Progress with Thin Film Coating
The world of thin film coatings through PVD and PACVD ( Plasma assisted Chemical Vapor Deposition) has advanced tremendously in the last decade. The advent of a range of DLC (Diamond like Carbon ) offering new properties such as very low coefficient of friction and also extreme hardness, has opened the range of applications for vacuum coatings. These range from cutting tools, to plastic moulding, medical and component applications.
HIPIMS Sputter technologies have also changed the possibilities of PVD coatings, offer highly ionized sputtered coatings that are smooth, hard and exceptionally well bonded.
Incorporation of white layer free plasma nitriding into the PVD process is now also possible, expanding the range of applications that need deeper, harder support layers for PVD coatings. This most frequently applied in press tooling and die-casting applications.
These technologies are not yet available in the South African market, but we are working on bringing them here.
If you have an application or product that would benefit from the latest PVD /PACVD technologies, please speak to us.