Page Macrae Engineering's Coatings Department provides a range of decorative and durable surface coatings by using advanced PVD technology.The equipment we use is the largest of its type in New Zealand which means that local manufacturers no longer have to send goods overseas or import component parts that have already been coated. Our facilities have the ability to produce large production runs at reasonable cost with significantly reduced turn around times.

WHAT IS PVD?

Physical Vapour Deposition (PVD) is the process of applying a coating that improves the strength and durability of a product or component through a purely physical process using high temperature vacuum or plasma sputter bombardment. 'The process of PVD was used to deposit coatings as far back as 1838 by Michael Faraday an English Chemist and Physicist'. (Wikipedia)

HOW IT WORKS:

The PVD process is carried out at very low pressure conditions in high energy gas plasma. Arcs from a dozen titanium, titanium-aluminium, zirconium or chromium targets are struck in the presence of argon gas initially to etch clean the workpiece surface, then in the presence of a reactive gas to form the nitride or carbide. The result is an even application of a very thin film coating, only a few microns thick. This coating is extremely hard and is literally bonded to the substrate at an atomic level.

EVERDAY USES

PVD coated goods are in our everyday lives. Everything from bathroom fittings, to cell phone covers, to golf club heads and razor blades have all been PVD coated to improve their appearance, strength and durability. A key benefit is superior corrosion and wear resistance. The three general areas of PVD Coating are Decorative Finishes (tap ware, sporting goods, etc), Functional Coating (producing durable cutting edges for surgical instruments and machine tools) and to modify the surface of the product (for wear resistance, corrosion resistance or to reduce sliding friction).

For more information on this service, please contact Bruce McLean, Coatings Manager