 Plated silver is now priced within everyone's reach because of electroplating. Even tin cans are not really tin. They're made of steel coated with tin by a modern high-speed plating process. Electroplating is a process which protects and beautifies metals that might otherwise rust or corrode by covering them over with more resistant metals. The plate may be tin, zinc, or cadmium, or it may be nickel or chromium with an undercoat of copper.