Page 16 - MetalForming April 2009

A Devotion to Innovation
integrated electrocoating and powder- paint line. While plenty of metalform- ers and finishing companies offer sepa- rate lines for performing each process, few anywhere in the world can apply both coatings on one line.
“We installed the line in 2005 and it paid for itself in one year,” says High- field, “by eliminating queue time for parts—bumpers primarily—that require both coatings.”
Beyond its integrated finishing line, American Trim devotes some of its research and development energy to further refining its coating capabilities, “to, again, carry us forward with our current customer base, and customers in other markets as well,” says Swigard. One example is development of a very large physical-vapor-deposition (PVD) coating line, sized to handle truck bumpers.
“While most PVD coating lines may be 24-in. square or smaller, to coat small parts like reflectors and other bright components, our line is large enough to accommodate parts the size of a bumper,” says Highfield, “parts as large as 2 by 2 by 10 ft.” The company took delivery of its large PVD-coating chamber late in 2007 at its Advanced Material Commercialization Center in Lima.
American Trim developed large-part PVD coating capability to offer an alter- native to environmentally unfriendly traditional metal-plating technologies such as hexavalent chrome plating. The project resulted from a partnership with Rhodes State College, funded by $1.38 million provided by Ohio’s Third Frontier Wright Project, which sup- ports innovative research and devel- opment efforts. The PVD process proves quicker and potentially equal to or less costly than chrome plating, and potentially is a truly green process—no discharge to the atmos- phere or water. American Trim expects the process to soon be commercialized for production of automotive and heavy-truck components such as brush guards, bumpers, fuel tanks, grilles and interior trim components. In fact, the 2008 SEMA show also marked the firm’s debut of a full-sized, PVD-coat- ed heavy truck bumper.
“The end goal for PVD is for it to be substrate-neutral,” says Highfield. “The next step is to advance the technology over plastic, and to introduce a variety of colors into the process.”
Gaining a Foothold in the Alternative-Energy Market
American Trim also has secured funding from Ohio’s Third Frontier Project to gain a front-row seat on the alternative-energy bandwagon. It is working with The Ohio State Univer- sity department of Materials Science and Engineering and General Motors to apply high-velocity metalforming (HVMF) for the low-cost manufac- ture of fuel-cell plates for use in hydro- gen fuel-cell vehicles. The fuel-cell project is one of 13 projects to receive
write no. 13
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