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Pure Zr PVD coating required

I am looking to apply a pure Zr coating to spring steel pins. The pins will be approximately 3" long with a diameter between .025" - .035". The coating needs to highly conductive and inert to the processing solution the pins will contact, hence the pure Zr coating. Can this be done via PVD?

Greg Cempa
- Cortland, New York
2003

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The short answer is yes, Zr can be deposited by PVD. If you can get a pure metal target of Zr it can be sputtered just like any metal. It can also be e-beam evaporated or deposited via cathodic arc. The issues that could cause you some problems depend on how thick you want the coating and how pure you want the Zr. The thicker the coating the longer it takes to deposit with PVD (or any other method), then costs go up. What are you willing to pay? Purity of Zr also can become a cost issue.

John Davis
- Berthoud, Colorado, USA
2003