Commercial Coatings (PVD)

Using PVD coatings on metal components and tools is becoming increasingly popular and necessary, as these items are required to perform tasks that are beyond the capabilities of the base metal. One of the main reasons for using coatings is to increase the surface hardness far beyond the ability of conventional heat treatment.

This is where Physical Vapour Deposited (PVD) type coatings are particularly useful. Their hardness is typically 3-4 times harder than heat treated steel, and because the coating follows the component geometry exactly and is  typically 1 to 4 microns thick, often no tolerance change is necessary to accommodate the coating.

Wallwork Cambridge, part of The Wallwork Group, offer a range of Ultra hard PVD coatings deposited by electron beam or magnetron evaporation, it is the smoothest and most defect-free method of PVD coating.

The coatings offered cover most applications but the high quality nature of the coatings make them more suitable for high value precision components and tools such as, surgical implants and instruments, gas turbine blades, motorsport components, coining dies etc.

New White Paper on Alternatives to Hard Chrome Plating

Hard Chrome Plating (HCP) was scheduled to be outlawed by the end of 2019, however, the sunset date has been extended by a few years. This has not stopped leading manufacturers across all sectors from implementing their long developed replacement strategies. As companies review the options, Ian Haggan, business development manager for hard coatings at Wallwork Group, proposes processes that have significant performance advantages. Download it here.