The most sizable consumer of chrome is the automotive industry, which uses the material for vehicle trim and accessories. Chrome is also a more popular finish in other industries today, and is now being used to plate everything from household fixtures to fishing paraphernalia.
Since it was determined that chrome is both attractive and heavy-duty, it has been a precious material to the car industry. When the sector started utilizing plastic instead of steel, owing to its cost-effectiveness and lightweight durability, the only downside was that it didn’t have the luster of metallic parts.
This problem was eliminated in the 1970s, when the process for ABS plastic electroplating was discovered, and plastic components were then plated using chrome to produce an extremely bright finish. Chrome trim reached its maximum usage in North America, where it was ever the most popular, from the late 1980s to the early 1990s; since 1993, its popularity has soared by 50% in Europe and almost doubled in England.
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Chrome plating is oxidation or corrosion-resistant, and is able to endure temperature and weather extremes. It is convenient to care for, and comes with an ultra-bright, stunning finish, all of which make it a perfect material for automotive trim and accessories.
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Chrome plating may be done on new factory components, or it can be done custom style for a specific consumer by a shop that provides metal finishing or custom plating services. Consumers can avail of parts plated at different electroplating service companies, and some automotive finishers are experienced with chrome plating.
As plated components don’t have to be discarded when they are damaged, chrome plating is indeed advantageous. Instead, they can simply be refurbished or re-plated, saving time and cash for consumers, reducing the waste and eliminating the need to find and purchase replacement components. Stripping and re-plating a part restores it to newness or sometimes even better, and is usually be less expensive than buying a brand new part. Recycling old parts not only is less expensive for consumers but also gentler to the environment.
Chrome is also the best finish for home fixtures, and for exactly the same reasons behind its popularity in the automotive world. Several household items are chrome-plated nowadays, including faucets, bathroom fittings, brackets, hinges, door handles, and many more.
Some items used to be plated with silver, copper, other metals, but they were expensive to purchase and maintain, although very aesthetically pleasing. They were less durable too in that they corroded, tarnished or reacted with chemicals, or simply deteriorated over time. Because chrome plating is a lovely finish without any of such disadvantages, it has replaced a lot of other plating materials for these fixtures.