StainlessArt PVD Coated Stainless Steel by Trasfa
Working with collaborators who are able to execute our envisioned designs is key to our company’s success. Trasfa is one such company that understands our vision to create beautiful and lasting finishes, especially when it comes to decorative steel works. One such application is PVD (Physical Vapour Deposition) titanium coating, which was originally designed for a wide range of industrial applications like the coating and hardening of tools to increase its efficiency and prolong its life. In the modern days, it also finds its strength applicable for automotive engine where piston ring is coated to reduce the gap between ring and piston for meeting tighter emission control requirement.
PVD has gradually made inroad into a brand new domain in engineering since the 1980s, which is for decorative finishing. High end products like stainless steel watch belts, spectacle frames, belt buckles, logos and chains for branded bags, faucets and toilet accessories (to name a few) can now be coated in titanium film for a beautiful and lasting finish.
The PVD technology was subsequently adopted for large surface application where full commercial size stainless steel sheet can be coated whole. Its coloring process is designed on the principle of generating titanium ions by plasma discharging titanium ingots under high vacuum reacting the ions with trace gas(es) to produce titanium alloy particles that come into collision with the surface of stainless steel at high speeds to form a thin film.
Trasfa put forward StainlessArt SA200TG which is Hairline Stainless in Titanium Gold Colour and SA800TG which is No.8 Mirror Stainless in Titanium Gold Colour. Both materials are produced by this process mixing titanium ions with nitrogen forming titanium nitrides ions that collide and displace the original stainless ion on the surface of the sheet. The “embedded” titanium nitrides ions formed a very thin film of just 0.3 to 0.4 micron thick film giving a gold colour tint over the substrate finish of hairline and No.8 mirror respectively. Such coated surfaces offer a variety of advantages not only excelling the standard stainless steel of AISI 304 but also eclipsing any conventional chemical coloring (chemi-color) processes.
The PVD method can be found applied in some notable HNL projects, namely:
The Spire Showroom’s Champagne TNS Finish
Milano Amenities’ Blue Titanium Finish
Trump Amenities Elevator Car Copper Trims
Gramercy Amenities Elevator Lobbies Gun Metal Grey SA Finish
Features
Excellent color uniformity and reproducibility are guaranteed by the coloring process based on the highly stable plasma control technique and material rotational control technique.
Textures representing the surface condition of base material can be reproduced.
The corrosion resistance is intermediate between AISI 304 and AISI 316, and is adequate for use in a relatively severe service condition.
Compared to chemi-color, SA200TG/SA800TG are several times harder in terms of coating-film hardness and abrasion resistance is 10 times stronger in order to facilitate daily maintenance work through easy removal of finger prints or stains.
| Steel Plate | Thickness | 0.8 to 3.0 mm |
|---|---|---|
| Width | Standard 1,219 mm (4’) / Max 1,524 mm (5’) | |
| Length | Max. 4,000 mm | |
| Profile and | Diameter | Max. 1,524 mm (5’) |
| Formed Product | Length | Max. 4,000 mm |
