January 2013 - Faraday Technology Inc., an EPA 2011 SBIR winner, has developed a new trivalent chromium plating process. This new process avoids the use of toxic hexavalent chromium.

Faraday published its findings in Products Finishing Magazine (PF Online) on January 2, 2013. The paper describes the pulse and pulse reverse waveform process as a true “drop-in” replacement. Standard surface prep steps were used.

The chromium coating was applied to the internal diameters of 4130 steel pipes. Test data showed the same or better properties (such as hardness, thickness, and wear resistance) to coatings from standard plating processes.

The paper also included supporting comments from Boeing Research.

For full text of the paper Functional Trivalent Chromium Electroplating of Internal Diameters see: Functional Trivalent Chromium Electroplating of Internal Diameters Exit

For additional information about Faraday’s SBIR project see: Functional Chrome Coatings on Hard to Access, Internal Surfaces of Industrial Parts from an Environmentally Benign Trivalent Chromium Bath