Cost Effective Treatments to Replace Galvanic Processes

Abstract

Some of the most severe problems in the replacement of galvanic treatment with PVD coatings reside, first of all, in the higher costs of vacuum processes and in the difficulty to coat many 3D small samples. This work describes the results obtained by using energetic deposition vacuum processes, of the family of Ion Plating Plasma Assisted (IPPA), using both thermal and sputtering sources, able to reduce dramatically the duration of deposition process and to eliminate the substrate heating and their pre-cleaning. Regarding the small 3D samples, an innovative structure, named "Ionic Rotarybarrel" is presented. The realised treatments are in the fields of decorative, protective and tribological coatings. Special decorative treatments were realised by using interferential effect produced by dielectric films. Metal, plastic, glass and natural shell substrates were coated with the proposed treatments. A typical duration of 15 minutes of the whole deposition cycle was obtained. The good mechanical and environmental characteristics of the treatments are also described.