EPG AG – Your partner for high-performance surface coating
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Moving early from chromium trioxide to alternatives
With Nanoseal®, EPG AG offers an environmentally friendly alternative to chrome application that can be applied to all metals. Colored coating is also possible and thus also offers an alternative for black chrome application.
Due to the Reach regulation, the use of chromium has been on the banned list for many years. While it was first CHROM (VI), chromium trioxide has also been banned since 2017 or is only allowed with a special exemption, but this will expire in September 2024. It is unclear whether this approval will be extended.
This is a difficult situation for the chrome-plating industry, but also for buyers of chrome-plated products such as the automotive industry, because decorative chrome elements are very popular with customers. Even more important to look for alternatives, because there are definitely system coatings that are not as burdensome for workers, wastewater technology and emissions as chromium plating.
EPG offers alternatives for chromium
EPG AG has been working for years with a patented nano-chemical alternative as a chrome substitute based on sol-gel technology. With this environmentally friendly process, a glass-like transparent layer is applied to the polished metal in an extremely thin layer and then appears to the observer as if it were chrome-plated. This surface finish is already being used successfully in the automotive sector. The Nanoseal® product can be applied to all metals and common product surfaces such as stainless steel or PVD.
The particular advantage of this technology is that it does not pollute the environment during production and application but maintains the good properties of chrome plating - decorative and wear-resistant - just as well, if not better. In addition, the coating has a very high temperature resistance (up to 550°C) and is resistant to corrosion (CASS test up to 96 h).
Likewise, deep black coatings can be produced with the Nanoseal® product, which far outperforms the comparison with black chrome. It is therefore quite possible to replace chrome, you just have to know the alternatives.
We apply coatings to metallic surfaces
Stainless steel
Our top product NANOSEAL® sets new standards in the provision of finishes for stainless steel. Surfaces are given a wafer thin coating, to ensure they retain their original metallic appearance. Various color options are available.
Aluminium
Its typical lightweight character makes aluminum an increasingly popular metal nowadays for use in automobile, household and general design applications. Our environmentally-friendly technology SAPHIRAL® can improve upon, and sometimes completely replace, anodized aluminum, and is in addition available in many color variations.
Titanium and other metals
The EPG technology protects titanium and other metallic and non-metallic alloys. Among other new approaches, we are currently developing a new technology to protect carbonaceous steels.
Application areas
We enhance both internal and external components made from aluminum and stainless steel – for decorative purposes and to protect them against corrosion.
With our technology we enhance the appearance of corners, edges or decorative sections and thus preserve the high-quality appearance of designs items in the long term.
Household and kitchen equipment withstands the strains of daily use thanks to our coatings..
It doesn’t matter whether it relates to housings, switches or buttons: we can enhance and protect your electronic products with our innovative anti-fingerprint or easy-to-clean technologies.
We develop innovative composite materials for sand consolidation and proppant binding, and these are used as binding materials in the oil and gas industries. In this way, we increase the productivity of oil and gas resources throughout the world.
Aesthetic surfaces of metals coupled with high functionality have become essential in many areas of daily life. EPG AG’s coating systems are also suitable for component groups made of different metals.
Frequently asked questions (FAQ’s)
EPG coatings are distinguished by very thin application layers, but these layers nevertheless feature extremely high resistance to corrosion and environmental influences and a high level of scratch resistance. The layers are so thin that they can hardly be seen by the naked eye, and as a result the characteristics of the metallic surface are retained both in terms of touch and feel as well as optically.
Yes, we develop customized solutions for our customers’ products.
If requested by our customers, we are also able to coat samples – including original components. Our experts will be delighted to offer you their advice for this purpose.
Our coatings are subjected to all the quality tests which are important in the relevant industrial sector: e.g. mechanical tests such as abrasion and scratch resistance tests, salt mist tests and tests to check resistance to chemicals. The results can also be seen in our publications.
In addition to anorganic-glass-type systems which are extremely stable even at high temperatures up to 600 °C, EPG can offer hybrids with an anorganic-organic matrix, which display better characteristics when compared with purely organic systems.
Our product SAPHIRAL for the coating of aluminum convinced an independent jury
EPG AG wins Industriepreis 2017 in the category “Suppliers”
With its new product SAPHIRAL, an innovative coating solution for all current forms of aluminum alloy, EPG AG comfortably won the Industriepreis 2017 in the category of suppliers. SAPHIRAL is a Sol-Gel-based coating solution for all existing types of aluminum alloy, with outstanding functional and optical characteristics. SAPHIRAL exhibits a very high degree of scratch resistance, as well as great thermal and chemical stability. SAPHIRAL makes it possible to produce single-layer solutions for high-gloss, brushed or blasted substrates, with an extremely high-quality surface finish. SAPHIRAL can be applied directly on aluminum surfaces (colored coatings are possible) or can alternatively be employed to improve the qualities of anodized surfaces. This prestigious award, which is decided by an independent specialist jury comprising professors, scientists and experts from a variety of industrial sectors and publishing houses, is announced once annually by the Huber Verlag, a publishing house for new media, on the occasion of the Hannover Messe, Germany’s largest and most important industrial fair. On each occasion, prizes are awarded to the most advanced industrial products in 14 different categories. The Chairman of the Board of EPG AG, Dr. Andreas Zimmermann, was absolutely delighted at this recognition: “The awarding of this prize is for us both a confirmation and an acknowledgement that our innovative development work is at the absolute peak of current technology. Our solutions make it possible to offer the end customer a significant possibility of differentiating his products from the competition and of increasing their value.”
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