Chrome Plating and Its Benefits The most sizable consumer of chrome is the automotive industry, which uses the material for vehicle trim and accessories. Chrome has become a more popular finish in other industries too, and is now being used to plate everything, from domestic fixtures to fishing baits. Since it was known that chrome is both attractive and resilient, it has been an indispensable material to the car industry. When the sector began using plastic rather than steel because of its cheaper cost and lightweight durability, the only disadvantage was that it was short of the luster of metallic parts. This was solved in the 1970s, when the ABS plastic electroplating process was developed, and plastic components were now plated with chrome to prove them an super-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 never oxidizes or corrodes, and can stand harsh weather conditions and temperatures. As well, it is easy to care for, and has a very bright and attractive finish, making it a highly preferred material for automotive trim and accessories.
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Chrome plating can be performed on new components at the factory, or it can be done for a certain consumer by a custom shop offering custom plating or metal finishing services. Consumers can avail of parts plated at different electroplating service companies, and some automotive finishers are experienced with chrome plating. Chrome plating is advantageous since plated components don’t have to be thrown away if they become damaged, but may be refurbished or re-plated. Instead, they may simply be re-plated or refurbished, allowing consumers to save time and money, controlling waste and eradicating the need to purchase replacement parts. 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 isn’t only cheaper for consumers but also friendlier to the environment. Chrome is a great finish for domestic fixtures as well, and for the exact same reasons that make it highly preferred as an automotive finish. Several household items are chrome-plated nowadays, including faucets, bathroom fittings, brackets, hinges, door handles, and many more. Some items were once plated with copper, silver and other metals; these materials were aesthetically valuable, but could be very expensive to buy and maintain. They were less durable too in that they corroded, tarnished or reacted with chemicals, or simply deteriorated over time. As chrome plating makes for a beautiful finish without these disadvantages, it has now replaced several other materials for the said fixtures.