Method for chromium plating titanium alloy

摘要

A method for chromium plating a part made of titanium or titanium alloy eliminates the conventional chemical cleaning of the part prior to electroplating, and instead employs a mechanical cleaning of the part including degreasing the part and then grit-blasting the part with aluminum oxide particles. Immediately following the grit-blasting step, for example within one minute of its completion, the part is connected to the negative terminal of a DC power supply and is then immersed into a bath of chromium plating solution which contains an anode element connected to the positive terminal of the power supply. The part is left in the bath for a period of time so as to deposit a plating of chromium on the surface of the part. For final finishing of the part, a post-plating grinding operation is performed in which the surface speed of the grinding wheel is not greater than about 6500 surface feet per minute and the in-feed rate is less than about 0.00015 inch per pass of the grinding wheel, and preferably is about 0.0001 inch per pass.