Colorizing Options

PVD is good for the environment and your company culture

Compared to many other coating options, physical vapor deposition (PVD) is very environmentally friendly, and in most cases the PVD process has no dangerous by-products. Choosing this option for colorizing is a great way to reduce your company’s environmental impact in a responsible and affordable way.

In addition to its functional attributes, using PVD is consistent with following a supportive social and environmental code of operations one would want to follow. In other words-it’s an advantage. Many metal coating methods often use caustic cleaning chemicals, pigments and other additives that can be potentially harmful to the environment. Even if it is within legal standards, there is still a potential for a detrimental impact. Using dyes, acids for cleaning, flushing with water, and creating air discharge releases toxins into the environment.

Instead of employing acids, PVD base metal preparation mostly requires a mild detergent and a recycling system for water containment that is environmentally safe. With PVD (because the nature of the product involves benign metals, gas, vacuums, and basically temperature and time) there are no pigments or residues. Although there is some residual dust, it is a very minute dust collection that poses no problem.

PVD Makes Environmental Compliance Easy

Compliance with environmental law is serious business and failures or accidents can be an expensive process. Laws vary from state to state and can change when new administrations take control. Licensing and permitting is something that always needs be considered whenever installing new equipment. PVD technology can help sidestep many of these problems by being widely compliant with most any possible standard.

The ability to pass most local, state or federal scrutiny can alleviate potential major compliance roadblocks. It’s important and recommended to continue to routinely conduct independent testing of any residues-for example the dust by-products, as well as monitoring the environment and air quality as part of your normal environmental compliance programs.

Environmental Stewardship is Important for Company Culture

The anti-fingerprinting process, which is another option when using PVD also maintains the focus on sound environmental practice. A process in which anti-fingerprint attributes are accomplished via a

sprayed-on coating method may not fall within current ‘green’ guidelines. The in-chamber approach applies anti-fingerprinting via the PVD process where you won’t have any airborne pollution concerns.

From an employee and environmental standpoint, one might hesitate to consider investing in a product or process that potentially has a short lifetime horizon or the potential to be shut down. But, don’t hesitate! By following these green guidelines as rules for future investment, you’ll find the proposed processes blend nicely with your environmentally friendly company culture.

—
John Dobek is the vice president commercial-stainless and aluminum at Kloeckner Metals Corp. in Roswell, Ga. Kloeckner Metals is a pioneer of the digital transformation in the steel industry and looks to fully digitalize the supply and service chain. Kloeckner Metals is a member company of Klöckner & Co., and consists of over 50 locations throughout North America and more than 2,400 employees. For more information, visit www.kloecknermetals.com.

Article may be found: http://www.metalarchitecture.com/articles/columns/colorizing-options.aspx