News

NEWS 01/06    February 2006

More DRIVE!

Since beginning of this year, the research-team of r-BeSt coating has been completed by the diamond specialist Dr. Hadwig Sternschulte.
Research emphasis of the physicist, who holds a PhD, is focused on the doping of diamond thin films and the development of biosensors. Sternschulte can refer to almost 15 years of research experience in the field of diamond coatings, as well as scientific stays abroad, academic teaching and numerous corresponding publications in renowned international journals.
r-BeSt coating has been partner of the EU Marie-Curie-Projektes DRIVE (Diamond Research on Interfaces for Versatile Electronics) since 2005. For further information regarding the research aims of the project as well as the partners please refer to www.drive.mkem.uu.se.

NEWS 06/05    August 2005

European Forum Alpbach 2005

At this year's science-forum in Alpbach, with the guiding idea of "Europa - strength and weakness" Dr. Doris Steinmüller-Nethl presented her experiences regarding innovation through cooperation and networking and thus highlighted the innovation potential of small companies.

NEWS 05/05    June 2005

OTTI-Profiforum, June, 22^nd – 23^th 2005, Regensburg







A few impressions from the comfortable get-together after interesting speeches about the topic CVD-diamond.

r-BeSt coating at Hufschmied's


In the course of an employee training with the topic "carbon" at the beginning of June r-BeSt coating was invited to present the most precious form of carbon: diamond - in this case the 100% pure and ultra-nanocrystalline r-BeSt diamond coating.

NEWS 04/05    May 2005

Unorthodox ways of education for equal job opportunities
r-BeSt coating took part in the 4th Girls’ Day

The majority of girls still decides to start apprenticeships which are typically female. Reservations due to upbringing and schooling education on the one hand and scepticism of the companies towards technical abilities of girls on the other hand often prevent the girls from entering typically “male” domains.

This way, large potential would be kept unexploited, which was proven by seven girls at the end of April in the course of the Girls’ Day at r-BeSt coating. Themed “Snuffle into the promising professions of physics and chemical laboratory assistant!” the whole day was dedicated to diamond. Following a short theoretical introduction into the diamond coating technology, practical exercises were done in the chemical laboratory. Ultrasonic bath, conductometry & Co afforded the opportunity for trial and error.
After an ample lunch buffet, sponsored by W INN, the second round followed by entering the production. Metallurgic cross-sections as well as the pre-treatment of watchcases for the diamond coating were carried out. A closing lecture in English gave insight into application possibilities of r-BeSt diamond coating in the area of Electronics.
Fun with experimentation and pleasure about a practice-orientated approach to natural sciences was written all over the girls’ faces. r-BeSt coating also was glad to see, that females don’t rank behind their male counterparts when it comes to technical capability.
By the way the Girls’ Day is an international action-day and takes place every 4^th Thursday in April. In Tyrol it is organized by initiative of the Womens’ department of Tyrol, in cooperation with the AMG Tyrol, as well as the Tyrolean school inspectors and the job market promotion agency.

NEWS 03/05    April 2005

New research results out of the NanoDiamondWorld
NaDiNe semi-annual meeting
April, 21^th – 22^nd 2005, UMIT Hall i. Tirol (www.umit.at)
Following the successful prelude last October, all research and projects partners of the joint-project NanoDiamondNetwork (NaDiNe) met for the second time in Tyrol. In the course of the semi-annual meeting altogether 15 project groups of Austria, Belgium, Switzerland and Germany presented their latest research results.

