Diamond Coating and Glass Coating

Diamond is the hardest and the most wear resistant material known. Diamond is expensive hence it is unreasonably expensive to have the whole material made fully from Diamond. It is therefore applied as coatings to other materials that could benefit from some of its vast properties. On the other hand, glass coating is made to improve the optical and energy transmission properties of materials. Glass coating is sometimes used for aesthetic properties only.

Diamond Coating

Diamond is the hardest material known. It has a low coefficient of friction as compared to other cutting instruments and has the highest thermal conductivity than any other material. This combination of properties makes diamond the best material for many cutting, wear, and tribological applications when used for surfacing materials. Diamond coating is used in combination with other materials (Composite Diamond Coating, CDC).

Composite Diamond Coating is a unique coating with ultra-fine diamond particles contained within hard electroless nickel metal with numerous benefits including:

1.    Exceptional wear resistance

2.    Excellent hardness

3.    Enhanced corrosion resistance

4.    Perfect conformity to complex geometries including non-line-sight applications

5.    Increased thermal transfer

6.    Applicability to all common metals and alloys

7.    Coverage of entire surfaces or selected critical areas

These features allow increased lifetime and minimize maintenance-related downtime due to the replacement of high wear parts. In addition, any process parts enhanced by Composite Diamond Coating will produce more consistent product over an extended period of time. The presence of this unique coating may also allow new materials with other performance or cost advantages to be utilized.

Glass Coating

Most glass products would not have the properties that make them so useful without coatings. Application of coatings is an essential part of glass manufacturing. For attaining thin-film coatings compliant with the highest quality standards the process gas system must be capable of providing superior layer uniformities. Superior layer uniformity, high yields and reduced cost of ownership are among the demands of the Glass Coating Industry. By controlling individually process gas segments, film thickness uniformity improvements are achieved.

Glass coating has several applications:

1.    Automotive glass (windshields, sidelights, conductive)

2.    Architectural (exterior spandrel, speciality glass)

3.    Appliance (oven, microwave, etc)

4.    Container (glass beverage and cosmetic decorative inks and coatings)

5.    Decoration (gold and precious metals for glass and ceramics)

Summary

The potential for this revolutionary new material is very exciting. Its range of applications extends from reducing the cost of products to new applications which take advantage of its chemical inertness, making them a possible next generation of compact high-performance materials. Anyone who works with materials may find benefit in applying them to solve the emerging materials problems.