Chromium Corporation

Pistons

Chromium Corporation is the only OEM approved piston tin plater in North America for new EMD and Fairbanks Morse pistons. Chromium also provides piston remanufacturing for aftermarket use. By going beyond routine piston remanufacturing, Chromium serves their clients by improving their products and saving them money.

Services
The piston remanufacturing process includes a thorough cleaning, complete inspection, glass bead blast, Magnafluxing to locate any cracks, and tin plating of the skirt. Tin is an ideal metal to use for pistons due to its malleability. Tin plated piston skirts can "heal themselves" if necessary. The tin becomes soft and ductile when heated during engine operation and flows to areas that become burnished or scuffed to ensure continuing lubrication. Following the plating process the top ring groove is requalified by size or machined to 1/32" oversize. Chromium Corporation will then induction harden the upper ring groove of used, non-hardened 645 style pistons, the only piston rebuilder to provide such a service.

HURG®, Hardened Upper Ring Groove Piston
Worn ring grooves are the prime factor limiting power assembly life. Constant impact wears a step into the lower land of the number one ring groove and causes accelerated wear to other components, especially the ring. The wear step forces the ring to flex out of its designed ring/liner interface and undergo extreme torsional stress. The liner and ring wear faster and the ring often breaks due to fatigue before the assembly completes its life cycle.

Induction hardening of the lower land of the number one ring groove has been proven to increase the ring and piston life cycle by 30% to 50%. Chromium Corporation's proprietary one step process provides continuous hardness and depth over the entire ring land circumference. There are no soft gaps or annealed overlaps. The land is hardened to 58 - 62 Rockwell "C" to a minimum depth of 0.150". There are currently thousands of induction hardened pistons operating throughout North America.

ThermoChrome® Piston Crown
Improved fuel efficiency, reduced emissions, and longer component life cycle have become critical considerations for engine builders and operators of locomotives, workboats, and stationary power plants. To address this problem, Chromium Corporation spent over five years researching, developing, and testing a new product concept - a reflective barrier on piston crowns.

The ThermoChrome® piston crown is a polished CRODON® chrome plate applied with a conformable anode that exactly matches the geometry of the original piston surface. The bright, polished surface redirects energy back into the combustion path for improved combustion efficiency and the dense, non-stick surface prevents carbon buildup. Testing by a major independent laboratory confirms an improvement in fuel economy from 0.8% to 1.3% while reducing emissions of CO, particulates and HC. More than 5 years and 500,000 miles of in-field testing in EMD engines confirms its durability and reliability.

For more information on Chromium Corporation, our products and/or services, please visit the "Contact Us" section of the web site.