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.

New color shades are being sought in the automotive sector in order to stand out from other manufacturers. At present, the copper/bronze color in various color shades is trendy. But for use in automobiles, the colored coatings must be particularly temperature-stable and corrosion-resistant.

With its Nanoseal® high-temperature coating, EPG AG offers a good and long-proven basis that exhibits high corrosion resistance in the high-temperature range. For the required bronze color it was the greatest challenge to achieve color stability in the red color spectrum. By selecting specific pigments, it was possible to achieve metallic and iridescent copper shades that passed the 500°C temperature shock test which is required by the automotive sector. There is also a major financial advantage: because this coating does not have to be produced under inert gas or in a two-layer process.

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.

EPG AG's innovative coating systems have been on the market in the automotive industry for a long time and are gaining increasing popularity in other sectors as well. A large number of metals can be refined with sol-gel-based systems. These can be applied as an invisible transparent protection for brushed, blasted or highly polished metal surfaces, which are protected against contamination, which are robust against external influences such as scratches or aggressive substances, or have a high corrosion protection or a special temperature stability.

By selecting suitable pigments, the coating lacquers can also be produced in color. EPG offers a wide range of color pigments for this purpose. At the customer's request, suitable mixing processes of different color pigments and measurement of the corresponding color values can be used to produce reproducible, customized colored coatings. We can also adjust the desired gloss levels, e.g. matt or high-gloss coatings.

Due to the very low layer thickness, the metallic character of the substrate is retained; brush structures or surface reliefs remain visible even after coating.

The coloured coatings can be applied to aluminium as well as stainless steel or other metals. Thus this technology also enables the coating of complex component groups composed of different metals with the result of a uniform colour image on the surface.

Photo credit:                           ©Maksym Yemelyanov-stock.adobe.com

In September 2019 the international exhibition for consumer electronics in Berlin (IFA) has been the meeting point for most of the key retailers, buyers and experts in this industry and presented the latest products and innovations. EPG met special costumers and informed about our coating solutions for high-end products.

Visiting the IFA show EPG found it again confirmed that today end customers are increasingly paying attention for high quality products. Many suppliers use valuable materials on electronics parts like wood, leather and especially metals instead of plastics. For instance aluminium and stainless steel are often used on products for electronic devices in different fields. In order to achieve good properties as well as an appealing visual appearance these metals require surface treatments.

Today, anodizing is often used for aluminium whereas PVD and chrome plating are the most common for stainless steel; but all these treatments have disadvantages such as lack of tarnish protection, lack of colour variations or they're harmful to the environment.

At the IFA Berlin EPG took the opportunity to inform customers about our coating solutions. Our Nanoseal® and Saphiral® patented coatings can be applied on a wide variety of stainless-steel alloys as well as on most of the aluminium ones. Also they can be applied directly on the raw material of any finish (untreated, sanded, brushed, etched, mirror polished) as well as on top of other surface treatments (like anodizing, PVD).