Hard Chrome Plating

Abrasion Cutting, small groves (cutting tools, plows, cultivators) Change material to high-carbon steel or 20-30% Cr white cast iron or WC or TiC composites and by increasing surface hardness using hard-chrome plate... 

All mold components contacted by the molding compound—runners, gates, and cavities—should be made of hardened steel, hardened to 65-68 on Rockwell scale, highly polished, and hard chrome plated. 

Steel. The extrusion process being continuous, both erosion and corrosion are significant factors. Hence the dies must be made of a high-quality tool steel, hardened so that the areas that contact the plastic material do not erode. Additionally, many dies have a dense, hard chrome plating in the area where plastic melt contacts the die. 

If the coarseness of the screw surface is taken as the basis for, by the way, insufficient indicator for estimating the friction coefficients to be expected between the mass and the screw, Ra values of 2-4 q can be achieved today for application of tungsten carbide according to the high-speed plasma method for hard chrome-plating, these values lie at about 0.3. 

TS molds are usually hard-chrome-plated on areas that are exposed to the molding compound during the molding process, such as the plunger, pot. 

Heated steel molds, preferably hard chrome plated, are used, which may be of multicavity design. Tooling costs are higher than for compression moulding since appropriate gates and runners must be included in the mould. 

The final wound structure is removed from the winding machine, and the mandrel/ workpiece is placed in an oven for curing. Various mandrels are used and can be made of hard chrome plated and polished ground steel, which may be of a segmented collapsible construction, but must have no concave curvature. If the part has complex geometry, then fusible low melting point alloys, a soluble plaster that can be removed with hot water after curing, or an inflatable bag can be used. In some instances, such as compressed natural gas (CNG) tanks, the mandrel is left in position as a liner. 

Machines and molds may cost between several hundred thousand and a million dollars, depending on the throughput rates and accessories. Molds for blow molding are made from beryllium copper and aluminum because of the excellent thermal conductivity of these materials. Stainless steel and hard chrome-plated tool steels are also common. 

Two shaft surfaces, hard chrome. plate and S.80 were used with the carbon and metal bushes. With the PTFE containing bushes, S.80 hard chrome, 18/8 stainless steel and lead-bronze shafts were used. Liquid nitrogen and liquid oxygen were used as the immersing liquids. The work has been extended to investigate damage which can occur when the liquid supply fails and operating temperatures increase substantially. 

CARBON. Bushes of the following compositions were run for 1 2 psi in liquid oxygen on hard chrome plate and ground finish unplated S.80 stainless steel shafts at 500 rpm and 2,000 rpm. 

A typical PP die is manufactured from a P20 tool-steel billet. The flow channel is polished to 2-4 Ra, and hard-chrome plated. The exterior of the die is flash chrome plated to make die dean-up easier, and also to prevent corrosion during shipping and storage. Dies can also be built from stainless steel, which is more costly that a chrome-plated tool-steel die, and of no significant advantage, because PP is not a corrosive material. 

The hot side of steam turbines and the blades of feed water pumps are made from 12% chromium steels, also wear resistant components such as bearings and pump shafts and valve spindles, which are sometimes hard chrome plated. Support grids for fuel rod elements are also made from chromium steel. The corrosion loss of these materials in demineralised water at 260 °C is 0.007 mm/a at pH 7 and 0.11 mm/a at pH 10 [72]. 

Extrusion dies usually are made from alloy steel, finished to a few microinches, plated, and buffed. Hard chrome plating is used for most materials except corrosive resins such as vinyls where nickel is used. Temperature control to within 2-3 deg F is required at specific zones in the die. Proportioning temperature controllers with sensing elements deep in the die body provide excellent temperature control in electrical heating systems. In some applications, portions of the die may be cooled rather than heated for internal sizing and support of the extrudate. 

The finish of the cavity surface of a mould is particularly important because it determines the quality of the finish of the moulded part. Moulds are quite commonly hard chrome plated to seal any porosity in the steel mould surfaces. Since epoxide moulding compounds are mineral filled, they tend to be extremely abrasive and so hard chrome plating can give an effective decrease in the rate of wear of the runners... 

For reasons mentioned previously, the molds are made of case hardened steel or a fully coated material with a hardened or refined surface and tough core. All components that do not have molding surfaces and are exposed to wear are made of steel with strengths from 600 to 700 N/mm. Hard chrome plating or a corrosion-resistant material has to be selected to protect the finish and the molding surfaces against wear caused by friction and chemical attack. 

The shrinkage of the material being processed is taken into account when dimensioning the components in the cavity areas. Hard chrome-plated molds, which consist of individual segments, are designed and manufactured so that the individual mold parts are compensated for their chromium layer thickness. A self-contained chromium layer has to remain for any adjustment work. Unplated areas should be avoided in any case to prevent a separation of the hard chromed plating from the mold steel. 

On the one hand, high chromium steel polished surfaces can be used as a surface protection. On the other hand, hard chrome plating with a thickness of approx. 0.005 mm is used as the most common and least expensive coating for elastomer molds. Currently, a coating based on chromium nitride is increasingly used. In addition to these coatings, numerous other options can be considered, such as ceramic coatings or titanium-based surfaces. 

In the case of hard chrome plating, after preliminary cleaning (electrolytic or hot degreasing, flushing, etc.), further activation in the bath is required to improve layer adhesion. A roughened mold surface finish is achieved by anodic connection. The steel surface is etched, and it is possible for impurities (e.g. sulfides, oxides) in the steel, or residue from previous operations (EDM, polishing, etc.) to be released, and cause perforation. 

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