SECTION TITLE
COATING TECHNOLOGY
How mobility, energy and general engineering operations can benefit from lower energy consumption, reduced CO2
longer equipment operating life emissions and
HIGH-PERFORMANCE COATINGS
Oerlikon Balzers offers a variety of specialised coatings
operational performance and extending the life of parts across countless manufacturing and industrial sectors. Less understood is the value that these coatings provide in reducing the environmental impact of the industrial processes where they are used. It starts with one of the primary
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reasons to use PVD coatings in the first place, which is to reduce friction between mated parts to improve performance. Tis can result in direct energy savings and, by extension, reduced CO2
emissions. Because these coatings extend the life of component parts that require frequent replacement, the raw materials, metals and energy that are required to manufacture a replacement part, are also saved.
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pecialised physical vapour deposition (PVD) coatings are widely recognised for the critical role they perform in enhancing
In fact, some specialised coatings manufacturers are making a strong case that coatings are a significant contributor to improving the environment. Tey not only point to these environmental benefits, but also to the enhancements they have made in their own coating equipment to operate more efficiently. In addition, continued advancements in specialised PVD coatings are also playing an important role in the design of components for new and emerging green technologies.
REDUCING FRICTION Reducing friction when mated components are in contact with each other is critical, particularly in punishing environments where there are high loads and high wear. Bearings, gears, rollers and other precision components suffer from excessive wear, surface fatigue, pitting, galling and corrosion which can also cause failure especially in high-load applications.
To prevent these issues from occurring, specialised PVD coatings are applied in thicknesses of typically only a few micrometres to further harden the surface of these parts and through mechanisms such as altering the surface chemistry they can also lower the coefficient of friction. As a result, less energy is used and less emissions are generated.
Carbon-based coatings such as
Diamond-Like Carbon coatings (DLC) from specialised coatings formulators such as Oerlikon Balzers, are even more durable. Produced mainly through plasma-assisted chemical vapour deposition (PACVD), these well adhering coatings provide a novel combination of high hardness and low friction coefficients. Such coated components are used for
a variety of applications, including wind turbine shaft bearings and planetary gears; stainless steel cutting blades and piston
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