Bingen / Bielefeld, July 29, 2021 - Highly polished injection molding tools produce flawless, reflective surfaces on plastic items. However, even a scratch on the sensitive, polished surface of the mold can destroy the premium look. The surface specialist Oerlikon Balzers prevents this with a complete service consisting of prepolishing, surface treatment or coating and finishing - all customer and delivery friendly under one roof. This also shortens the cycle times for Au
More and more manufacturers of automobiles, white goods, electrical appliances and products for the medical and pharmaceutical industries rely on optical quality. The manufacture of reflective plastic housings or articles is not just about looking perfect. Production efficiency must also be right. Just a small scratch on the tool surface can result in a lot of scrap, maintenance work and, last but not least, machine downtime with corresponding costs. "For this reason, customers are increasingly using our full service," says Dennis Baer, head of the polishing department at Oerlikon Balzers. This enabled a client to shorten its cycle times by almost 30 percent, i.e. seven seconds, in the series production of displays for coffee machines.
The full service begins with application-related high-gloss polishing of the injection molding tools with low roughness values (Ra = 0.06 m / Rz <0.2). The highest degree of dimensional accuracy (+/- 0.003 mm) applies, unwanted edge rounding is prevented. For improved surface protection, polishing can be combined with plasma treatment. The BALITHERM® PRIMEFORM diffusion process increases the surface hardness up to 1,400 HV, enables better demolding of the manufactured parts and quick and easy cleaning of the tool. In contrast to coatings, the mold can be repaired or welded without prior stripping or post-treatment, which significantly reduces maintenance costs and downtimes.
Polishing, treatment and coating from a single sourceAn additional PVD coating offers optimal protection against abrasive wear and tear and maximum production reliability. The shorter cycle time in the application example mentioned at the beginning was achieved with the use of BALIQ TINOS. However, Oerlikon Balzers has a large portfolio of coatings from the BALIQ and BALINIT families with solutions for every application.
All coating and polishing solutions are combined under one roof in the Bielefeld competence center. The close project support and order processing in-house ensure compressed processes and high delivery reliability. No time is lost with sending tools to and from external partners. All services are linked to the delivery service, which extends from Germany to some neighboring countries. “For even greater production flexibility, we also polish on-site at customers' premises. By the way, they can visit us again in Bielefeld to get an idea, ”says Dennis Baer, who can now rely on a team of ten employees.
For further questions please contact:
Oerlikon Balzers Coating Germany GmbH
Ms. Anke Faber / Communication
At Ockenheimer Graben 41
D-55411 Bingen
Tel .: +49 (0) 6721/793 125
Fax: +49 (0) 6721/793 104
anke.faber@oerlikon.com
www.oerlikon.com/balzers/de
Press support Germany:
Thilo Horvatitsch text communication
office for press and public relations
Konrad-Adenauer-Str. 31c
D-55129 Mainz
Tel. +49 (0) 61 36/468 90 20
Fax +49 (0) 61 36/468 62 34
thilo@horvatitsch.de
www.horvatitsch.de
Oerlikon Balzers is a leading global supplier of coatings that significantly improve the performance and service life of precision components and tools for metal and plastics processing. These coatings, developed under the brand names BALINIT and BALIQ, are extremely thin, are characterized by high hardness and significantly reduce friction and wear. BALITHERM offers a wide range of heat treatments, while BALTONE includes coatings that, with their elegant colors, are perfect for decorative applications. The BALIMED thin-film layers specially developed for medical applications are wear-resistant, biocompatible, antimicrobial and chemically inert. With the technology brand BALIFOR, the company has introduced individual solutions for the automotive market, and ePD stands for solutions for the metallization of plastic parts with a chrome look.
More than 1,100 coating systems are in use at Oerlikon Balzers and its customers worldwide. The development and assembly of Balzers systems are located in Liechtenstein, Langenthal (Switzerland) and Bergisch Gladbach (Germany). Oerlikon Balzers has a dynamically growing network of over 110 coating centers in 36 countries in Europe, North and South America and Asia. Together with Oerlikon Metco and Oerlikon AM, Oerlikon Balzers is part of the Surface Solutions segment
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