Coatings that leave tools cold
March 1st 2007

PVD nitride coatings for tools are conventionally applied by arc evaporation at temperatures between 400 and 450°C.

Now, an arc technology developed by Oerlikon Balzers Coating allows coating at temperatures as low as 200°C. This finally makes it possible to coat cold-working steels and die steels for plastics processing, commonly tempered at 200°C as well as copper alloys. Currently, three wellknown high-performance nitride coatings – BALINIT A (TiN), BALINIT D (CrN), and BALINIT FUTURA NANO (TiAlN) – are available as low-temperature BALINIT ARCTIC versions.

With BALINIT ARCTICcoatings, injection moulding and extrusion tools for the plastics industry as well as punching and forming tools can be coated without distortion, loss of hardness, and reduction in corrosion resistance.

This opens up new opportunities for using the advantages of PVD technology.

The coated tools feature longer service lives, simplify and stabilise manufacturing processes at a high level of sophistication, and thus create the prerequisites for perceptible productivity gains in metal and plastics processing applications.