Life saving chrome

British scientists have developed a safer and more versatile alternative to chrome electroplating, the ubiquitous coating found on vintage car bumpers, steel camshafts and other fixtures.

Chrome electroplating protects from corrosion, but chromium comes with serious health risks and chromium compounds have been shown to cause cancer.

Speaking at an Institute of Physics conference, Professor Robert Akid warned that workers are being exposed to chromium compounds that are potentially cancer-causing and said that a safer alternative is needed.

He told the conference, Novel Applications of Surface Modification, organised by the Applied Physics and Technology Division of the Institute of Physics, that he and his colleagues are developing an alternative that will not only be safer but cuts down on costs by reducing the numerous processing stages associated with conventional electroplating.

Professor Akid, who is Head of the Structural Materials & Integrity Research Centre at Sheffield Hallam University, is developing a so-called "sol-gel technology" which is a colloid with nanoparticles in a solvent that can form a gel. A metal object is sprayed with or dipped into the sol-gel system and it quickly forms a gel-like layer on the object's surface. The solvent is then removed by evaporation and the coating cured, or hardened. Akid said that the sol-gel approach can be used to coat a wider range of metals than electroplating methods.