Blog post

Coat Your Industrial Products In-House with the New Fast, Flexible V.MAX1500 PVD/DLC system

By David Wayne

2min

Sep 6, 2024

Benefits of PVD Coatings: Enhance surface hardness, reduce friction, and improve durability for industrial products.
Introducing the V.MAX1500: New PVD system with advanced capabilities for coating flexibility and high-volume production.
Enhanced Features: Supports multiple coating sources, increased heating capacity, plasma nitriding, and a user-friendly interface for simplified operation and maintenance.

Physical vapor deposition (PVD) coatings are applied to many industrial products to reduce wear and improve durability. In many applications, the right PVD coating can improve surface hardness, reduce friction, minimize corrosion, and even change surface properties such as electrical conductance.

For more than 40 years, VaporTech has been helping companies bring PVD coating operations in-house to reduce coating costs, improve quality, and have the flexibility to coat products on demand. Recently, VaporTech added the V.MAX1500 system to our existing VT-i series PVD coating machines, which includes the VT-1000i, VT-1500i, and VT-3000i systems. The new machine has been designed with the additional flexibility and capability that manufacturers of cutting and forming tools, automotive/aerospace parts, medical devices, and other precision-engineered components demand.

V.MAX1500 for blog post header

Enhanced capabilities include:

Up to six cathodic arc or magnetron sputtering sources support the deposition of binary, ternary, and quaternary metal-based coatings and a range of hydrogenated (a-C:H) and non-hydrogenated (ta-C) DLC carbon coatings. Sources can be configured to increase deposition rates or deposit many different coatings in the same chamber without target changes or re-configuration. Each source has an independent gas supply and automated shutters and can be run individually or in combination with other sources. The system also includes an available remote plasma source for ion etching pre-treatment of surfaces before coating. This plasma source also allows for plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) for diamond-like carbon (DLC) coatings.
The right-sized vacuum chamber and parts coating zone (80cm x 88cm Ø) maximize throughput for high-volume manufacturers but still maintain a compact machine footprint that can easily fit on almost any factory floor. Measuring only 2.1m x 4.8m and 2.7m tall, the entire system is mounted on a single platform allowing for a streamlined installation and minimal required floor space or ceiling height.
We increased the heating capability to 450°C to accommodate coatings for extreme environments. While VaporTech is known globally for its expertise in low-temperature PVD coatings, some industrial applications benefit from higher deposition temperatures. The system is designed with additional, higher-power heating elements and components to operate reliably in this high-temperature environment when required.
An improved removable parts turntable engineered for industrial components. This turntable can be easily removed with an included cart to allow loading and maintenance outside the vacuum chamber. It is also available with 6 or 12 rack positions, with other custom configurations available. It has a higher weight capacity for heavier components and is designed for excellent flexibility for single, double, or triple-axis racking.
The addition of plasma nitriding for hardening the surface of metal components. This process uses vacuum, heat, and an argon and nitrogen plasma to diffuse nitrogen atoms into the surface of metal parts to improve surface hardness. When combined with PVD, surface hardening and coating operations are combined into a single process – often called a duplex

In addition to these capabilities, the V.MAX1500 system has been designed to be simple to operate with a modern touchscreen interface running the newest version of VaporTech’s VT Coating System Software. We also understand that simplified maintenance is essential, so particular attention has been given to simplifying routine maintenance around cleaning, deposition shield replacement, and target changes.