Coating technologies
Argor-Aljba has 5 deposition technologies: arc PVD, filtered arc PVD (patented), PVD sputtering, PACVD and PACVD + HiPIMS (self-developed). The ta-C DLC coatings reach a sp3 percentage of 85%, the patented dropless® technology allows to obtain a droplet-free coating that guarantees significant performance benefits, specially in the "industrial" sector.
Comparison with other coatings
| Type of coating | - | Hardness (HV) |
Friction coefficient |
Max. temperature of deposition [°C] |
Typical processed materials |
| Argor-Aljba dialong® | ta-C | 5’300 | 0.08 - 0.12 | <100 | Aluminium and copper alloys, precious metals, plastic, graphite, material composites |
| Titanium Nitride | Tin | 2’300 | 0.40 | <500 | Steel and stainless steel |
| Titan-Aluminium Nitride | TiAIN | 3’000 | 0.35 | <500 | Steel and stainless steel |
| Chrom Nitride | CrN | 1’800 | 0.50 | <500 | Copper |
| Zirconium nitride | ZrN | 2’500 | 0.45 | <500 | Copper and titanium |
The structure of the ta-C DLC coating developed by Argor-Aljba has the following properties:
- Extreme hardness: up to 7000 HV0.05
- Utmost wear resistance
- Very low friction coefficient
- Perfect adherence, thanks to a special intermediate layer
- Humidity resistant
- 100% biological compatibility
- Chemical stability and corrosion resistance
Through their properties Argor-Aljba coatings clearly stand out compared to conventional coatings: considerably reduced friction
and extreme hardness, the performance and life span of tools and components are increased by many times as well.
General Information on Diamond-Like Carbon (DLC) Coating
DLC coatings offer a unique combination of high hardness and low coefficient of friction, can be customized according to the customer needs and can be used in a wide range of applications in the industrial (automotive, aerospace, tools, medical, etc.) and aesthetic/functional sectors (watchmaking and jewelry). Different deposition technologies allow to obtain DLC coatings with very different characteristics (see diagram below).
sp2 (Graphite)
sp2 configured Carbon is a black and very soft material. The greater the quotas of this form of carbon, the softer the layer. This
combination is usually found amongst the amorphous carbon layers produced with the conventional sputter process.
Polymer-CH
Through the PACVD process, hydrogen is incorporated into the carbon layer. However, this reduces the hardness of the
layer and entails very low application temperatures.
sp3 (Diamond)
sp3 configured carbon is pure diamond, famous for its extreme hardness.
Arc PVD dialong®
The ta-C DLC produced with Argor-Aljba's patented Arc PVD dialong® technology features layers with a very compact and hard diamond structure. The residual part of graphite improves the sliding properties.
Filtered Arc PVD dropless®
The ta-C DLC produced with Argor-Aljba's patented Filtered Arc PVD dropless® technology has a diamond structure up to 85% and guarantees a homogeneous and high hardness coating.
PACVD + HiPIMS
The PACVD + HiPIMS coating technology developed by Argor-Aljba guarantees the deposition of multilayer, very compact and smooth coatings.
Decoating technologies
Argor-Aljba has chemical decoating technologies and PVD process (developed in-house) which are chosen according to the DLC coating to be removed and the underlying material. Therefore, we can offer to the customer a complete service.
Chemical
For the decoating operations we use dedicated chemical solutions according to the base material so that the DLC layer can be removed from the surface without altering the surface of the component.
Physical
For the decoating operations of ta-C DLC coated components we use the PVD process developed by Argor-Aljba which guarantees the removal of the DLC in an optimal way, restoring the original surface, ready for the subsequent coating.
Advice and expertise.
- Hardness measurement
- Roughness measurement
- Thickness measurement
- Adherence measurement
- Abrasion measurement
- SEM + EDXS
- Report measurement
- Corrosion measurement NSST
- Corrosion measurement report