Topics & News Release

Toyo Advanced Technologies Co., Ltd., (headquartered in Minami Ward, Hiroshima City and led by president Nobuhiko Narisawa) developed TR-Flat (patent pending), a new heat-resistant coating, and started to sell it on a full-scale basis. With an excellent heat resistance (oxidation resistance) and disruptive strength, the TR-Flat coating improves the service lives of dies that are used under a severe environment where they are exposed to high temperatures and strong shocks during the pressing forming process.

In consideration of safety and environmental preservation, the automobile industry is experiencing increasing use of materials that are strong and rigid but lightweight; as one of these materials, increasingly more high-strength steel plates are used. High-strength steel plates are stronger than normal steel plates and consequently, during the press forming process, cause dies to receive heavier loads and high processing heat to be locally generated. As a result, dies coated with a normal rigid film are deteriorated in performance by the film oxidized due to high heat, resulting in a shorter service life. As a solution to this, the demand for heat-resistant rigid films is growing.

For physical vapor deposition (PVD), in general, the characteristics of formed films greatly depend on the type of the furnace, coating recipe, and other factors. The TR-Flat coating is an AlCr (aluminum-chrome) based film with an excellent heat resistance developed based on a PVD furnace (TF-778N) of an arc-ion-plating type from Toyo. Produced with a furnace capable of producing dense films at high speed, and with an optimized coating recipe, the film provides outstanding characteristics such as excellent adhesion, rigidity, and toughness and a low frictional coefficient in addition to the heat resistance of up to 1,000°C. The TR-Flat film can be applied to a wider range of dies—those that were not compatible with low-temperature TiC products—including press dies for stronger high-strength steel plates and dies for forging subject to severer machining conditions.

[Features of TR-Flat]

1. Heat resistance of up to 1,000°C

For dies, many rigid films are available that are designed to be coated over the surface of dies with the objective of improving the productivity and service life. Under a high-temperature environment, the film is oxidized and deteriorated in performance; for this reason, a film is required that is less likely to or does not deteriorate in performance due to oxidation. The TR-Flat film provides an AlCr-based coating formed over the surface. It exhibits a significantly improved oxidation resistance, for example, with a chemical composition that provides an oxidation resistance and high elasticity at the same time and an oxide layer preformed on top. These features have resulted in dies that are less likely to deteriorate in performance and last longer even under a severe environment where they are exposed to temperature of 1,000°C.

2. Longer life

A film produced based on PVD is poor in adhesion. As a solution to this, the TR-Flat film is structured with a middle layer that is excellent in adhesion and varies in rigidity, over which a surface layer is formed to achieve a high adhesion. In addition, an original PVD furnace (TF-778N) and an optimal coating recipe are used to optimize the crystal structure of the film. This has resulted in a low friction coefficient as well as a high-level compatibility between rigidity and toughness, which has successfully provided the film with a dramatically improved disruptive strength. With an excellent heat resistance as well as the characteristics of being rigid, smooth, and resistant to destruction, the TR-Flat film is experimentally applied to press dies for high-strength steel plates and for cold forging, steadily proving to be a reliable product.

Toyo Advanced Technologies introduced chemical vapor deposition (CVD) coating in 1968 for the first time in Japan. Now, it is a comprehensive coating supplier that owns large equipment for PVD as well as CVD and ultra-large equipment for pulse plasma diffusion (PPD, one of nitriding processes). The market for PVD coating is expanding, where businesses are launching new and strategic products, which is intensifying competition. We developed a PVD furnace (TF-778N) in 2014 and enhanced the competitiveness of our low-temperature TiC products while developing new products. The TR-Flat film is the first strategic product developed based on the above mentioned equipment. We will continue to develop attractive products to further enhance the competiveness of our product lineups.

Learn more about TR-Flat >>