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Increasing performance and extending tool life

Companies in the metal and polymer processing industries rely on Oerlikon Balzers’ surface solutions and comprehensive services to improve the performance of their tools and reduce manufacturing costs through longer tool life.

Increasing performance and extending tool life
Increasing performance and extending tool life
Increasing performance and extending tool life

Efficient, reliable tools are at the core of all industrial production. And more are needed with every passing day. When vehicle manufacturers produce cars, aircraft manufacturers fabricate airplanes or construction engineers build new energy systems, they all depend on manufacturing tools to perform effectively. In fact, tool performance is primarily responsible for the quality, cost and overall factory output of any product.

Improving performance from the smallest precision tools to the largest tools for metal forming with Oerlikon Balzers' thin-film surface solutions.

For optimum performance and service life, modern machine tools need to withstand higher temperatures and pressures, as well as increased wear and friction. Coatings and heat treatments are among the most effective ways to improve tool performance. This, in turn, leads to greater productivity and higher quality of metalworking and plastics processing.

In close partnership with our toolmaking customers, we are developing the right solutions for every tool in the manufacturing process. The results are impressive: longer service life, lower manufacturing costs, higher production reliability, and enhanced corrosion and adhesion protection.

Cutting tools

Cutting tools
Coatings extend tool life and tolerate higher cutting speeds and feeds, reducing machining time and costs.
  • Drilling
  • Milling
  • Gear cutting
  • Broaching
  • Turning
  • Reaming
  • Threading

Products & Services for this application

Metal forming tools

Metal forming tools
Tools combined with a surface treatment boost quality and productivity of metal-forming applications.
  • Draw and forming steel
  • Draw rings
  • Roll forming
  • Punches and die buttons
  • Monoblock cast iron and cast steel dies
  • Trimming operations
  • Hot forming
  • Fine blanking
  • Cold and hot forging

Products & Services for this application

Plastic processing

Plastic processing
Coatings protect forming tools against corrosion, reduce friction and wear, and increase productivity of the manufacturing process.
  • Melt touching

  • Nonmelt touching

Products & Services for this application

Die casting

Die casting
Exceptionally hard, extremely erosion- and wear-resistant coatings protect molds, ensuring product quality and greater productivity.
  • Molds
  • Cores
  • Inserts

Products & Services for this application

Over 20% increase in cutting performance

Challenges

Cutting tools, in particular, must provide high precision, fast cutting rates, long lifetimes and low production costs. Whether turning, milling, drilling, reaming, threading or gear cutting, tools are exposed to extremely high temperatures.

Solutions

Specialized coatings with low friction coefficients and a low tendency to adhere facilitate the machining of difficult-to-cut materials ,such as titanium, stainless steel and Inconel alloys, as well as high-strength steels.

Over 20% increase in cutting performance

Up to a 30% productivity gain in plastics processing

Challenges

In plastics processing, such as injection molding and extrusion forming, tools play a key role in productivity and process reliability. In particular, the mold surface plays a crucial role. The better the tool quality, the greater the productivity and efficiency of the manufacturing process.

Solutions

Coated forming tools provide excellent protection against corrosion and reduce friction and wear. Oerlikon, as the technology leader in hard coatings, provides the benchmark in plastic processing.

Its latest wear protection solutions push the performance of molds. The results are longer tool life, less scrap, improved part quality and lower production costs.

Up to a 30% productivity gain in plastics processing

Tenfold extension of lifetime of metal forming tools

Challenges

When forming stainless steel, untreated tools quickly approach their limits. In production, punching, stamping and forming, tools are exposed to extreme forces and subject to wear.

Solutions

Metal-forming tools require long-lasting, high-quality, reliable and robust processes to ensure high productivity. Economic efficiency and precision are key goals of all stamping processes.


Surface scoring, pickup, galling, burrs and other surface defects on the parts create rework or scrap and add to the cost. Oerlikon Balzers provides optimal protection solutions to minimize wear for punching and forming tools that can save up to 86% of the costs.

Tenfold extension of lifetime of metal forming tools

100% performance with up to 70% cost savings in Aluminum Die Casting

Challenges

Challenges in die casting production processes are tolerance and production cycle times. An essential factor for the success of metal die casting is the quality of the mold surface. It must withstand high temperatures, erosion, oxidation and other harmful effects.

Solutions

An untreated mold can quickly fail, leading to high costs. To prevent this, Oerlikon Balzers developed exceptionally hard, extremely erosion- and wear resistant coatings that prevent mold erosion, abrasion, meltsticking and oxidation, as well as alloying and premature heat checking.

The results are lower tool costs due to significantly prolonged tool service life, increased productivity and production reliability.

100% performance with up to 70% cost savings in Aluminum Die Casting
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