What’s The Right Coating?
We design coatings to solve specific problems. There is no one-size-fits-all coating technology. You tell us the issues you’re having and we’ll use our 5-Step Surface Modification Process to find a solution.
1
Evaluate The Problem
Our coating technologies aren’t always the right answer. We’ll come right out and tell you if this is the case.
Our business is built on happy customers, not just any customer.
Coatings are most useful when they address a challenge taking place at the surface of a part. This can be topology, color, wear, chemical attack, friction, or a variety of other material properties. We start by evaluating your particular issue to ensure it’s a good fit for our coating technologies.
2
Define Desired Properties
Once we know a coating is the right solution, we ask what specific properties are required to meet your needs. This will begin to lead us to the proper material and application solutions.
3
Identify Optimal Process
The choice of coating process is instrumental in product performance. Coatings made from the same material can have different physical properties depending on how they are made. Another consideration is part geometry and where on the part the coating is needed. By making the right process choices, even parts with extremely complicated geometries can be protected.
4
Test
There is simply no substitute for making a sample and trying it out. After a detailed conversation to understand your quality metrics, we will have you supply a test piece made from the same material in the same way as your final part. From there, we will coat the part and return it for testing. We encourage our customers to subject our test parts to all quality and performance metrics as their existing parts to ensure smooth integration into the supply chain.
5
Production Plan
After validating the performance of the part, we’ll set up a detailed supply plan with you. In that plan, we’ll cover everything from our post-coating inspection procedure for our certificate of conformance to the packaging materials used in shipment.
R&D Capabilities
We use a wide range of analytical techniques to support our research and development. High-quality metrology is a key aspect of our success and is critical in both process control and design engineering of coatings.
Mechanical Characterization
- Nanoindentation
- Scratch Testing
- Wear Simulation
Coating Thickness
- Reflectometry
- Ellipsometry
- Profilometry
- X-ray Fluoresence
- Scanning Electron Microscopy
Coating Composition
- X-ray Fluoresence
- X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy
- Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry
- Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy
Optics
- Reflectometry
- Ellipsometry
- UV-Visible-Near Infrared Transmission and Reflection Spectroscopy
- Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR)
Topology
- Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM)
- White Light Interferometry
- Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM)
Coating Composition
- Carbon tetrafluoride
- Sulfur hexafluoride
- Argon
- Oxygen
- Nitrogen
Schedule a time to tell us about your particular needs and challenges.