PVD HARD THIN FILM COATINGS
PVD Coatings are traditionally deposited onto cutting tools and forming tools to extend the life of the tool. There is a very wide range of PVD Coatings from which to choose all having extremely high hardness (2000 – 3500Hv); the choice of coating depends on the application. Coatings have different properties such as hardness, chemical composition, color and Friction coefficient.
The PVD Coating process is essentially an atomic plasma spray treatment inside a high vacuum chamber. The process is carried out at elevated temperature (up to 450°C) and is a ‘line of sight’ operation. The common coatings deposited are Titanium Nitride (TiN), Titanium CarboNitride (TiCN), Chromium Nitride (CrN) and Aluminium Titanium Nitride (AlTiN) with many variants of these also available. All types of tooling can be coated including milling, drilling, stamping, piercing, forming, gear cutting and punching. All high speed steels, carbide and many other tool steels can be coated. PVD coatings are usually less than 6 microns thick and conform exactly to the texture of the surface being coated. Tools or components to be coated are first inspected to insure suitability for coating, and then cleaned using an automatic multi-step process to ensure that they are physically and chemically clean. This is of crucial importance to the success of the coating operation.
The Advantages of PVD Wear Coatings
✦ Dramatic Improvement in Tool Life
✦ Minimal Dimensional Changes
✦ Low Maintenance
✦ Higher Speeds & Feeds
✦ Protects Against Corrosion
✦ Strip & Recoat Multiple Times
✦ Resistant to Chemicals
✦ Environmentally Safe
✦ High Heat Resistance
✦ Reduced Friction
✦ Uniform Coating
✦ Decorative Colors
✦ Low Coating Temperature for Sensitive Parts
✦ Excellent Adhesion
Okai Metal manufactures sputtering targets and cathodes for the deposition of hard coatings. These special protective coatings increase the wear resistance of machining tools and components in large thermal amplitude. Some compositions are used for decorative coatings as well.
Okai Metal's materials available for hard coatings as rotatable monolithic or rotatable plasma sprayed sputtering targets, planar monolithic or bonded sputtering targets, arc cathodes, evaporation materials and crucibles in materials of:
✦ titanium - Ti, CP Grade 2 (99.2%), CP Grade 1 (99.7%), 99.9%, 99.95%, 99.99%, 99.995%, 99.999%; rotatable target, planar target.
✦ zirconium - Zr, R60702 (99.2%), 99.9%, 99.95%, 99.99%, 99.995%; rotatable target, planar target
✦ chromium - Cr , 99.5%, 99.8%, 99.9%, 99.95%; rotatable target, planar target.
✦ niobium - Nb, 99.95%; rotatable target, planar target.
✦ tantalum - Ta, 99.95%; rotatable target, planar target.
✦ titanium-aluminum - TiAl, 99.7%; 25:75, 30:70, 33:67, 40:60, 50:50, 60:40, 67:33, 70:30, 75:25, 80:20, at%; rotatable target, planar target.
✦ nickel-chromium - NiCr, 99.9%, 99.95%, 99.99%; 80:20, 60:40, 50:50, 40:60, wt%; rotatable target, planar target.
✦ chromium-aluminum - AlCr, 99.9%; 70:30, 50:50, at%; rotatable target, planar target.
