What does the customer expect from a coating? Good appearance, lasting durability, appealing functionality, or environmentally friendly production? No question, he wants everything combined, of course!

For the decorative sector, PVD (physical vapor deposition) processes have become indispensable in surface technology. After all, it's all about attractive colors, improving haptics and appearance - regardless of whether it's used for car interiors or in the household or for small electrical appliances.

Nevertheless, this process also has numerous disadvantages, which become particularly apparent when the coated components are used permanently: for example, the decorative PVD surfaces are very sensitive to scratches and are not resistant to abrasion or chemical influences. If, for example, a component or kitchen utensil is constantly touched by hand, the PVD surface may become scratched after a short time or suffer in appearance due to fingerprints.

EPG AG has developed a topcoat for precisely this problem, which can protect the PVD layer and significantly improve its function. Based on sol-gel coating technology, a glass-like transparent coating was developed that covers the PVD layer in an ultra-thin layer and thus does not produce any optical changes to the metallic appearance. But the durability and functionality of the coating is increased, scratches, abrasion or hand sweat are no longer a problem. Cleaning a PVD coating is also made easier with the topcoat, because fingerprints are now easy to remove and wipe away.

But it is also possible to completely replace the PVD layer with the EPG sol-gel coating. This creates further advantages for the customer. The PVD process is very complex, cost-intensive and, above all, time-consuming due to the necessary use of complex machines, and often results in minor color differences in successive batches. EPG coatings, on the other hand, are applied in an automated spraying process that enables large quantities to be produced on an industrial scale and poses no problem for complex geometries and frequent color changes. The subsequent curing process in the oven is easy to handle and significantly shortened.

The EPG coatings thus offer many advantages over PVD coatings, because the customer does not want to choose between good appearance and durability but wants to obtain both combined in one coating and also use an environmentally friendly process.

Photo underline:

Left: Stainless steel speaker covered with transparent EPG coating; Right: applied to PVD coating. The PVD process provides the desired color, the EPG coating the necessary protection and functionality.