(October 11, 2011)
The Schaeffler Group has expanded its capacities in R&D and the application of coating technology by investing in the expansion of its Surface Technology Competence Center at the Herzogenaurach headquarters. With its new coating and R&D facilities, Schaeffler has created the prerequisites for further growth. In future, more capacity at a central location within the company will be available for the development of customized solutions. At the same time, Schaeffler is also expanding its volume production capacities in order to be able to rapidly meet the rising demand for high-quality coated components.
Tappets with Triondur coating for automotive valvetrains reduce fuel consumption and emissions.
Technology and market leadership to be further expanded
Opened in 2007, the Surface Technology Center has experienced extremely successful development. Sales of coated components have increased by over 50 percent during the past few years. “Thanks to our targeted and consistent R&D investments we have become the technology and market leader in components and systems that offer our customers even greater added value in the form of functional surfaces,” Prof. Dr.-Ing. Peter Gutzmer, Member of the Board of Management and Chief Technical Officer at Schaeffler, explained on the occasion of the official inauguration of the expanded facilities.
Today Schaeffler offers a comprehensive range of coatings designed to optimize the surfaces of components and systems in accordance with customer requirements, used either individually or in combination. These coatings extend the operating life of components and offer protection against fretting corrosion, corrosion and the passage of electric current, for example. Moreover, they can minimize friction, slippage-related damage and wear. The latest developments even enable sensor layers to be realized.
Control piston with Triondur coating for diesel injectors.
Trend towards multifunctional and sensor coatings
“There is a noticeable trend towards multifunctional and sensor layers that are developed individually to match the specific needs of our customers,” says Dr.-Ing. Tim Hosenfeldt, Head of the Surface Technology Competence Center at Schaeffler. This applies to relatively small batch sizes for industrial applications in the same way as to components produced in their millions for the automotive industry. “The decisive aspect today is that we at Schaeffler consider surfaces as design elements. With our technical equipment as well as our process and application expertise, we are in a position to provide samples early on and to develop them to volume production maturity directly and reliably,” said Hosenfeldt. Examples include, for instance, tappets with Triondur® coating developed for Nissan that ensure a significantly reduced friction in the valvetrain of car engines. Schaeffler has been supplying millions of these components annually for over ten years now. Back in 2005, the company received the Nissan Innovation Award in recognition of this component. After ten years of zero-defect delivery quality, Nissan recognized Schaeffler Japan with its Quality Award too.
Barrel rollers with Triondur coating in spherical roller bearings, used e.g. for paper calenders or hydraulic motors.
Triondur coating systems: Less friction produced in large volumes
Triondur ,a coating system developed by Schaeffler, is produced with the help of state-of-the-art vacuum technology using the particularly environmentally friendly PVD and plasma-aided CVD processes. Due to very high hardness values even with coating thicknesses of approx. 2 µm, Triondur offers excellent protection against wear combined with reduced friction. This makes it possible to optimize components and systems for a specific application without changing their dimensions or designs. They can therefore be used for downsizing purposes, which means that the components offer even better performance with unchanged dimensions or smaller and therefore more cost-effective versions can be used when loads remain unchanged.
Molecular structure of Triondur coating: This carbon-based, adamantine coating system offers a maximum level of protection against abrasive and adhesive wear, combined with minimal friction.
In 2010 alone, Schaeffler supplied over 70 million parts with Triondur coating. One specific type is Triondur C. This carbon-based adamantine coating system offers an extremely high level of protection against abrasive and adhesive wear, whilst reducing friction to a minimum. Dry friction against steel is up to 80 percent lower. Even if only one friction surface is coated, the operating life of the entire tribological system is increased significantly. Due to its special coating structure, Triondur C can withstand the high contact pressures that occur in rolling bearings, for example. Typical applications include spherical roller bearings for paper machines and track rollers used in the printing industry. In addition to tappets for the valvetrain, the automotive industry uses, for instance support elements, finger followers or control pistons with Triondur coating. The development of new Triondur DLC coating systems that can be precisely matched to the respective operating conditions, has enabled a friction reduction of up to 50 percent between the camshaft and tappets to be achieved. The power loss of the engine and CO2 emissions were significantly reduced in this way.
Cylindrical roller bearings with Durotect® B coating: For lower wear and lower friction, for example in wind turbine gearboxes.
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