Chiron’s High-Speed Additive Manufacturing Coating for Brake Discs

Chiron Group’s additive manufacturing (AM) coating is an industrial system designed for 24/7 operation for applying extremely hard coatings to brake discs. The company says the protective layer is applied onto the brake disc faster and better, while also staying on longer.

“The solution is intelligent coatings, which we can apply with our AM Coating system,” says Dr. Geza Koscsak, head of AM at the Chiron Group. In his previous position as head of Chiron’s predevelopment, he was significantly involved in the development of the system and the decision in favor of the high-speed buildup welding process.

With high-speed laser metal deposition (LMD) welding, the powder particles cover a longer distance than with conventional LMD processes before they are deposited. In this way, they can absorb more energy and already melt in the laser beam, which enables a significantly faster coating speed. The process also has a clear advantage over thermal coating with high-velocity flame spraying: the brake discs do not need to be pretreated and the process is significantly shorter.

The higher speed and shorter process are two advantages that AM Coating offers. It will also have an added advantage in relation to the future Euro 7 standard. “When the standard comes — and it will definitely come — then a production volume of 10 million brake discs per year will have to be managed for the European vehicle brands alone,” Dr. Koscsák says. “With a cycle time of around 30 seconds per disc for classic brake discs, it is clear that the coating process has to keep up.”

The AM Coating is available in two versions: AM Coating Twin and Single. The AM Coating Twin is for series production. The system works with two lasers for the front and rear coating, with the fully automatic transfer of the brake discs. AM Coating Single is well suited for anyone who wants to test materials and material combinations in parallel with series production or, in advance, develop the application process or produce small series.

On request, the Chiron Group’s team of experts will provide support for process development, either at the customer’s site or in Tuttlingen. Chiron can install a machine on which the customer’s specialists can get to know the process, run tests and work with Chiron specialists to design the parameters ready for series production or for a consistent and even more productive process.

According to the company, the coating is durable and resists cracking. “Using high-speed laser deposition welding, we achieve improved adhesion through a material connection. In addition, the layer thickness is less, it is in the range of tenths of a millimeter,” says Ernest Frombach, Chiron project manager. “This means that much less material is used and, thanks to our powder management, we achieve a high degree of powder utilization. Buffer and hard material layers are applied directly one after the other. With the application of the first layer, the brake disc is tempered, so to speak. We consistently achieve the best application quality, brake disc for brake disc, without the formation of pores or cracks.”

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• Listen to episode 27 of The Cool Parts Show to hear how additive manufacturing enables lighter, better-performing brake rotor production.