The Atotech Chromium Range – The Complete Product Range for Decorative Chrome Finishes

Finishing Choices for Modern Designs

Atotech's decorative chrome plating processes are generally applied as final finish to improve brightness, appearance, corrosion protection, wear resistance and endurance of many different kinds of decorative articles. The most common decorative chrome plating is bright chrome – producing the highly demanded mirror bright chrome finish, if combined with a lustruous bright nickel deposit.

Black chrome processes offer deep black non-reflective coatings, while the environmental friendlier TriChrome® Smoke range allows color adjustments of dark-grayish looks, often combined with satin nickel deposits. For high corrosion resistance requirements, either Atotech's multilayer nickel or duplex chrome processes can remarkably enhance the performance.

Atotech's Chrome Range

Type of Process	Product	Properties and Typical Applications
Hexavalent Chrome
Bright Chrome	CR 843, CR 843 Liquid, CR 843 Plus	- Thickness less than 1 µm - Processes offer high efficient chrome depositions with a good coverage - The CR 843 Plus series provides increased plating rates and improved nickel activation - Very simple operation of LumaChrome® processes - High efficency and reduced tendency for cracking provided by DC 700
	LumaChrome®, LumaChrome® Plus
	DC 700
Duplex Chrome	UniChrome® CF 250	- Consists of two consecutive chrome layers - For thick decorative chrome deposits (> 2 µm)
Black Chrome	Econo-Chrome® BK, Black Chrome BC	- For general decorative black finishes - For solar absorber panels - As safety finish for non-reflective automotive surfaces
Trivalent Chrome
Bright Chrome	TriChrome® White, TriChrome® Plus	- Alternative process range to hexavalent chrome plating - Electrolytes are based purely on trivalent chrome - Fulfill requirements of automotive, consumer electronics and hardware industry	Read more.
Dark Chrome	TriChrome® Smoke 2, TriChrome® Shadow	- Alternative to ruthenium type finishes with higher wear and corrosion resistance - Applied in consumer electronics and automotive industries

Mist Suppressants

To protect workers' health from risks connected to hexavalent chrome fumes and mists, Atotech offers state-of-the-art non-PFOS and non-PFOA mist suppressants, like Chrome Wetting LF. It reduces the surface tension and prevents spray mists by forming a low foam blanket. Chrome Wetting LF is a highly concentrated liquid additive (ease of use) providing improved stability and low consumption rates. It is also suitable for conversion from conventional PFOS-containing wetters.

Nickel Activation

In order to prevent "white wash" or staining due to passive bright or satin nickel deposits, both electrolytic and electroless activations are available. Activator CA is used for cathodic activation and is most effective to remove organic residues after nickel plating. It also improves the chrome coverage and therefore reduces macro-cracks in the final chrome layer. The UniClean® 650 and UniClean® 675 are dry-acid salt mixtures, suitable for an effective chemical activation of the nickel layers.

TriChrome® Ion Exchanger – Regeneration of TriChrome® Processes

To remove interfering metallic impurities such as copper, nickel, zinc, lead and iron from the TriChrome® electrolyte range, Atotech provides an ion exchange system.

Read more about the TriChrome® Ion Exchanger in our Production Technology section:
TriChrome® Ion Exchanger

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