PFAS-free coatings

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Fraunhofer ILT develops laser-based processes for industrial functional coatings

Fraunhofer ILT develops laser-based processes to the production of PFAS-free functional layers on metal components, plain bearing components and elastomer rollers. The RePEEK, EPOS, LEMBAS and pure WaterSeal projects show that the exit from eternity chemicals is not possible through suitable replacement materials alone. Manufacturing processes are just as crucial.

In the RePEEK project, Dr. Samuel Moritz Fink (right), together with Rebar Hama-Saleh Abdullah (left) and Julius Funke (center), developed a novel process to apply PEEK laser-based on metallic components.

©Fraunhofer ILT, Aachen / Ralf Baumgarten

Perfluorinated and polyfluorinated alkyl substances, PFAS to short, are functionally hard to beat: they are chemically and thermally extremely stable and precisely to this reason they are subject to regulatory pressure. however the established substances cannot simply be replaced: They decrease friction, protect against wear and corrosion, prevent adhesion and ensure emergency running traits if lubricating films fail. If you want to replace them, you not only need a different material, however also a process that reliably brings this material to very different components.

In the RePEEK, EPOS, LEMBAS and pure WaterSeal projects, the Fraunhofer Institute to Laser methodology ILT develops laser-based processes to PFAS-free high-performance coatings on substantial metal components, plain bearings, seals and vulnerable elastomer rollers. Depending on the consumption, the laser applies layers, melts materials locally or structures surfaces in a targeted manner. He brings the energy into the component precisely, spatially limited and only to a short time. In this way, PFAS-free replacement materials can be processed, which classic furnace processes only apply with high energy expenditure or in which the necessary heat damages the component below.

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