Dec 20 2011
The Biscayan company Metal Estalki, which produces coatings to improve the performance of industrial tools and components, is basing the development of its future products exclusively on those nanomaterials that confer greater strength, hardness and wear-resistance to industrial tools.
Metal Estalki applies nanotechnology to produce coatings for industrial tools and components.
The company, which sub-contracts part of its nanomaterials research to the Basque technology corporations IK4 and Tecnalia, uses nanocomposites formed from hard ceramic nanoparticles embedded in a more strongly binding ceramic material.
Thanks to these composites, which the company markets under the names nACo and nACRo, tools treated with these coatings have been shown to have up to a 100% longer useful life. Furthermore, as well as improving the main requirement for coatings, namely the hardness, these nanomaterials also improve other properties such as heat resistance.
Metal Estalki has been producing nanomaterial-based coatings since 2006, thus meaning that it has developed protocols for the development of new products to meet market demands.
The Biscayan company mainly sells its products in Spain and Portugal as its clients tend to need a service that is fast and close-at-hand. The typical time-frame for PVD coating services is 24 to 72 hours, depending on the type of coating applied.