Balzers, Liechtenstein, October 5, 2022 – Oerlikon Balzers, a technology brand of Oerlikon and world leading in the field of thin-film coatings, will present its latest solutions for plastics processing at the K 2022 trade fair. In line with Oerlikon's sustainability strategy, these coatings provide optimal protection against abrasive wear and corrosion, especially when new and recyclable plastics are used. These benefits help customers to extend tool life, ensure a more stable production process and deliver high-quality plastic products.
The new BALINIT MOLDENA coating enables recyclable plastics to be fed back into the circular economy. It optimises flow behaviour and simplifies demoulding to ensure a smooth production process.
Coated forming tools provide outstanding protection against corrosion and reduce friction and wear. In injection molding and extrusion, the surface of the forming tools has a critical role to play: the higher the surface quality, the more productive and efficient the manufacturing process. In current projects, this is being further optimized in combination with hot runner systems from the sister brand Oerlikon HRSflow.
A new coating for injection molding of recyclable plastics
Oerlikon Balzers’ BALINIT CROMA PLUS, a PVD coating which protects molds from abrasive wear, corrosion and sticking, has proved its value over many years for use in injection molding, extrusion and blow molding for a wide range of plastics.
Its successor is BALINIT MOLDENA, which will be launched at K 2022. It is the ideal protective coating for injection molding with aggressive glass fibers in plastics, which are used in modern automotive engineering to enable lightweight construction with the aim of reducing emissions even further. The coating optimizes flow behavior, simplifies demolding and considerably reduces abrasive wear and deposit formation to ensure improved use of the material and longer maintenance intervals.
Extremely hard and just 7 micrometers thin, BALINIT MOLDENA has been developed for fully recycled materials to enable circular plastic economy and also for materials with a high flame retarder content. The coating has already produced impressive results in testing: with a standard coating applied to injection molds used in processing unsaturated polyester (40%), the number of injections increased by a factor of five while maintaining the same high product quality.
Full polishing and coating service
Oerlikon offers customers a full service solution, including polishing and coating, which is perfectly tailored to forming molds. Depending on the application requirements, the company’s highly qualified personnel perform line polishing using a specified grain size or high-gloss polishing, even at the customer’s site, if requested.
REACH-compliant plastic metallization in a wide range of colors
Metallized plastic components are of the same high quality as chrome-plated metal components, but can be manufactured cost-effectively. In addition, they weigh significantly less and are therefore preferred by today’s car manufacturers.
The Oerlikon experts will be at K 2022 in Düsseldorf to advise visitors on the various combinations of solutions using hot runner systems, form tool coatings and plastic component coatings.
