Chrome Plating

Chromium is a metallic element, and chrome is just a slang name for it. Things are not made of solid chrome. Rather, they are made of something else (often steel or plastic) and electroplated with a coating of chrome.

Chrome is always applied by electroplating, it is never melted onto parts in the fashion of chocolate on strawberries. An additional cause of occasional confusion, however, is the fact that people may tend to describe any shiny finish as "chrome" even when it really has nothing to do with chromium. For example, highly polished stainless steel parts, nickel plated parts, parts painted with a highly reflective aluminium paint, and parts coated with vacuum metallized aluminium may be referred to as "chromed" by people who are not familiar with the subject.