Hard chrome without hexavalent chromium.

TripleHard® is Savroc's patented Cr(III) hard chrome, designed to replace hexavalent chromium cost-effectively. Savroc licenses the process and works with you through the change, from the simulation of your parts to production in your own plant, on a new line or your converted existing line. Savroc's online monitoring software is included in every line licence.

Explore the technology How a licence works

TripleHard®

Hard chrome, reinvented.

TripleHard® combines a nickel anchor layer with one or more trivalent chromium layers. It matches Cr(VI) hard chrome in its properties and exceeds it in corrosion and heat resistance. Savroc has developed it in Kuopio, Finland, since 2013 and licenses it to the plants that run it.

  • High hardness. Hard-chrome level, without post-plating heat treatment
  • Excellent adhesion. Intact after bend and scratch testing
  • Cost-competitive. Full hardness as plated, no heat treatment, lower extraction requirements
  • Familiar process. Electroplating, on infrastructure your people already know

Why manufacturers choose TripleHard®

  1. Replace Cr(VI) before you have to.Hexavalent chromium is carcinogenic and moving towards an EU REACH restriction.
  2. Hard-chrome performance, tested.Rating 10 at 1000 h in neutral salt spray, depending on the nickel underlayer; no rust at 34 months in mine service; hardness maintained after heat cycling to 500 °C.
  3. Production stays in your plant.Your parts, your line, new or converted, under a Savroc licence.
  4. Quality held by data.Savroc's online monitoring software is included in every line licence.
  5. See it running.The continuous TripleHard® line in Kuopio is running and open for visits.
1000 h
neutral salt spray, rating 10, depends on the nickel underlayer
17×
service life in a mining case, against Cr(VI)
Since 2024
in industrial use, hydraulic cylinder rods
250k
cycles in an OEM seal test: less leakage than Cr(VI)

Roadmap: what TripleHard® replaces, and when

TripleHard® starts where it replaces nickel plus hexavalent chromium, which is where the technology is proven and where customers are ready now. We then scale the same technology to more applications and plants; as more lines are built, TripleHard® becomes more accessible and more cost-effective.

So far
Industrial use
Now
Reference line
Next
Customer line
So far
In industrial use since 2024, under a Savroc licence, on a converted open-tank line at a licensed coater, with coated rods supplied to Hydroline. In a mining field case: no rust at 34 months in mine service.
Now
The continuous TripleHard® line in Kuopio, the industrial-scale reference line, is running and open for visits, and Version 1 is complete. Its job is to prove high-capacity continuous production, which has not yet been run.
Next
The first continuous customer line, in mass production from 2027.

Hydraulics

So far
Tested
Now
Offered
Next
Partner's plant
So far
Tested on valve stems: hardness maintained after heat cycling to 500 °C, and no measurable attack in hot acid after heat treatment.
Now
Offered for licensed production on a converted existing line: coated in open tanks or in a coating cell of its own, not on the continuous line. Volume production is possible there; it has not started yet.
Next
Planned for 2027: the engine valve coating cell moves from Kuopio into a partner's own plant, for production there.

Engine valves

So far
Cell designed
Now
Testing continues
Next
Commercial use
So far
A shock absorber rod coating cell has been designed by Savroc. Tested: a quarter of the sliding wear of hard chrome on the same shaft, no galling at the full block-on-ring load, and lower seal leakage than the Cr(VI) reference in a 250,000-cycle OEM test.
Now
The third application, on a converted existing line or in a coating cell designed by Savroc, not on the continuous line. Volume production is possible there; it has not started yet. Testing continues.
Next
The goal: proven in commercial use by 2029, and scaling up from 2030.

Shock absorbers

From 2028: Replacing Cr(VI) hard chrome across applications, as fast as lines can be built and converted.

The roadmap
Where we are. TripleHard® is in industrial production today: hydraulic cylinder rods are coated on a converted open-tank line, in smaller volumes. Read more

An open-tank line can already run TripleHard® in volume and around the clock; it has not been run around the clock because the volumes have not yet called for it. High-capacity continuous production has not yet been run. Proving it, and building the way to coat hydraulic cylinder rods around the clock, is the job of the continuous TripleHard® line in Kuopio, which is running and open for visits, ahead of the first continuous customer line, in mass production from 2027.

