Chrome and what is it?

Chrome is slang for Chromium, one of the 91 naturally occurring chemical elements. Chrome is a metal, but it is not useful as a solid, pure substance. Things are never made of solid chrome. Rather, when you hear that something is chrome, what is really meant is that there is a thin layer of chrome, a plating of chrome, on the object. In the case of bathroom products these products will be made from brass, steels, or plastics.

Decorative chrome plating is sometimes called nickel-chrome plating because it always involves electroplating nickel onto the object before plating the chrome (it sometimes also involves electroplating copper onto the object before the nickel, too). The nickel plating provides the smoothness, much of the corrosion resistance, and most of the reflectivity. The chrome plating is exceptionally thin, and measured in microns. A micron is 1 millionth of 1 meter or 0.000001 meters.

When you look at a decorative chrome plated surface, such as a tap or shower valve, most of what you are seeing is actually the effects of the nickel plating. The chrome adds a bluish cast (compared to the somewhat yellowish cast of nickel), it protects the nickel against tarnish, minimizes scratching, and symbiotically contributes to corrosion resistance. But the point is, without the brilliant leveled nickel undercoating, you would not have a reflective, decorative surface.

As a quick rule you would expect the thickness of the chrome layer to be somewhere in the region of 0,25 � 0.8 microns and the layer of nickel to be a minimum of 0.8 microns.

Care of Chrome

Whilst chrome is a very resilient material it still needs careful handling and cleaning. You will find all sorts of suggestions on the web from vinegars to rubbing alcohol, wd -40 to lemon juice. The one main rule, do not use abrasive products. If abrasives are used regularly they will gradually rub away the chrome surface exposing the nickel and finally the brass.  This is not a fault but overzealous cleaning.

Should chrome start to peal, which occasionally happens this is more likely a fault that is caused by poor cleaning of the product prior to plating.

Below are some quotes uploaded from bathroom websites. Do you believe them?

Not all chrome is the same.

This towel radiator has been coated in 60 microns of chrome. Allowing for a highly reflective, mirror finish.

How do you tell the difference between poor chrome and great chrome? Place your finger on the chrome. On poor chrome your finger print will leave a mark, on great chrome you will be able to rub your finger print off.

The 60 microns of chrome on this towel radiator means it easily passes the finger print test.