Ask the Expert Question-and-Answer Archive
(Hard Chrome Plating)

by Larry Zitko, ChromeTech, Inc.
June, 2002

Removing Chrome Plating

Q. What is the easiest way to remove chrome or can you let me know where to purchase a chemical to do this with as my supplier stopped selling the stripper that I used.

A. Sodium hydroxide at 8-12 oz/gal (w/v) works well for electrostripping chromium from carbon steel substrates. The bath can be operated at ambient temperature or higher, at a current density of 0.25 - 1.0 amp/sq.in. The fumes evolved are toxic and must be evacuated and scrubbed. The bath starts out as a simple solution of caustic soda but acquires an increasing component of a hexavalent chromium compound as the metallic chromium is electrostripped from the workpieces. The spent solution is hazardous waste and must be properly disposed.