Cromax® is a line of chrome plated and nickel-chrome plated bars and tubes, primarily used as piston rod material in hydraulic cylinders. Ovako’s development of steel grades specifically suited for piston rod applications and the plating process puts us in a unique position to control the quality and consistency of the end-product. With Ovako as your partner, you can rely on more than 40 years of experience from working closely with hydraulic cylinder manufacturers to refine the product.
Ovako is one of the largest producers on the market. Our four production units in Sweden, The Netherlands, France and Italy are the foundation for our unmatched redundancy and logistics in delivery. Our offering extends to professional technical support and customer unique solutions in cut-lengths, packing and inventory management.
Prior to delivery, all Cromax products are controlled to ensure optimal micro-crack distribution with high crack density. These properties together with closely controlled pre-treatment, plating process and finishing procedures, guarantee superior corrosion resistance. Ovako’s quality assurance system includes a thorough final inspection of every single product as well as verification in salt-spray testing of all combinations of steel heat, rolling operation and plating batch.
Wear resistance
Abrasive wear on the rod due to contamination particles from both outside and inside the hydraulic system leads to direct oil leakage and secondary damage on sealing system, which is unacceptable from an environmental and productivity point of view. The consistency in the Cromax process and our extensive quality control system ensures minimal variation in chrome thickness and hardness, which are the most significant parameters from this perspective.
Lubrication of sealing system
With the right surface roughness and structure as well as an optimized micro-crack distribution, Cromax products secures correct lubrication to the sealing system.
Advantages of Cromax® and NiKrom®
- In-house production facilitates unmatched quality and consistency
- Optimized to match the requirements in mechanical properties
- Every single production batch is verified in salt-spray testing
- High consistency and quality ensure well-functioning hydraulic systems
We made it! But we are still not satisfied
What a journey! It took years of hard work to make our steelmaking operations more sustainable. In 2022, we went carbon neutral in all operations. But we´re still not satisfied - our journey continue for products with no CO2 emissions.
Read more about our path to carbon neutrality