We discuss how much plating is really appropriate on a piston rod for a hydraulic cylinder?
Anything on the lower side decreases life of the piston rod and in turn of the hydraulic cylinder.
We receive cylinders for refurbishment and repairs and quite often we find the plating thickness to be lower than 20 microns. This reduces the life of the seals and the cylinder is said to be generally of a poor quality.
Hydraulic cylinder Rods should have a plating coating of at between 20-30 microns.
If you want a more detailed technical explanation we do have another article on how plating affects performance of a hydraulic cylinder.