	As a potential NaDiNe-partner the working group Scheier (Insitute for ionic physics, University of Innsbruck) took part in the meeting. Besides Prof. Karin Larsson from the University Uppsala, Sweden, who has already been working together with r-BeSt coating in the RTN-EU-project DRIVE (Diamond Research on Interfaces for Versatile Electronics, www.drive.mkem.uu.se), presented her workings. Based hereon new cooperations between her and NaDiNe-partners will be started.
Dr. Detlef Steinmüller (r-BeSt coating) welcomes the auditorium		Prof Karin Larsson, University of Uppsala, Sweden

NaDiNe-partners from Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Sweden and Belgium

Dr. Doris Steinmüller-Nethl in dialog at the European Forum Alpbach 2005!
The well-known, annual science-forum concentrates on the discussion of interdisciplinary topics. In the course of lectures "Research excellence in Tyrol - physicists as a case in point" Dr. Steinmüller-Nethl will refer to her experiences during setting-up the hightech company r-BeSt coating.

MaterialsDay in Linz
On January, the 27th, Doris Steinmüller-Nethl presented the numerous products and research fields of r-BeSt coating at the danubEquity's MaterialsDay in Linz ("Nano-crystalline diamond coating - the carbon compound with unique characteristics").

NEWS 02/05    February 2005

r-BeSt coating is partner of the EU Marie-Curie-projekt DRIVE (Diamond Research on Interfaces for Versatile Electronics). Read more about the research focus and the partners on the website of DRIVE.

Soon the homepage of KMT will be also hosting the internet presence of the joint research project Nadine - NanoDiamondNetwork. All relevant details regarding the several research projects, the participating companies, universities and research institutions as well as the latest press releases will be prepared for you.

NEWS 01/05    January 2005

“NOT ALL THAT GLISTENS IS DIAMOND“
r-BeSt coating launches the quality seal „100% r-BeSt Diamond“ – for cutting tools with pure diamond coating. The diamond coating of precision tools has become more and more important.
The production of graphite electrodes can not be imagined without diamond coated tools and also when working reinforced plastics the advantages to other coatings become clearly visible. No wonder that numerous coating companies jump on the “diamond train” and offer accordant coatings. But be aware – not all coatings that are much-lauded as “diamond coating” are truly diamond. Even PVD-coatings, which properties do not reach those of a pure diamond coating, are tagged with the clinking attribute. That the tool user becomes insecure due to the huge number of coating companies and the even larger number of products is obvious. Too obscure are the different names, too unclear the product specifications.
The CVD-research group of VDI has set the first step towards market transparency in January 2004 by publishing the guide line “Carbon coatings – basic knowledge, coating types and properties“ (VDI 2840). The difficulty for a non-expert - checking the specification of his/her coating supplier, as well as to distinguish diamond from non-diamond - still remains though.
„100% r-BeSt Diamond“
r-BeSt coating is now disposing of all insecurities and launches the quality seal „100% r-BeSt Diamond“. Precision tools labelled with this seal are coated with 100% pure diamond and therefore feature all properties that the user can expect from a diamond coating.

NEWS 03/04    November 2004

NaDiNe KickOff-Meeting The joint project NanoDiamondNetwork – NaDiNe in short – has officially started in the end of October in Vill near Innsbruck during a KickOff-Meeting. The event focussed on the presentation of main research of the several work groups, as well as on the get-together of project partners and teams, initiators and sponsors. The meeting was characterized by active exchange of ideas, the emphasis on the joint research intentions and an highly constructive working atmosphere.

The participants agreed on the bundling of research competences to be necessary in order to fully exploit the existing potentials. NaDiNe was realized due to an initiative of r-BeSt coating, together with long time partners. All together 15 work groups – companies, research institutions and members of all three Tyrolean Universities participate with their specific knowledge for successful transfer of technology. The link between all research projects thereby is the material diamond. Due to its outstanding properties, like biocompatibility, chemical resistance, highest potential for the linking of bio-molecules as well as its transparency, diamond has increasingly emerged as an excellent material for biotechnological applications.

