Advance Cathodic arc

Cathodic Arc PVD coatings are among the preferred PVD coating technologies due to their inherent ability to produce high level of ionized gas (plasma) during deposition.   This high energy ion production has distinct advantages over other PVD processes:

1] High Kinetic energy ions when impinge on substrate (job), an intermixed layer of the substrate and coating formed which increases the degree of coating adhesion. This also helps achieve strong adhesion bonds between individual layers of multi-layer coating with minimized residual stresses.

2] As a result of high energy impact over a micron size spots on the target (cathode) surface, materials can be co-evaporated with same rate, thus producing thin films having desired stoichiometric compounds.  

The main disadvantage of cathodic arc deposition is that, due to the result of intense localized heating from the arc, it produces macro-particles or droplets of metal or alloy targets used during deposition.  These tiny, comparatively soft, droplets get entrapped within the depositing coating and serve as stress concentrations and crack initiation sights. Also these particles produce rough coating surface.  Advance Cathodic Arc is the solution to this problem. SMT has overcome this problem by filtering these micro particles by technological innovation. SMT could able to produce comparatively smooth and defect free hard PVD coating using ACA technology which enable us to sustain the basic strength of Cathodic Arc technology with improved surface finish and dense defect free PVD coating.