It’s hard to believe that in the last 10 years, advancements are still being made to Trichrome plating. The most recent of those advancements is the liquid Trichrome additive. It is a consistent, wetter package and has a blue coloring to it. Even with these advances Trichrome plating is more finicky than say, a Hex Chrome.

These advancements don’t come without their own set of issues. The most common are dark smudges and poor coverage.  When you experience one or both of these issues there are a number of possible causes and several proven procedures which will help you resolve the issues.

Dark Smudges

Possible Causes	Remedies
Metallic contamination	Run ion exchange
Low TC regulator	Add 1 gallon/1000 gal TC regulator
Low specific gravity	Add TC chrome
Low conductivity salts	Add per lab analysis
Low TC stabilizer	Add per lab analysis
Contaminated nickel plated surfaces	Improve post nickel rinses, delay plating 30 seconds in Trichrome
Organic contamination	Carbon treat per lab
Poor air agitation	Increase air volume and replace or adjust air lines

 Poor Coverage

Possible Causes	Remedies
Low TC corrector	Add 1-2 gal/1000 gal TC corrector
Low specific gravity	Check and adjust TC chrome
Low conductivity salts	Adjust per lab
Low current density	Increase applies current 20-40%
Zinc  or lead contamination	Run ion exchange or dummy 20-40 ASF
High temperature	Reduce to 85-90 F
High air agitation	Reduce air flow
Poor electrical contact	Check rectifier, bussing and anodes

 

Pssible Causes

Remedies