There are many ways to protect industrial steel. One way to do that is to use industrial plating. One kind of industrial plating is electroplating. Electroplating happens by running an electrical charge through the item being plated. That object gets dipped into a bath, which has the plating material. An electric charge pulls the ions from the solution and adheres them to the piece of metal being plated.
Steel plating can happen in several ways. The most common ways are to use barrel electroplating and rack electroplating. To electroplate, the object needs contact with an electrical circuit. One part of the circuit is the liquid that holds the electroplating material. The other part of the circuit is the object being plated. When they come in contact the electroplating process happens. The barrel process is when the objects get dipped into a barrel or vat that is holding the solution. This is good for oddly shaped objects or doing a few things at a time.
The rack process happens the same way but the objects that are getting plated are on a rack and then put in the plating solution. This is really good for small pieces and for a lot of pieces to get plated at the same time, which saves time.
There are several reasons to plate industrial steel. One reason is to enhance the look of the steel. It makes it shinier, which many people prefer. Another reason is to protect the steel from any rust. Steel oxidizes when exposed to water and oxygen. It will rust even faster if it is in heat, since heat increases oxidation. Electroplating covers the entire piece of steel. This means that it isn’t affected by the elements. Industrial plating also protects the steel from wear associated with rubbing. This kind of wear can weaken the steel, leaving it open to other damage and even failure. Electroplating can also add thickness to the object, depending on what the plating material is.
One example of a plating material that meets all of the reasons above is gold. No one can deny that gold is shiny and certainly adds a lot of decoration to any thing. But, it is an excellent protection against corrosion. It also adds some extra lubricity to the plated items allowing them to slide back and forth easier keeping them from getting too much wear.
There are many steel plating companies. One in the St. Louis area is American Plating Company. They can plate in gold, silver, nickel and copper, as well as other metals. They also use both the barrel and rack methods of industrial plating. This lets them meet all of their client’s needs, no matter the size of the order.