The continuous TripleHard® line in Kuopio, designed and built by ILMAR, seen from the front along its full length, the hall darkened around it

Line designed and built by ILMAR

The continuous line

Engineered for performance. Built for scale.

Hydraulic cylinder rods are coated in a single automated pass. The rod enters at one end and moves through every stage without manual transfer between baths.

The continuous TripleHard® line in Kuopio is running, and Version 1 is complete. Continuous 24/7 production is the next step, and then we take TripleHard® into mass production on the first continuous customer line, starting in 2027.

Jussi Räisä, CEO & Co-Founder
  • Continuous process
  • Automated production
  • Precise control
  • Scalable capacity
See how the line works

Online monitoring

Why online monitoring is the key to 24/7 production

  1. Built for around-the-clock production.A continuous line earns its keep only when it runs around the clock.
  2. Held by data.Cr(III) is harder to keep on specification than Cr(VI); online monitoring is built to keep it there.
  3. Your line, your plant.Licensees, manufacturers or the coaters that plate for them, own and run the lines, so capacity scales as fast as lines are built and converted.

Savroc's online monitoring software is included in every line licence, in partial use on the reference line in Kuopio and continuously developed.

Built for:
  • Real-time process tracking
  • Deviation alarms
  • A record for every part

Safe by design

Better by choice. Better for all.

On the continuous line, the enclosed design keeps chemicals, mist and emissions inside the line.

  • Operator safe.

    Minimal contact with chemicals and moving parts

  • Fully enclosed.

    Splash, mist and emissions contained

  • Less chemical use.

    Many times less chromium in the bath

  • Monitored online.

    Built for real-time tracking and a record for every part

What it changes economically

Smarter process. Stronger results.

Most of the cost of Cr(VI) hard chrome is not the chrome. It is everything the chemistry forces you to build around it.

Production

  • Fewer maintenance breakshigher production output
  • Full hardness as platedno heat-treatment step
  • Lower frictionless energy lost in service

Plant

  • Less exhaust air to treatcheaper ventilation
  • Less wastelower disposal fees
  • Excellent corrosion resistancecheaper base material

Compliance

  • No chromium trioxideno Cr(VI) authorisation

Why now

The industry is moving. The replacement is ready.

Hard chrome itself is not the problem; the chemistry that makes it is. Hexavalent chromium is carcinogenic, and under REACH it is moving from authorisation towards restriction. OEMs are removing it from their specifications. Qualifying a replacement coating takes years, not months, so qualification needs to begin well before any regulatory deadline.

Read the regulatory position

Your line, powered by TripleHard®.

Built new with qualified equipment partners or converted from your existing line. Pictured: the reference line in Kuopio.

Savroc
Simulation of your parts, process design, online monitoring software, commissioning and the TripleHard® licence.
Equipment partner
Builds a new line to Savroc's process design. An existing line is converted to Savroc's conversion plan under Savroc's guidance, by your own team or an equipment partner.
You
Your plant, your targets, and the decision at the end of each phase.

Working with Savroc

From your drawings to production, with you.

  1. Targets and starting point

    • Your parts and specifications
    • Volumes and your current process

  2. Simulation for your parts

    • The coating modelled on your parts
    • From your drawings

  3. Design and targets

    • Line concept or conversion plan
    • Targets agreed in writing

  4. Build or convert

    • A new line from a qualified equipment partner
    • Or your existing line, converted to Savroc's conversion plan

  5. Commissioning in your plant

    • Process started up on site
    • Operators trained
    • Results verified on your parts against the agreed targets

  6. Production and support

    • Process support
    • Optimisation, new applications

How a project works

Contact

Ready to start your move off hexavalent chromium?

Talk to us about your parts and the targets they must meet, or come to Kuopio and see the line running. A first conversation needs no drawings.

Start your project with Savroc Visit the line in Kuopio