Growing confidence and collaboration between UK heat treatment and hard coating specialist the Wallwork Group and German diamond coating specialist, CemeCon is benefiting UK manufacturers. The companies have now operated a licensing and marketing agreement under which Wallwork is the exclusive authorised UK supplier of CemeCon patent coatings with full technical support.

More than £1.2 million has been invested in new processing equipment at Wallwork’s Cambridge hard coating plant to support the initiative. In addition, the company has developed express channels to the CemeCon plant in Aachen providing a 48-72 hour collection and return service to UK component and tooling suppliers.

Ian Haggan, business development manager, said, “The cutting of materials such as nickel, titanium alloys, sintered steel and carbon fibre composites or fibre/alloy stacks is a technical challenge. In aerospace, motorsport nuclear and other demanding engineering specialisms, the frequent tool changes needed to sustain quality standards result in loss of production time. Highly resilient CemeCon coatings ensure rotational tooling stays sharper for longer. Giving cleaner cuts, the coated tooling also runs cooler to reduce smearing of resins and avoids trapped debris in the cutting zone. Better yields and reduced need for tool changes improves productivity, ROI and safeguards quality.”

For surface preparation Wallwork has installed an automatic wet process system. This is integrated with the high capacity CemeCon 800/9XL magnetron sputtering coating system for round shank tooling and carbide inserts coating. Producing a super smooth micro thin film, free from droplets and pinholes, the surface finish can be enhanced further by post-coat wet processing if required.
 
The Cambridge factory works with aerospace majors, engineering component suppliers and universities. The facility is NadCap approved, operates under AS9001 quality assurance systems and has multiple company approvals. Processes are backed by on-site professionally staffed metallurgical laboratories, equal to those of leading universities, to provide coating characterisation, compliance verification and documentation.

Patent CemeCon coatings available include TinALOX SN2, Hyperlox, ALOX SN2, CCAluspeed and HSN2. In addition, the company provides the complete line of CemeCon CarbonSpeed, FiberSpeed and MultiSpeed pure diamond coatings. With a dedicated in-house fleet of over 35 vehicles, covering every part of the UK, Tecvac guarantee a 48 to 72 hour turnaround service for UK tool manufacturers, tooling contractors and end users. 

Ian Haggan concluded, “We have a strong relationship with CemeCon who recognise that as an independent coating specialist, with no links to tool producers, we bring both expertise and a quality of service that is not commercially compromised. We are confident that we can grow the tool coating business further in the UK and have the full commitment of our directors to expand capacity as demand rises.” 

More Information
Simeon Collins, Sales Director
Tel. +44 (0)161 797 9111 Fax. +44 (0)161 763 1861
E-mail: simeon.collins@wallworkht.com Web: www.wallworkht.com
Wallwork Group, Lord Street, Bury, Greater Manchester, BL9 0RE

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