WHAT WE DO
THERMOCHEMICAL TREATMENTS
Akron Research and Technologies (ART) specializes in developing new thermochemical treatments that solve technical and commercial challenges by improving metal wear and optimize manufacturing costs.

Using industrial surface modification technologies, we coat ferrous and non-ferrous alloys with ultra-hard ceramics that metallurgically bond to the base material. How? The parts chemically react with a gas, solid, or liquid and cause a metallurgical change to the part’s surface. These enhanced ceramic coatings can exhibit hardness up to 35 GPa and excellent wear resistance, as well as resistance to most chemical attacks.

Through years of experience and research, ART has developed ways of depositing carbide, nitride, and boride ceramic coatings onto steel, inconel, and titanium, and continues to advance thermochemical technologies through continuous research and development. Experience examining gradients and layer interfaces ensures excellent adhesion and load-bearing capacity.

These innovative technologies include:

• Titanium Coating Technology
• Black AnoTizing
• PVD Coatings
• N-PVD Coatings

ART also has access to extensive research, resources and alternative deposition techniques to help develop a custom solution to fit your needs. Have a project in mind? It’s never too early to get our metallurgical team involved. Reach out to us today!

TITANIUM COATING TECHNOLOGY
Exclusive ArmorTi™ Duplex Coating
Our exclusive ArmorTi™ duplex coating is a major breakthrough in titanium coating technology, providing properties never seen before using titanium as a base material. An exceptional combination of coating technologies, it exhibits a 9 GPa hardness and excellent wear resistance, and is also corrosion resistant – surviving 1,000 hours of salt spray exposure per ASTM B 117 with no signs of corrosion. All to greatly increase the wear and galling resistance of a titanium substrate used in many applications.

In fact, when a Ti-6-4 specimen is treated with this ART duplex coating, it exhibits a wear rate of 5.0 x 10-6 mm3/J, while and untreated disk exhibits a wear rate of 1.0 x 10-3 mm3/J.

ART’s titanium coating technology is a great choice for applications that may benefit from lightweight components and excellent wear properties. Contact the metallurgical gurus at ART today to find out if it could be the right choice for you!

• Unsurpassed performance
• Increased hardness
• Excellent wear resistance
• Improved corrosion resistance

State-of-the-art ANOTIZING TREATMENT

Developed by Akron Research and Technologies (ART), Black AnoTizing is a state-of-the-art titanium treatment designed to provide a black finish combined with superior temperature and wear resistance.

Black AnoTizing consists of a controlled oxidation followed by a hardening process that provides high-temperature resistance, hardness, and a uniform black color. Unlike PVD and CVD processes that delaminate or degrade at higher temperatures, Black AnoTizing is diffused into the surface of the material providing an uncompromising metallurgical bond. The final result is a premium hard black surface with exceptional heat resistance.

Black AnoTizing is commonly used as an alternative to high-temperature conventional heat treatments, such as carburizing and carbonitriding. Contact the talented experts at ART now to discover the value it can bring to your next project.

• Superior temperature resistance
• Increased wear resistance
• Optimal hardness
• Enhanced cosmetic appeal

physical vapor deposition (pvd) coatings
THIN FILM DEPOSITION TECHNIQUES
Physical vapor deposition (PVD) describes a variety of deposition techniques that can be used to produce thin films and coatings. PVD refers to the environmentally friendly process in which a solid metal is vaporized in a high-vacuum environment and deposited on an electrically conductive material, such as a pure metal or alloy coating.

Akron Research and Technologies (ART) is currently finishing its installation of a reactive PVD system. This system will sputter non-ferromagnetic metal and reactively sputter to form ceramic compound of those materials. Sputtering offers high deposition rates along with excellent uniformity and composition control. Possibilities include titanium nitride, titanium carbide, and chromium nitride.

ART also provides research and development services to provide custom PVD solutions for specific customer needs. Tailored to provide optimal performance for specific applications, they may include development of custom interlayers, multilayer gradients, and custom compositions.

Contact the ART team now so we can start developing the most ideal PVD solution possible for your application.

• Increased deposition rates
• Excellent uniformity
• Improved composition control
• Environmentally friendly process
• Custom solutions

Nitride-Physical Vapor Deposition (N-PVD) coatings

N-PVD is a new, proprietary, state-of-the art duplex surface treatment developed by Akron Research and Technology. The process utilizes an exclusive surface treatment that both hardens the surface of the steel and prepares the steel for PVD coating. The combination provides a lustrous finish given ample support by the reinforced steel substrate matrix. N-PVD enables lower strength steels to use coatings designed for higher strength steels (such as tool and bearing steels) more effectively.  The result is a desirable appearance with optimized metallurgical performance. 

Contact ART today to find out if N-PVD could be the right treatment for you!

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A MCMILLEN COMPANY

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