Cylinder piston rod is a very important part in hydraulic cylinder working smoothly,hard chrome plating a piece of precision equipment such as a cylinder rod is a painstaking and methodical process.
The Hard Chrome Plating Process:
1. Inspection
The cylinder chrome rod is inspected during the initial evaluation to determine the condition prior to the chroming process. An inspector will make note of any signs of corrosion, pitting, marring, damage, cracking or flaking. The presence of any of these conditions will be taken into account during the re-chroming process.
2. Grinding & Stripping
Old material on the hydraulic cylinder rod must be removed before new chrome can be applied. This step needs to be completed carefully to preserve the steel beneath the old layer and without affecting the rod diameter. This can be done with two methods – electrolytic stripping and stone grinding.
3. Cleaning and Masking
The rod then needs to be prepared to be placed in a bath of chromium solution. Prior to doing so, the rod must be cleaned thoroughly. Undesirable anomalies may occur if debris and contaminants are not properly cleaned during this step.
4. Plating
Electrolytic plating is a familiar process, being used in a range of applications spanning from plating gold jewellery to applying metal plating to satellites.
5. Surface Finishing
This is a 2-step process of post-grinding and linishing to finish the rods once a new layer of chrome has been applied. The perfect surface finish is achieved by reducing the chrome coating to the exact thickness, and polished.
6. Inspection
For the chroming process of hydraulic cylinder piston rod to be complete, the job must pass a final inspection. With ample experience and digital devices for surface thickness and roughness measurement, an inspector checks the quality of the chrome job and ensures there are no defects.
