Martin Engels, Ron Dielis, Ton Hurkmans, Ionbond Netherlands B.V., Venlo, Netherlands
Decorative Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) coatings have been a growing market for decades and the number of applications, as well as the request for new colors, are still growing. The markets which are being addressed range from sanitary parts to automotive interior/exterior or luxury articles like watches or golf clubs, and of course numerous other articles which can be coated. By applying a decorative PVD coating, not only the appearance of the parts is enhanced, but also the wear resistance and therefore durability is significantly improved.
In the past, the interest and also availability was mainly focusing on grey scale colors ranging from light silver to deep black or bright colors in the range of light gold to copper or brass. However, additional to the classic features of decorative PVD coatings, nowadays the interest of customers is expanding to more special colors like blue, green, dark brown etc.. Other than that, there is a rising demand on additional properties like corrosion protection or easy-to-clean behavior.
For that purpose, this presentation is intended to provide an overview of newly available colors, coating properties and the corresponding coating technologies. The focus will be on colors like deep black and brown or shiny colors blue and green. Furthermore, some insights on deposition of easy-to-clean surfaces and corrosion protection coatings. Finally, another focus will be on coatable substrate materials as well as features of decorative HiPIMS coatings are provided.