Innovations and Trends in Electroplating and Surface Technology – Highly Current and Concise

Surface and electroplating solutions are a key to innovation and development in virtually all industries. No wonder that the Surface Days of the Central Association for Surface Technology e.V. (ZVO), with a recent participation of 625 attendees, have established themselves as the most important information and communication event in this field. This year's Congress for Electroplating and Surface Technology from September 13 to 15 in Berlin offers the most comprehensive and diverse program to date with a total of 85 lectures.

When it comes to trends, new developments, and know-how in electroplating and surface technology, the annual Surface Days of the ZVO are the most significant information and communication platform in the German-speaking world. On one hand, technical-scientific, economic, and ecological solutions to current problems in the development of innovative products are presented. On the other hand, the focus is on targeted networking of research and practice as well as supporting cross-industry communication. Core topics include exploring new application areas for electroplated coatings, the increased requirements for coated surfaces, and dealing with new legal regulations.

This year's ZVO Surface Days will feature the most diverse lecture program to date on the performance capabilities of electroplating and surface technology. Recognized experts from research and practice, both nationally and internationally, will discuss topics such as: alternatives to chrome acid-based process technologies, alloy layers, developments and trends in application-oriented surface and future technologies, environmental and occupational safety, energy and material efficiency, sustainability strategies, wear protection, from process monitoring to product quality, component cleaning, and Industry 4.0.

Component Cleanliness – A Prerequisite for Coating

The focus of the forum on component cleaning, organized by the Professional Association for Industrial Part Cleaning (FiT) e.V., with a total of 13 presentations, is pretreatment in electroplating. Several lectures deal with the fundamentals of the chemistry and physics of the pretreatment process. Topics include the composition of manufacturing-related contaminants, as well as classification of important process media and their components regarding removability. Cleaning and stripping, pickling and decapping, electrolytic degreasing of metals, solvent cleaning in pretreatment, resource-efficient and quality-enhancing measures in the recycling of cleaning and rinsing media, as well as monitoring of cleaning media and component cleanliness, are other themes. The use of microorganisms in surface cleaning, as well as cleaning after coating, will also be discussed. The removal of paint and cleaning of surfaces with plasma are also on the agenda. Additionally, procedures for surface finishing using aqueous media and cleaning solutions for additively manufactured components will be presented. Ways to optimize a cleaning process will be demonstrated using the example of a tannery. In the Industry 4.0 lecture block, component cleaning will be discussed under the theme: “Industry 4.0 – New solutions for quality assurance in cleaning technology.”

With this broad spectrum of topics, the ZVO Surface Days are aimed at users, manufacturing staff, researchers, developers, designers, buyers, QM, and sales staff from all sectors of industry. An accompanying industrial exhibition complements the program. Renowned companies from electroplating and surface technology will present new developments and innovations here.

Further information, the complete program, lecture contents, and speakers are available on the newly designed congress homepage at www.oberflaechentage.zvo.org. Registration documents are also available there.