hard chrome on aluminum?

[BobM3]

We're looking for a way to get a hard surface on aluminum. Can hard chrome plating be applied to aluminum?

 

[israelkk]

Yes it can, as I recall it is first coated with Zinc or electroless nickel and then hard chrome over it. I have seen it used on Bell helicopters 30 years ago.

 

[kenvlach]

Additional methods include anodizing, hard anodizing, microplasma arc oxidation (MAO), electroless nickel (EN) plating, aand composite EN plating. Composite EN for wear resistance typically uses SiC or alumina particles although diamond-filled is perhaps best:

http://www.pfonline.com/articles/080203.html

Hard coatings on aluminum are mostly used for wear resistance; they fail under heavy loading due to the lower YS, lower modulus aluminum substrate.