The coating layer structure of commercial chrome plates

The surface and cross-sectional morphologies of the commercial chrome plate coating layer with the thickness of dozens of nanometers have been observed. To investigate the detailed structure of the coating layer, Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) combined with the low energy Ar+ sputtering technique have been employed. Through careful analysis of experimental data, it can be obtained that the coating layer of commercial chrome plates is composed of four layers from top to bottom with different compositions.