One typical application for hard coatings are cutting tools, e.g. drills or turning tools. The increased hardness and reduced friction enables higher speeds and feeds and thereby reduce the machining time.

The automotive industry is another field of application for hard coatings. Typically you find more than 100 hard coated parts in a modern car, e.g. pistons and valves in the car engine. The hard coated parts enable lighter designs, reduce friction losses and thereby reduce fuel consumption. Furthermore the higher wear resistance lengthen the service life of components and reduce the need of spare parts.

Beyond industrial applications like machine tools and the automotive industry hard coatings are also used for medical applications like components of artificial hip replacements where the diamond like coatings reduce the wear of surfaces and thereby lengthen the life time of the implant.

Present work in the Coating Competence Center focuses on improved hard carbon coatings with an increased temperature stability.