Licensing opportunity
A nanocomposite thin film coating that is optically transparent in the visible range and has hardness values of up to 30 GPa has been developed and patented by EMPA, the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research.
The coating is deposited by a vacuum process in such a way that the stress level remains below 1 gigapascal.
The material is prepared at 200 °C by magnetron sputtering without any harmful means and can withstand temperatures up to 1000 °C for two hours without alteration.
Protecting optically transparent materials like glass and polymers extends their lifetime when exposed to abrasive conditions. The EMPA protective coating can be applied by a vacuum process to most surfaces which are stable in vacuum at 200 °C.
The low deposition temperature of 200 °C makes it possible to coat a wide variety of transparent materials such as polycarbonates, polyimides and all forms of SiO2-based glass.
Applications include optically transparent objects with large curvatures such as lenses, protective glasses, translucent hoods, various architectural elements etc, allowing the items to be protected against premature deterioration due to excessive wear.
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