Surface technology for automotive engineering

The presented paper describes the role of surface technologies in the automotive industry. Various hard coatings like nitrides, diamond and cBN are used on tools for the manufacturing process. Due to their high hardness and low coefficient of friction, diamond-like carbon films will be indispensable for engine and power train components. The improvement of automotive glazings by optimization of optical and thermal properties of the glass is an ongoing development task. Coatings with switchable transmission, thin film solar cells as self-cleaning and self-healing surfaces will be features in the car of the future. Various atmospheric pressure and low pressure deposition processes are available. In this paper low pressure plasma and electrochemical deposition are in focus.