Singulus Technologies: Sustainable coating of 3D components with titanium

Substrates made of glass no longer need to be coated with titanium in Singulus Technologies' new coating process, as the color is applied during metallization. The coating process offers a choice of six basic metallic colors and mixed variants thereof: silver, bronze, gold, violet, blue and green. These colors can be individually selected by different parameters during metallization. Even on plastic substrates, one of the two coating steps normally required can be omitted. This reduces the number of layers and significantly simplifies the process. The Decoline II can be used to coat components with a diameter of up to 68 or 90 mm and a length of 130 mm. According to the manufacturer, the process is particularly sustainable, environmentally friendly and also economical. No solvents, chemicals or organic coatings are needed for most substrates. Energy requirements for the coating process are significantly lower than for anodizing, painting or galvanizing. Complex and cost-intensive painting steps can be completely or partially eliminated.

The Decoline II from Singulus Technologies integrates both vacuum metallization (sputtering) with the polycoater and all painting and pretreatment steps in a single production run. Due to the high degree of automation, the system can be operated by a single employee. Components made not only of plastic but also of glass, metal and rubber can be coated. For product design, clean vacuum coating offers attractive combination options. The 3D coating process is completely chrome (IV)-free and energy-efficient. Due to its high flexibility, the Decoline II offers the cosmetics industry the possibility to finish a wide variety of products made of plastic and glass with a broad range of different colors. It also enables the sustainable and economical coating of 3D parts for the automotive sector and other consumer applications. The Polycoater inline sputtering system operates as a central component of the entire line and is also offered to the market as a stand-alone product. Compared with complex batch production, this solution automates the production process and, with its short cycle times of around 6 seconds per substrate carrier, significantly reduces production costs. Depending on the product size, one substrate carrier can transport up to eighteen parts simultaneously through all processing stations.