Systematic research that has been performed on interaction of highly dissociated hydrogen plasma with solid materials has resulted in numerous applications in Slovenian industry. One of them is discharge cleaning of products made from copper or nickel. This technology is nowadays used at one of our industrial partners as a routine ecologically benign method for final cleaning of high value added products. We managed to create plasma in a large volume by such a discharge with high H density and low ion density. These conditions allowed successful reduction of the thin corroded layers.
F.09 Development of a new technological process or technology
COBISS.SI-ID: 19643687In collaboration with European partners we developed Twinmic, a new type of the X-ray transmission microscope installed at the Elettra synchrotron light source in Trieste, Italy. Twinmic is the first microscope integrating the scanning and full-field imaging modes of X-ray microscopy. The spatial resolution is about 120 nm and it is optimized for applications in material science, medicine, biology, biochemistry, and environmental science. The microscope combines the state-of-art performances in terms of fast imaging, spectroscopy, X-ray optics, contrast methods and new detectors.
F.08 Development and manufacture of a prototype
COBISS.SI-ID: 20089639The technological process for treatment of polymer-matrix composites, which has been patented in 2004, has been successfully transferred in massive production of composite commutators at the company Kolektor Idrija, Slovenia. For over 3 years, serial production is going on at the extent of more than 3 million pieces annually, representing about 30 percent world market in this segment. The technological process consists of selective plasma etching and subsequent functionalization of surfaces that provides an excellent adhesion of the metal film deposited by an electrochemical method.
F.09 Development of a new technological process or technology
COBISS.SI-ID: 18824487We developed a new double coating for improvement of wear resistance of laser sintered tools. The main disadvantage of laser sintered tools is poor wear resistance, which is a consequence of low hardness, relatively high porosity and high roughness. In collaboration with the Regional technological center Zasavje we developed a double coating for enhancement of wear resistance. It consists of an electroless nickel interlayer and a CrN toplayer. Overall, the double coating increased the tool hardness, reduced the roughness and improved the wear resistance.
F.09 Development of a new technological process or technology
COBISS.SI-ID: 19346471Depositing different PVD hard coatings we improved lifetime of dies for hot extrusion, which is a standard procedure for production of light metal profiles. This study was focused on extrusion of copper profiles for segmented commutators in collaboration with the company Kolektor. The biggest problem is associated to sticking of residue copper on the profile edge. We tested the magnitude of influence of different hard coatings. The best results were obtained using CrN coating, partly also by TiAlN coating. In comparison to nontreated dies the tool lifetime increased threefold.
F.07 Improvements to an existing product
COBISS.SI-ID: 19255335