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Technology & Innovation
Technology & Innovation
7
BEYOND SURFACES
Fall
16
6
low us to keep our finger on the pulse of science. Current
challenges – new materials, new applications, new tech-
nologies – are brought to us and we can incorporate
them in new developments. Both we and our scientific
partners benefit from this – and mainly, of course, so do
our customers in industry,” concludes Helmut Rudigier.
Anticipating trends
Dr Richard Schmid, CTO at Oerlikon Metco, works with
a team based at the sites in Wohlen (Switzerland) and
Westbury (USA) that is about 100 strong and focuses
on refinements and development in the area of thermal
spraying. The primary emphasis of their work concerns
spraying processes and materials technology. “We
pursue two approaches: On the one hand, we have
customer-driven development. This is based on certain
requirements the customer has for which we want to
find a solution. The second driving factor is the market:
We observe trends which appear in the market and
develop corresponding solutions which we then bring
to series-production readiness working with selected
customers. Both of these paths are tremendously fruitful
for both parties,” explains Richard Schmid.
“The two technologies are
complementary and sometimes
allow completely new solutions.”
The R&D team for thin films at Oerlikon Balzers
– 120 researchers led by CTO Dr Helmut Rudigier –
also has a broad base. “The foundational technology
along with material development – in close cooperation
with universities – forms the basis for efficient product
development, on the one hand. On the other, it is also
the foundation for new types of solutions, which makes
Oerlikon Balzers an attractive partner for our customers.
The prerequisite for this is that our development work be
oriented according to the needs and trends evident in
the market, preferably even anticipating them. After all,
we want to offer our customers in our global customer
centres the perfect solution for their current challenge,”
explains Helmut Rudigier.
The in-house Cutting Laboratory at the headquarters
in Liechtenstein provides support in the area of layer
development for precision tools. For further highly
specialized applications, such as gear cutting or forming,
Oerlikon Balzers maintains partnerships with different
institutes – including the Laboratory for Machine Tools
of RWTH Aachen University (Germany) or the Institute of
Machine Tools and Manufacturing of the Swiss Federal
Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich, Switzerland.
Cooperation across brands
Since 2014, Oerlikon Balzers and Oerlikon Metco have
been joined together under the ‘Surface Solutions
Segment’ umbrella and the work of the R&D teams
has also changed. A regular exchange of information
and joint road maps are today a matter of course. “An
especially positive aspect is that this collaboration is
truly being implemented at an everyday level. Our staff
members exchange information about
developments, new findings and results
and work together on projects,” explains
Helmut Rudigier.
A number of joint solutions for
customers have already been developed
in this way – in the automotive sector,
for example, where cylinder liners are
treated with both thermal spray coatings
(cylinder bores) and thin films (piston
rings). The oil and gas industry also
benefits from these cooperative develop-
ments: A suitable combination of PVD
technology and thermal spraying makes
it possible to achieve improved performance, and at the
same time a reduction in wear in gas turbines. The two
development chiefs are in agreement: “The two tech-
nologies are not in competition with each other. Instead,
they are complementary and sometimes allow complete-
ly new solutions which ultimately lead to innovative coat-
ing, material, process and system developments.”