptly respond to your phone or email inquiry and provide technical assistance to help you design a cost effective product design.
Plateable plastic Resins - ABS is most commonly used for chrome plating applications due to the ease to plate and provide smooth and reflective surface finish. Cybershield can also chrome plate many other plastic resins types for applications that require superior mechanical properties and/or higher thermal performance. The table below provides listing of major resin families that Cybershield routinely plates.
| Polycarbonate |
ABS |
| Polycarbonate/ABS Blend |
Polyetherimide (Ultem) |
| Polyphthalamide (Nylon) |
Polystyrene |
| Polyethersulfone (PES) |
Polypropylene |
| Polyetheretherketon (PEEK) |
Noryl |
| Liquid Crystal Polymers (LCP) |
Graphite and Graphite-Epoxy Composites |
Download more information about plastic plating technology
Trivalent Chrome Plating Plastic System
Decorative chrome plating plastic process includes following steps:
- Apply initial electroless copper or nickel plating layer (minimum 40 micro-inches/1 µm) onto all surfaces of plastic part to metallize the plastic part and make surface conductive. The conductive surface is required for electroplating plastic. Electroless layer will be minimum 40 micro-inches (1 µm)
- Electroless plated plastic part is loaded onto electroplating rack
- Copper is deposited with thickness ranging from 400-600 micro-inches (10-15 µm)
- Nickel is deposited with thickness ranging from 320-800 micro-inches (8-20 µm)
- Trivalent chromium is deposited to 4-10 micro-inches (0.1-0.25 µm)
Bright, Shiny Chrome Plating Finish versus Satin or Brushed Chrome Finish
- Nickel thickness is function of end use (lower thickness for interior applications and upper thickness for exterior applications)
- Bright nickel plating will deposit smooth plating surface that leads to bight, reflective finish.
- Matte nickel plating will deposit matte plating finish that leads to satin finish. Removing and brushing the parts during the matte nickel plating process can lead to the brushed stainless appearance
- Chrome plating is deposited over the bright nickel or matte nickel plating layer(brushed or not brushed). The chrome provides the bluish finish as well as protects the nickel from tarnishing, scratches and provides added protection against corrosion.
Cybershield supports customer production requirements and streamlines supply chain with Turnkey Manufacturing Services:
- Injection Molding
- Plastic Metallization
- Mechanical Assembly Services
- Automated assembly
- Full project turnkey responsibility where we will take your specification and will have all the components tooled and produced.
Our engineering team is ready to support your next chrome plastic plating project from conception through production.
Contact Cybershield for Technical Specifications, Process Capability, and Application Assistance.