Hannover/Stuttgart. From 5 to 7 June the SurfaceTechnology GERMANY Forum in Stuttgart is presenting a series of 20-minute talks on every conceivable aspect of surface technology. On all three days of this international trade fair for surface treatments and coatings, experts from industry and the R&D community will be informing visitors about all the hottest topics and trends. For attending professionals, this is a great opportunity to brush up their know-how on coatings and surface treatments. Among the topics to be addressed are surface cleaning, Industry 4.0, energy efficiency, QA and process optimization. All talks will be simultaneously translated and thus can be followed in English and German.

The SurfaceTechnology Forum agenda begins at lunchtime on Tuesday, following the presentation of the Stuttgart prize “DIE OBERFLÄCHE” by the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Engineering and Automation (IPA). The Forum then gets underway with coverage of various aspects of cleaning and pre-treatment. Featured topics include the removal of contaminants resulting from manufacturing processes, as well as cleaning and decoating, pickling and etching, and electrolytic degreasing and activation. A talk on inline cleaning with CO2 snow blasting then introduces the theme of Industry 4.0 in surface technology. This will be followed by presentations on new regulations for electroplating plants, how surface treatment processes are being future-proofed by means of automated analytics with maintenance-free sensors, and potential benefits for SMEs as a result of the energy transition, i.e. the structural move towards renewables.

The Wednesday session of the Forum begins by looking at energy efficiency and the efficient use of materials. The speakers will examine aspects such as saving energy by fine-tuning and optimizing rectifiers, the use of process data and risk data in the production process, as well as the recovery of usable metals from metal sludges. This will be followed by a series of talks exploring the implications of REACH, which is set to be a game-changer for companies specializing in chromium-based coatings, whether as suppliers or users of the requisite process technology. A session devoted to new electroplating processes looks at dispersion layers in tribological applications, trivalent decorative chromium plating, high-performance zinc/iron alloys, and new technologies for the next generation of alkaline zinc/nickel electrolytes. From midday, speakers will turn their attention to the use of treated surfaces. Topics covered here include the durability of nickel alloy coatings when subject to corrosion and mechanical wear, special plant technology for producing galvanic coatings of a specified thickness, the improvement of the tribological behavior of high-stress applications by technological coating systems, and coated PPS as a viable alternative to lightweight alloys.

On the Thursday morning, the focus will be on QA and process optimization. Visitors can learn about the monitoring of process media and parts cleanliness, operating and production processes in the supply chain for surface technology, digital transformation, and the use of X-ray diffractometry for real-world evaluation of coatings and thin films. At midday, the stage will belong to plant, equipment and processes – for example, filtration devices for the adsorption filtration of baths used in wet chemical cleaning, or modern rectifier control systems. Rounding off the day’s agenda are talks on processes for physical surface treatment, such as PVD, CVD and thermal spraying.

The topics covered at the SurfaceTechnology GERMANY Forum include electroplating, irradiation, thermal spraying, industrial plasma and laser-based surface technologies, coating materials, surface treatment, environmental and utility engineering, services, pre-treatment, cleaning, and measuring, testing and analysis.

LASYS, Castforge and automotive shows all running in parallel

Exhibitors and visitors to SurfaceTechnology GERMANY in Stuttgart will also enjoy access to other trade shows taking place at the same time and place. These are LASYS, the International Trade Fair for Laser Materials Processing, in Hall 4; Castforge, the new trade fair for castings, forgings and their processing, in Hall 6; and various automotive shows in halls 7, 8, 9 and 10: Automotive Testing Expo Europe, Engine Expo Europe, Global Automotive Components and Suppliers Expo, and Autonomous Vehicle Technology World Expo. An admission ticket to any one of these shows automatically entitles the holder to attending all the others, too.