Ing. Koell, Prof. Bertel, Dr. Steinmüller-Nethl and Dr. Steinmüller during the champagne reception (f.l.t.r., Photo: KMT)

Constructive working atmosphere during the KickOff-meeting (Photo: KMT)

NEWS 02/04    August 2004

Nanocrystalline r-BeSt diamond coatings - !sharpen up!
Corresponding market development, such as increased tolerances claims through the tool producers, the need for faultless surfaces without re-working and smaller and smaller electrodes enhance the need for nanocrystalline, thin diamond coatings drastically.
Since its founding in 1996 r-BeSt coating has concentrated solely in the development and the production of nanocrystalline, thin diamond coatings. The head start in technology, compared to other similar coatings on the market is therefore considerable. The r-BeSt diamond coatings fulfill the claimed parameter without costly and time-consuming reworking, e.g. plasma-sharpening. Therefore any geometries (not only planar areas) can be furnished with the favored coating features.

Advantage overview
The r-BeSt nanocrystalline diamond coating offers you the following advantages:

• smooth tool coating, therefore perfect surface of the working piece
• negligible rounding of the cutting edges, therefore sharp edges are obtained through the whole application time of the tool
• excellent layer adherence, therefore high tool stability
• increase of tool-life of tungsten carbide tools of any geometry
• economical working of “new” high-tech materials, such as reinforced plastics, is made possible.

NEWS 01/04    May 2004

Modulus of elasticity/Young’s modulus
The higher the e-modulus, the larger the force needed to deform the material. The table below gives the values of the modulus of elasticity for the r-BeSt diamond coating (measurements carried out by Fraunhofer Institut Dresden) as well as for other coatings and materials.

NEWS 04/03    November 2003

Smooth diamond thin films in graphite-machining
Diamond coated tools are state of the art when it comes to machining graphite. Due to the growing demand of die and mould makers for perfect electrode surfaces and precise tolerances the question occurs whether it is enough to just choose any diamond coating or if one should better pay attention to the structure of the diamond coating. “Smooth or rough?” is the question to be asked…
[read more ...] Up to now smooth diamond coatings have been demanded explicitly for the machining of tenacious materials, e.g. hypoeutectique aluminum. The advantage of a smooth tool-surface is quite apparently in this case – the coating minimizes the accumulation of material on the tool – built-up edges can be widely prevented.
Contrary to the widespread opinion, built-up edges also occur when machining graphite. Other than most materials, graphite builds no chips and thus no chip removing takes place during the machining process. The working with geometric defined edges can be best described as systematic fissuring.
In order to form the fissure efficiently, graphite has to be machined with high cutting speeds. These extraordinary working parameters result in extraordinary wear mechanism:
Due to the stronger impulse the fissuring is supported and thus the wear of the tool reduced. Moreover the main reason for tool wear can not be found at the cutting edge of the tool but at the tool face (graphite particles) and tool flanks (graphite dust) - the impact of the graphite particles onto the tool face being the reason for built-up edges. The extreme cutting speed makes the graphite particles bang into the tool face with a speed of up to 120 km/h.
Due to the vehemence of the impact the graphite particles are packed to a kind of green compact and then “baked” under the frictional heat. The resulting built-up edges leading to well-known problems like low dimensional accuracy, increased cutting forces and even to tool failure. Thus smooth diamond coatings are a crucial pre-condition to increase efficiency when machining graphite.
Besides the deposition of a nanocrystalline and thin diamond coating can minimize edge rounding - sharp edges remain sharp during the entire tool life. The machining pressure on the electrode can be kept to a minimum – electrode-breaking is therefore seldom.
As rough diamond coatings are generally thicker, subtle electrodes might be damaged during machining, costly re-working and finishing might become necessary. The use of a smooth diamond coating can improve the surface of the electrode drastically.
The well-known increase of tool life by the factor 25 complete the picture and thus makes the application of smooth diamond-coated tools to be the most feasible solution.
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How smooth is smooth?
The only question left open to be answered is which surface parameters have to be reached in order to speak about a smooth diamond layer, as no categorization has been made so far.
[read more ...] The surface-parameters measured at a r-BeSt diamond coating (measurements done by Fries Research & Technology GmbH) can be taken as a clue:
An analysis with optical sensory analysis and atomic force microscopy (AFM) tested the surface roughness of r-BeSt diamond on a polished tungsten carbide surface (starting surface roughness: Ra = 1,5 nm and Rq = 2 nm). The surface roughness measured were Ra = 8,5 nm and Rq = 10,8 nm. These values were achieved only through diamond deposition – no re-working was done.

