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Coating on plastics by PVD process

February 21, 2011

Dear friends,
Someone wants me to coat taps, bath room fittings etc made of Polyacetal ( Brand name Duracon ) so that they would look like stainless steel or chrome plated articles. They think a thickness of 25 microns should last for three years. Apparently it is not possible to electroplate it. Generally it is difficult to have such thick coatings by PVD mainly because of internal stresses and even if it is possible they could be too expensive. Thicker coatings of soft metals like copper are possible. Multilayer coatings could also be thick. But are such coatings on plastics feasible. main issues are
(i) temperature effects
(ii) adhesion on plastics
(iii) durability of these coatings
(iv) economics of such coatings if they are feasible.

Thanks in advance
H.R. Prabhakara - Consultant
Bangalore Plasmatek - Bangalore Karnataka India