Vacuum technology and its use in coating processes
The word ‘vacuum cleaner’ is indeed a very common term for everyone, after all, how many of us are not familiar with the product ‘vacuum cleaner’? But what does the term really mean and why is it so important to us? These are the few questions that are sure to intrigue anyone with limited knowledge of physics.
Vacuum in general refers to a plasma environment where the gas pressure is much less than the outside atmospheric pressure. Etymologically it derives from the word Vacuus, which in Latin means ‘Empty’ or ‘Empty’. This condition is what is sought in laboratories since, according to physicists, it is an ideal condition to obtain adequate results from experiments. Since any physical experiment or process carried out in a pure vacuum is considered to be perfect, therefore one generally tries to perform a physical experiment in a pure vacuum. However, due to human error and other atmospheric limitations, this purity is not achieved and only a partial vacuum can be created in laboratories. Now a question may arise as to why certain experiments should adhere to the principle of vacuum technology. There are numerous answers to the specific question with the main objective of preventing the presence of those constituents in the atmosphere that could negatively affect the experiment. The other important reason is that electrons or other beams used extensively in experiments cannot exist outside of a vacuum.
Vacuum technology has been widely recognized as one of the most important innovations in the scientific field. One of the main uses of the technology was the invention of the electric light bulb in 1900 by Thomas Edison. However, the most recent use of the technology is vacuum coating technology, which is a mechanized process of applying coatings to materials. Vacuum coating processes use vacuum technology to create a sub-normal or sub-atmospheric pressure environment and a source of atomic or molecular condensable vapor to deposit thin coating films onto proposed metal beams. Source vapor is generally emitted from two types of surfaces: 1) solid or liquid surfaces (Physical Vapor Disposition-PVD) 2) chemical vapor precursor (Chemical Vapor Disposition-CVD). With each passing day, the range of applications for vacuum and coating technology becomes huge and diverse. From furniture moldings, kitchen cabinet moldings and architectural moldings to picture frames, flooring and building products, innovation is conquering various markets alike and, of course, attracting many consumers every day.
Like every invention and development, vacuum coating also has its pros and cons. Unlike vacuum deposition, it has a very high transfer rate and very high coating speed, while incurring very low application cost and minimal power consumption. The application is also spread evenly over the entire surface of the material. However, vacuum and coating technology offer a very limited range of matching stencils for each profile and therefore it is difficult to change colours. It suffers from a very limited range of siding options. But despite the disadvantages, vacuum coated materials are in high demand right now and with the aggressive innovations and inventions in the same field, the disadvantages will surely be overcome in the recent future.