Infotable

By this an increase of surface smoothness could be achieved through standard production that is unique worldwide. This helps customers in the segment of cutting industry as well as new partners in the field of bio sensor technology to benefit from the special qualities of the coating. For further information please contact Ms. Doris Steinmüller-Nethl.

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NEWS 03/03    September 2003

Company Founders Are Taking Care Of The Customer Service
Since September, 1^st Ms. Steinmüller-Nethl and Mr. Steinmüller are personally taking care of your technical concerns when it comes to r-BeSt diamond coatings. Sales and distribution (market segment: cutting industry) that have been sourced out for the last two years are therewith carried out directly by r-BeSt coating.
[read more ...] For an appointment, specific questions regarding our coatings or for an R&D project (e.g. for new applications, please contact Ms. Doris Steinmüller-Nethl (Email, +43-(0)512-283559-0) or Mr. Detlef Steinmüller (Email, +43-(0)512-283559-0). Ms. Brigitte Anich and Ms. Alexandra Huber are also pleased to be of your assistance. For you this change means: as of now you will enjoy the BeStservice possible. [-]

NEWS 02/03    June 2003

Diamond coating: Your advantage through maximum smoothness
When cutting aluminum and aluminum alloys the user not only focuses on an extension of tool life. Especially when machining hypoeutectique alloys one should pay attention to a tool surface that is as smooth as possible in order to reduce built-up edges and the resulting uncontrollable cutting process.
[read more ...] With the smooth r-BeSt diamond coating this is made possible even without using lubricants or coolants.
Due to the outstanding smoothness of the layer (diamond crystals in nanometer-range) the unhindered chip-flow is supported. The formation of built-up edges is avoided to a large extent, because no material can stick to the cutting edges due to the diamond coating.
In the given practice example the machining could even be conducted without using lubricants or coolants. On the one hand this leads to production-technical advantages – the parts could be approved for welding right after cutting, the intermediate cleansing, normally necessary, could be omitted. On the other hand this results in a reduction of costs – last but not least because of the increasing environmental restraints the costs for lubricants and coolants often sum up to a multiple of the tooling costs.
Reduced tool-change and set-up costs (due the eight-fold tool life of the coated tool) lead to further savings and make the use of diamond coating extremely profitable. [-]

r-BeSt diamond enters electronics
Since the beginning of May 2003 our R & D-team of “a.o.t. GmbH“ (Application Center for Surface Technology) is supported by Alexander Kromka, physicist and thus is enabled to intensify research and market activities in the market segment electronics.
[read more ...] In the course of a „Marie-Curie industry host fellowship“ of the European Commission it is possible to combine the knowledge of Dr. Kromka in the field of electronic applications of diamond coatings with our know-how of producing outstanding pure and smooth diamond coatings. Therefore product development in the field of doped as well as undoped diamond thin films can be started.
Through cooperation with three university institutes in Germany and Austria the diamond thin films, produced with the unique r-BeSt process, can be analysed and first prototypes for applications in the field of electronics can be produced.
Please contact Dr. Alexander Kromka for further information (a.kromka@aot-surface.com)). [-]

Diamond and platinum – a noble combination
Precious metal can also be machined perfectly with diamond coated tools: up to now a well-known company in the Swiss watch industry produced 15 pieces of platinum watchcases with an uncoated recessing tool. With the same tool, but r-BeSt diamond coated, the production of 100 pieces was made possible!

Cutting tip I
Topic: copper electrodes When re-working copper electrodes, which are used for eroding sintered metal or tungsten carbide, it shows that the use of diamond coating gives excellent results. The abrasive metal-particles, which virtually burn itself into the copper, lead to an increased wear of the cutting edges during the operation. By using mills with r-BeSt diamond coating the wear performance can be improved considerably. The use of diamond coated tools is therefore highly recommended in this application field.

