Motovolt Engineering Standard

NICKEL CHROME ES No.: 005

Motovolt Mobility Pvt Ltd PLATING Sheet No.: 1 of 8

Issue Sheet Revision Reason for Change Date

This document is the property of MV. It shall not be communicated to

No. No. No.

1 1-8 0 Initial Release 23.03.2020

or copied by anyone without the written approval of MV

Copies to :

R&D

SCM/VD

Suppliers

Prepared by Reviewed and Issued by Issue No.: 0

Approved by

Issue Date:
 Motovolt Engineering Standard

NICKEL CHROME ES No.: 005

Motovolt Mobility Pvt Ltd PLATING Sheet No.: 2 of 8

Scope:
This document is the property of MV. It shall not be communicated to

This standard specifies the nomenclature/ requirements for Nickel Chrome plating
on metal substrate for decorative and corrosion prevention.
or copied by anyone without the written approval of MV

Nomenclature:
The plating specification shall be indicated with …

1. Base Material

2. Type of Plating

3. Plating Thickness

Example:

Fe / Ni 18t Cr r

Fe Ni 18 t Cr r

Chromium plating
Cr r- conventional Chrome
Cr mp- microporous Chrome
Cr mc- microcracked Chrome

Nickel plating system

d- duplex Nickel plating

t- triplex Nickel plating

Minimum plating thickness in microns

Nickel plating

Base metal
Fe- Iron
Cu- Copper
Zn- Zinc
Al- Aluminium
 Motovolt Engineering Standard

NICKEL CHROME ES No.: 005

Motovolt Mobility Pvt Ltd PLATING Sheet No.: 3 of 8

Nickel chrome plating quality:

This document is the property of MV. It shall not be communicated to

1. Process requirements
2. Performance requirements
or copied by anyone without the written approval of MV

1.Process requirements

1.1 Input material quality for plating

 The raw materials like tubes and sheet material should be smooth, free
from annealing /hot rolled scales, pitting, physical damages like dents and
deep line marks etc.,
 The weld bead should be uniform,free from weld scales, blow holes, pin
holes, undercuts and the weld bead edge should be free from having
crevices.

1.2 Polishing requirements

 The base material surface after polishing prior to plating should be

smooth and uniform without any criss cross polishing lines.
 The polished surface should not have surface roughness value of more
than 0.1 Ra .

1.3 Plating process requirements

1.3.1 Chrome plating process

 r- regular (conventional chrome)

The minimum Chrome thickness should be of 0.3 microns.

 mp- microporous chrome

The chromium layer shall contain a minimum of 10,000 pores/
10000 cm2 the pores shall be invisible to the unaided eye.

 mc- microcrack chrome

The chromium layer shall contain more than 30 cracks/ mm in
any direction over the whole of the surface. The pores should
be invisible to the unaided eye.

In case of microporous and microcracked chromium the pores/ cracks shall

be determined as per ASTM B 456.
 Motovolt Engineering Standard

NICKEL CHROME ES No.: 005

Motovolt Mobility Pvt Ltd PLATING Sheet No.: 4 of 8
This document is the property of MV. It shall not be communicated to

1.3.2 Nickel plating process

Thickness proportion (Ref ASTM B456)

or copied by anyone without the written approval of MV

Duplex Nickel: Duplex Nickel plating should consists of semi bright Nickel
layer and bright Nickel over the base metal as shown in Fig.1.

Chrome
Bright Nickel
Nickel
plating Semi Bright Nickel
Semibright Nickel

Base metal

Fig 1. Diagrammatic representation of

Duplex Nickel Chrome plating

Triplex Nickel: Triplex Nickel plating should consist of semi bright Nickel
layer, high sulphur Nickel layer and bright Nickel layer as shown in Fig 2. The
sandwich Nickel layer (high sulphur) exists between the semi bright and the
bright Nickel layers with thickness range of 1 to 2 microns

Chrome
Bright Nickel
Nickel High Sulphur
plating Nickel
Semibright Nickel

Base metal

Fig 2. Diagrammatic representation of

Triplex Nickel Chrome plating
 Motovolt Engineering Standard

NICKEL CHROME ES No.: 005

Motovolt Mobility Pvt Ltd PLATING Sheet No.: 5 of 8
This document is the property of MV. It shall not be communicated to

The Nickel plating system should be of Triplex Nickel plating minimum with
the following requirements with respect to thickness and sulphur content of
Nickel layer deposit.
or copied by anyone without the written approval of MV

The thickness ratio between the semibright and bright nickel should be
in the range of 60: 40 or 70:30 for Duplex and Triplex Nickel plating.

