Oerlikon Balzers has purchased two M1 Basic systems from AM Solutions for its laboratory in Liechtenstein. AM Solutions says the purchase will help the company to become more flexible in the surface finishing of additively manufactured components for prototypes and small series.
Oerlikon Balzers is a global provider of ‘highly wear-resistant’ coatings that improve performance and service of precision components as well as cutting and forming tools. The R&D department in Balzers, where thin-film coatings and future innovations are developed, has decided to equip its own laboratory with a system for the surface treatment before and after coating, of conventional and additively manufactured components.
Balzers’ industrial PVD coatings are then applied to the components and tested on abrasion and wear in the laboratory.
In R&D, tests to ensure the process reliability and robustness are required, which requires numerous tests to be carried our according to AM Solutions. As Oerlikon’s production sites have special customer requests and needs, it was decided that the R&D and Production Technologies department in Balzers should provide in-house surface finishing capabilities to help shorten project timelines.
AM Solutions says that a decisive advantage of the M1 Basic used in Oerlikon’s Lab is that it can be integrated completely flexibly into processes. The system is compact and has an integrated process water circuit that allows it to be used independently of a fixed location.
“The M1 Basic is a system that offers a wide range of surface treatment options and is also absolutely flexible in use. For example, the work area can be divided into different segments so that different processes can run on the machine at the same time,” said Simon Kresser, Project Engineer for mechanical pre and post treatment at Oerlikon.
