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Difference Between Chrome and Nickel Plating

Decorative chrome owes its famed bright finish to the nickel plate that lies underneath it. Nickel is solid, malleable, a pure metal and can be formed into different solid shapes. Chrome is the common name for the metal chromium, which cannot be formed into solid objects in its pure state. When you hear that something is made of chrome, what that really means is that some other metal has a thin chromium coating over it.

Processes
- There are only two processes for chrome plating, though it is a lengthy, laborious task. Hard chrome plating is usually applied to steel components and consists of a few thousandths of an inch of chromium plate over the base steel. Decorative chrome plating starts with copper plate, then two or three layers of nickel plate and then a coating of a millionth of an inch of chromium. There are hundreds of processes for nickel plating. Most nickel plating companies offer a variety of processes, each of which produces a different type of finish and used for different purposes.
Purposes
- Hard chrome plating is used in industrial applications primarily to steel components to protect them against wear or for oil retention. Decorative chrome plating is always the final ultra-thin coat applied to a base of nickel plating for a bright finish. Nickel plating is used for many purposes, including providing the brightness of decorative chrome. Nickel plating is used in industrial components to protect them from corrosion. It is often used in chemical and food processing equipment to protect against iron contamination. Nickel plate can be manipulated and combined with other substances to produce a variety of decorative finishes.
Luster
- Hard chrome plating has a metallic look, but lacks brightness and is not useful for decorative purposes. Pure nickel plate has a silvery-yellow color that the final application of chromium changes to a silvery-bluish tint in decorative chrome. Black chrome plate is made by using a contaminant that turns the chromium to a smoky gray. Nickel, as mentioned, has a silvery-yellow luster in its pure bright state. But it can be manipulated and compounded with other substances to produce a variety of colors and brightnesses, including green, blue and a very smoky black finish.
Characteristics
- Chromium is a very lustrous, hard, silvery metal. It can be highly polished. A quality chrome finish is nearly as reflective and bright as a mirror. It is very brittle, though, rather than malleable and can not be manipulated into independent shapes. Nickel is a silvery, white metal that is lustrous in its pure state. It is malleable and can be formed into solid shapes. Nickel is usually used in the making of alloys, so is rarely seen in its pure state, except in purely decorative objects.

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