Economic efficiency calculation
One topic that comes up regularly during customer care, is the economic efficiency of the applied cutting material. r–BeSt tooling has therefore developed a calculation-system for determining the economic efficiency of an application. Through considering the total application costs it can be demonstrated that the additional costs of the diamond coating are amortized in most cases solely through the prolonged tool life of the coated tool. If the effects on tool-change and set-up costs as well as the downtime of the machine are taken into account, the decision pro or contra diamond coating can be based on hard facts.

„r–BeSt tooling – User Workshop“
He, who wants to use diamond coated tools properly, should be well informed about the special features of this cutting material. Due to this reason r–BeSt tooling organized the first “User Workshop”.

This spring, the first „r–BeSt tooling - User Workshop“ took place in Weer and Steinach, Tyrol, respectively. Around twenty participants from the precision-tool industry, the aerospace industry as well as the automotive components industry gained basic knowledge about the diamond coating, and were informed about the latest developments in the diamond coating industry.
[read more ...] The focus of the workshop was put on the presentation of practical contents. The advantages and disadvantages of several cutting materials were presented, also latest practice examples of the working of aluminum alloys and reinforced plastics, MMC (Metal-Matrix-Composites) and SMC (Sheet-Molding-Components) were highlighted. A tour through the production of r–BeSt coating concluded the workshop and gave the participants enough time for exchanging experiences.
As the participants’ feed-back turned out to be very positive, the next “r–BeSt tooling – User Workshop was scheduled for the end of this year.
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NEWS 02/02    Mai 2002

Formula1 with the "BeSt" participation
This years Formula 1 season has already well started - the Williams/BMW Team obtained a double victory at the Grand Prix in Malaysia. With a little contribution r-BeSt coating was also able to participate in the success of Ralph Schumacher and Juan-Pablo Montoya:
[read more ...] Diamond coated mills (tungsten carbide TSM30 from Plansee) came into employment in the finishing of the engine blocks, through which the required surface finish in this very demanding employment area could be achieved. The result: "The engine power of the BMW/Williams motor is impressive, particularly at the acceleration phase, the Bavarians were clearly at an advantage which proved itself again of great advantage in overtaking manoeuvres. …(it) appeared that no team had a chance from the beginning against the cars of Ralph Schumacher and Juan-Pablo Montoya..." as one sports reporter commented captivated.
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Diamond for all (tungsten carbides)?
What can be expected from diamond coated tungsten carbide-tools? A cooperation between Plansee Tizit AG and r-BeSt coating provides the answer to this question.
[read more ...] The content of the joint project, that started about one year ago, was on the one hand the investigation of the most popular tungsten carbide types from Plansee with a view to their suitability to diamond coating and on the other hand actual practice results from the employment of coated tools using the Plansee-tungsten carbides were documented.
It was shown, that the most popular types - TSM10 with a Cobalt-content of 6%, TSM20 with 7,5%Co and TSM30 with 10%Co - are excellently suited for diamond coating, the spoilage quota are less than the average value (1-1,5%) and lie close to 0%.
Based on the practice results documentation carried out it can in as well be said that the types TSM20and TSM30 are already suitable for an unbelievably wide spectrum of applications. There were positive results in the machining of aluminium, copper, graphite, carbon, tungsten carbides- and un-sintered ceramics as well as (fibre reinforced) synthetic materials. Both tungsten carbide types show outstanding layer adhesion, in addition TMS20 has excellent crisis measure properties ascribed to it. In general there is through the coating, a clear raising of tool life when compared to uncoated tools.
The combination of the Plansee tungsten carbides and the r-BeSt diamond coating results in top economic tools that are universally applicable.
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Setting up of r-BeSt tooling
Since April 2002 a new "family member" has come into being, the "r-BeSt Diamant-Werkzeugsysteme GmbH" (r-BeSt Diamond-Toolsystem ).
[read more ...]