With the vacuum sputtering machine POLYCOATER as well as with the integrated production line DECOLINE II, SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES has successfully established production machines, which continue to assert themselves in the market. Several new systems were ordered for the environmentally-friendly surface treatment of 3D-components.

A European customer from the cosmetics sectors, which had already ordered a DECOLINE II system in 2019, continues to expand its capacities. It is very pleasing that this customer has once again opted for the environmentally-friendly and cost-efficient product solution from SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES. The overall order includes a complete production line DECOLINE II and in addition the order for two newly-developed coating units for UV lacquer under the product name PAINTLINE.

Dr.-Ing. Stefan Rinck, CEO of SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES, comments: "Our customer is already very successfully operating a DECOLINE II from our company, which excels with high quality of the products produced on it as well as an extremely low reject rate. This eliminates high logistics efforts and long transport routes. Furthermore, the components and material inventories in circulation can be reduced and varying end-customer request can be responded to at short notice. Our customer basically feeds the respective pre-products directly from the injection molding machine into our DECOLINE II line. The new order from our customer demonstrates the acceptance for our solutions for this innovative manufacturing process."

Dr. Rinck adds: "Plasma processes are not more expensive than galvanic coating. Systems that work according to the principle of sputtering (Physical Vapor Deposition, PVD) are somewhat more expensive to purchase than a corresponding electroplating system, but in terms of operating costs, capacity and thus unit costs, they have a clear advantage."

The DECOLINE II production line can be operated by a single employee due to its high degree of automation - with a maximum output of around 10,000 units per hour. In principle, not only components made out of plastics, but also glass and metal can be coated. For the product design, the clean vacuum coating offers attractive combination possibilities. The process of 3D-coating is completely chrome-IV-free and energy-efficient. According to the German Federal Environment Agency, the energy consumption of PVD processes is significantly lower than that of classic electroplating. Due its flexibility the DECOLINE II offers the cosmetics sector the opportunity to finish diverse products made from plastics and also glass with a wide range of different colors.

The DECOLINE II by SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES integrates the metallization in vacuum (cathode sputtering) as well as all coating and pre-processing steps in a single production run. Here, the components are automatically transported through all processing steps. A central inline vacuum coating machine of the POLYCOATER type is at the heart of the entire line. The new PAINTLINE systems included in the order use recyclable water-based UV lacquer that are particularly environmentally friendly. The PAINTLINE is used for, among other things, the finishing of glass bottles.

SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES was also able to record a new order for a vacuum sputtering machine of the POLYCOATER type. A customer from Asia, which is already operating several POLYCOATER machines and which is convinced of the advantages of PVD-coating, continues to expand its capacities with the new machine.

The inline sputtering machine POLYCOATER operates on the principle of vacuum cathode sputtering. The vacuum cathode sputtering offers several process-specific advantages. In contrast to the traditional batch production of vacuum evaporation techniques, this solution automates the manufacturing process and with its short cycle times of inline processing reduces the production costs significantly.