Hauzer’s antibacterial and hard black coatings

At Hauzer, we are always developing new coatings recipes that can help our customers distinguish themselves in the market. Our antibacterial coating is one such development breakthrough, as is our hard black coating. Andreas Fuchs, Senior Process Engineer at Hauzer, discusses the latest test results for both these game-changing coatings.

DECORATIVE COATINGS WITH ANTIBACTERIAL PROPERTIES

Touch-based contamination contributes to the spread of many bacterial infections. Being able to use decorative coatings with antibacterial properties – to create antibacterial door handles or sanitary hardware – has long been a desire for architects and designers of hospitals, airports, schools and other high-touch environments. And in the current global climate, consumers are increasingly health-conscious as well.

The effectiveness of Hauzer’s antibacterial coatings, based on the effectiveness of silver ions in killing bacteria, has been well proven. Common infectious bacteria Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus have confirmed 100% kill rates.

ANTIBACTERIAL COATINGS IN THE RIGHT COLOURS

Andreas: “In the past year, Hauzer has focused on expanding our antibacterial properties to a wider range of coating colours. My colleague Ivan Kolev, Process Technology Manager, led this development. We’re now able to tune the silver content in the coating to make sure the kill rate is optimised for that coating. With adaptations to our recipes, we are usually able to ensure that the coating’s colour matches the version that does not have antibacterial properties, to give our customers the broadest application range. This is made possible because the technology we use allows us to tune the amount of silver, something other technologies cannot do.”

Adding antibacterial properties to Hauzer coatings can be done with only a minor machine upgrade. If you’re interested in antibacterial properties for your products or customers, please get in touch. Andreas: “And from our side, we would welcome enquiries from customers who are interested in testing these coatings for antiviral properties as well.”

AN ABRASION-RESISTANT BLACK COATING THAT PERFECTLY MATCHES YOUR PRODUCT RANGE

Anthracite and black coatings have been an urgent request from the market for years. And over the years, many coatings have been developed to meet that need. However, since the process used to create these coatings is based on chrome carbonitride, there was always a trade-off: the blacker, the softer.

Hauzer’s new hard black coating is based on the diamond-like carbon (DLC) process. It was initially developed as a tribological coating, which are known for their wear resistance, hardness and smoothness. Andreas: “We adapted this coating to have the same black colour as our popular carbonitride black coating, only with a hardness of 1000 or more on the Vickers hardness scale. This is an excellent combination – our customers can keep using the softer black on products where wear resistance is not as critical, and expand their range with highly abrasion-resistant products in exactly the same colour.”

A SEVENFOLD IMPROVEMENT

To illustrate the tremendous difference in abrasion resistance, Hauzer submitted both coatings for the Taber abrasion test with felt tip type H1. Andreas: “The chrome carbonitride black started showing abrasion at 5500 cycles. The hard black coating still looked brand new after 35,000 cycles. I think the tester was getting a bit impatient, to be honest. The new black DLC coating also passes our customers’ satisfaction tests. And that’s even more important.”

SERVING OUR CUSTOMERS IN THE DECORATIVE INDUSTRY EVEN BETTER

Of course, there is more to being a cooperation-minded equipment company than coating development. We are very proud of the Hauzer Flexicoat® 1250, launched last year and slowly becoming very popular with customers who already specialise in decorative coatings or want to add them to their portfolio.

Andreas: “It’s a good platform for customers who don’t need the Flexicoat 1500, our big batch production machine. The advantage of the Flexicoat 1250 is its efficiency: it was built for short cycle times and low end temperatures. It has a huge cooling capacity, which increases its productivity. And because it has seven cathode positions, it gives our customers tremendous flexibility.”

EXPAND YOUR CAPACITY INSTANTLY

Our good cooperation with customers is one of our core strengths at Hauzer, which is supported by our good relationships with other companies, such as globally active coating service provider IHI Ionbond. For customers looking to scale up quickly or go into quick preproduction for a new coating, they can now skip the wait time before their new Hauzer machine is built. Andreas: “To go into quick preproduction, we can transfer recipes to Ionbond. This way, customers can start coating their products without long wait times.”

Are you interested in antibacterial properties or adding the hard black coating to your portfolio? Or do you have any questions about these test results? Register for our Decorative PVD coatings webinar on 30 March, 2021 or contact Huub Vercoulen ([email protected] or +31 6 462 01 462).