Semibright Nickel 60- 70 % of total Nickel thickness

Bright Nickel 30- 40 % of total Nickel thickness

Satin Nickel :

Semi Bright + Satin Nickel : 12 microns minimum

Chrome : 0.12 microns minimum

1.3.2 Sulphur content of Nickel layers (Ref ASTM B456)

Semibright Nickel layer < 0.005 mass%

High sulphur Nickel layer > 0.15 mass %
Bright Nickel layer > 0.04 mass%

2. Performance requirements

2.1 Appearance

The appearance shall be smooth and bright without any buffing/ polishing marks
and should not have defects as mentioned below

1.1 Pitting, roughness and etching.

1.2 Chrome stains, chrome peel off, chrome burning and chrome clouding.
1.3 Nickel peel off , nickel burning and nickel visible (Chrome uncoverage).
1.4 Any paint traces should be avoided in the significant areas.

Apply etch primer and aluminum paint in Nickel visible (chrome uncoverage) and
weld areas uniformly. Areas to be given etch primer and Aluminium touchup will be
specified by Motovolt for each component.
 Motovolt Engineering Standard

NICKEL CHROME ES No.: 005

Motovolt Mobility Pvt Ltd PLATING Sheet No.: 6 of 8
This document is the property of MV. It shall not be communicated to

2.2 Coating Thickness

2.2.1 Chrome thickness

. The Chrome thickness should be minimum 0.3 microns everywhere on the
or copied by anyone without the written approval of MV

surface of the component.

2.2.2 Nickel thickness

Shall be of 24 microns minimum everywhere on the surface

of the component.

The minimum thicknesses of individual layers are as follows

 Semibright Nickel thickness minimum 18 microns

 High sulphur nickel thickness 1- 2 microns
 Bright nickel thickness minimum 6 microns

The thickness ratio between semibright and bright Nickel layers shall be
maintained as mentioned in 1.3.1 and the thickness of Chrome and Nickel
individual layers can be checked by any one of the following methods.

 Coulometric method as per ASTM B504.

 STEP test as per ASTM B764.
 Microscopic method as per ASTM B487.
 X-Ray method as per ASTM B 568.

2.3 Adhesion

The coating shall be sufficiently adhering to the base metal and the separate layers
of multi layer coatings shall be sufficiently adhering to each other and to pass the
appropriate test methods detailed in ASTM B571.
The recommended tests are File test and Heat and quench test.

2.3.1 File test

Test method

A piece of the plated component is held in a vice and a coarse file applied to
the cut edge in such a manner as to raise the plated coating. Filing is done
from the base metal to the coating at an angle of 45 o.
 Motovolt Engineering Standard

NICKEL CHROME ES No.: 005

Motovolt Mobility Pvt Ltd PLATING Sheet No.: 7 of 8

Specification
This document is the property of MV. It shall not be communicated to

The plated deposit should not rise or lift from the base metal.

2.3.2 Heat & Quench test

or copied by anyone without the written approval of MV

Test method

The component is heated to a predetermined temperature (300 oC) for one

hour and immediate quenching in water at room temperature. The rapid
contraction of the metal detaches any poorly adherent deposits.

Specification

The plated deposit should not detach from the base metal and should not
have any sign of blisters.

2.4 STEP (Simultaneous Thickness and Electrochemical Potential measurement)

Electrochemical stripping method

Test method

STEP Test shall be done as per ASTM B 764 “Standard test method for
Simultaneous thickness and Electrochemical Potential Determination of
individual layers in Multi layer Nickel deposit”.

Specification: (Ref: ASTM B 456)

Duplex Nickel Chrome plating

 The Positive Potential difference between Bright Nickel and Semi

bright Nickel is 100 – 200 mV.

Triplex Nickel Chrome plating

 The Negative Potential difference between Bright Nickel and High

sulphur Nickel is 15 - 35 mV.
 The Positive Potential difference between Bright Nickel and Semi
bright Nickel is 100 – 200 mV.
 Motovolt Engineering Standard

NICKEL CHROME ES No.: 005

Motovolt Mobility Pvt Ltd PLATING Sheet No.: 8 of 8
This document is the property of MV. It shall not be communicated to

2.5 Corrosion testing

CASS Test (Copper accelerated Acetic acid Salt Spray Test)

or copied by anyone without the written approval of MV

Significance

This test is applicable to evaluate the corrosive performance of decorative

Nickel Chrome plating designed for severe service.

Test Method

CASS Test should be done as per ASTM B 368 “Standard method for
Copper –Accelerated Acetic acid-salt spray (Fog) Testing”.

Acceptance Criteria

The plated part should pass minimum 48 hours of CASS test with
acceptance rating 9. The CASS tested components should not have any
discoloration or rust formation.

2.6 Dehydrogenation

Particulars made by steel having Tensile ≥ 1450 N/mm2, as soon as possible and however
within 4 hours by the electrolytic coat and before any other probable mechanic top coat
treatment, have to be Heat treated in furnace at 190 ~ 220 °C for a time not less than 4
hours.