Q: Why is the plating peeling off my zipper slider?
Plating peel is an adhesion failure, and it shows as flakes, patches or a bright base metal under the coating. Whether it starts at an edge or in the middle of a face points to a different process step.
- Examine the peeled area under magnification and note whether the base is bright metal or dark oxide.
- Check whether peel starts at an edge, which suggests poor edge coverage, or in the middle, which suggests contamination.
- Review handling after plating: abrasive tumbling, hard contacts and acidic residues all weaken adhesion.
- Run a simple tape-pull test on a sample to see whether the coating lifts.
- Compare a failed slider with a spare from a different lot to see whether the fault is lot-specific.
Peel that repeats across a lot is a plating process issue and should be raised with the maker with photographs and the lot number. Isolated peel after harsh handling is a process or use issue. Do not polish the peeled area, because that spreads the damage and removes the evidence.