The transition from the combustion engine to alternative drives brings challenges for tool manufacturers. Where are the new markets and areas of application? The machining of high-performance materials is the decisive keyword here: implants made of chromium cobalt for medical technology, components made of aluminum, titanium and other high-temperature materials for aircraft construction, micro-machining of cell phone housings or gear wheels weighing several tons for wind power and turbine blades for aircraft engines made of special steels point to the future. What the end customers in these markets expect: maximum cutting performance, long tool life and perfect surfaces as the result of their work.
Against this backdrop, can a tool manufacturer help shape the change? Can the few micrometers of coating on the tool pave the way to future markets? And can a single specific coating technology be the solution? "The answer to all three questions is our HiPIMS technology," says Dr. Christoph Schiffers, Sales Coating Technology at CemeCon AG. "With the CC800® HiPIMS, we have developed a coating system for this future challenge. The basis: unique expertise from decades of experience in coating services and our own system construction. The result: a technology that gives tool manufacturers the flexibility they need to face future challenges with confidence."
The CC800® HiPIMS is extremely versatile. One and the same system produces a range of high-performance coatings for taps, high-performance coatings for micro-tools and 12 µm thick insert coatings. HiPIMS offers users countless possibilities in the development of new (coating) materials, as practically all elements of the periodic table can be deposited. The coatings have outstanding properties: they are extremely smooth, extremely adhesive, hard and tough at the same time, have a fine-grained, very dense morphology, low residual stress and high thermal stability. An exceptional combination!
The HiPIMS coating system is both the ideal tool for developers and the perfect basis for cost-effective production. "The trend in industrial production is moving further and further away from mass-produced tools for everything towards small batch sizes and special solutions for special applications. With coating rates of up to 3 µm/h, the CemeCon system enables the coating of more than four different batches per day. Thanks to the quick and easy changeover, non-productive times are kept to a minimum. This ensures maximum productivity," adds Dr. Christoph Schiffers.
CemeCon's HiPIMS technology will be presented at GrindTec (new date November 10 to 13, 2020 at Messe Augsburg).
