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Project leader: Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Dr.-Ing. E. h. Dr. h. c. F.-W. Bach (IW Hannover), Dr.-Ing. habil. K. Möhwald (IW Hannover/CZM)
Funding period: 2011 - 12/2013
Funding body: DFG, Bonn
Funding code: MO 881/14-1
Contact: Dr.-Ing. habil. K. Möhwald
The progressive miniaturization of microcomponents poses new challenges for coating technology, which require new solutions. One approach, which focuses on micro casting, is not to apply the required surface treatment (e.g. a hard coating) as a final process step to the finished primary molded components, but to coat the corresponding casting mold of the component in advance and then to transplant this coating onto the component. This results in a hybrid process in which the coating is applied to the newly created component during casting. This process makes it possible to provide components with dimensions of less than one millimeter with new surfaces and properties close to the final contour. During the transplantation process, the coating is transferred together with its material properties and structural characteristics, which are transferred from the master mold. The problematic coating conditions to be expected with these small component sizes (handling, edge rounding, etc.) are eliminated, making this hybrid process even simpler. The positive properties of the PVD coatings are retained and provide the micro-components with new surface properties, such as an increase in wear resistance and surface hardness. Preliminary tests show that the transplanted PVD coatings have a high surface quality that meets even the high demands of optics. Structure sizes in the sub-μm range are transferred to the PVD coating over a large area (approx. 6 cm²) during the transplantation process. The successful transplantation of PVD multilayer coatings onto microcomponents illustrates the potential of this process. The results obtained from the preliminary tests are to be systematically investigated in the proposed project with the aim of equipping microstructured components in the hybrid manufacturing process with hard material coatings known from surface technology. CrN and the titanium-based TiN and TiAlN coatings are favored as hard material coatings, as these have established themselves as classic hard material coatings.