Consulting

One of the Institute's core activities is advising small and medium-sized enterprises in all matters to do with surface treatments. We can only deal with a limited number of issues through our website, so If you have any additional queries, do not hesitate to contact us.

IGOS maintains close contact with several electroplating companies offering a range of pretreatments and coating processes. This means we have access to even the rarest coating types. Where necessary, e.g. with such combinations as electrochemical coating systems with PVD layers, we can help clients to get in touch with a suitable supplier through our extensive network of contacts. In making a recommendation, we ensure that the supplier in question can not only manufacture your pilot run, but is also in a position to take on larger production runs to your satisfaction due to the equipment available.

A coating system does not only have to be matched to the application. The holistic combination of substrate, completed product and process have to result in a product that accurately meets all the requirements. A typical example of this is the gold-plating of stainless steel. Inclusions and defects in the substrate might not necessarily have negative effects on the completed product if it remains uncoated. However, combined with gold-plating, they may result in localised defects that can drastically reduce the product's resistance to corrosion. Incorrectly performed pretreatment can result in the same non-conforming product in conjunction with large-scale disbonding.

IGOS is able to match each production stage to the previous one and the next one and monitor the suitability of the various processes in terms of the desired final product using the testing techniques available at the Institute.

Maintaining a clear view of complexity of today's production processes is becoming increasingly difficult. This applies in particular where the operatives are able to deal with the basic technical issues involved but lack in-depth understanding and training in matters relating to surface treatments. This is where the IGOS team can help.

Whether it is an evaluation of the entire process and the associated risk of hydrogen embrittlement you require or assistance from trained experts in connection with an external audit of your suppliers, in all such cases, IGOS is the ideal, capable partner.

When companies are looking to introduce new electrocoating methods, there are always numerous questions to be answered regarding the suitability of the process in connection with the existing machinery available, the final application and the base material. At the same time, the user is frequently faced with the problem of a lack of testing techniques to enable him to decide which of the possible solutions is technically the best.

This is where IGOS can support you – not just with testing techniques but also with an impartial preselection of the various products available by running trials at laboratory level or in the Institute's own fully automated test line.

This provides you with the opportunity not only to test the intended new process in an environment close to your real-life application, you also have the chance to simulate the stability of the process.

Special coatings for small to medium runs can be applied by IGOS either in very small quantities in our chemistry laboratory or in medium-size runs in our fully automated test line. Alternatively, IGOS can fall back on a large number of electrocoating enterprises that can coat your components at a favourable price in their production environments.

IGOS will help you first to generate uniform surfaces on the individual components by either coating them or removing existing layers in the Institute's own test line.