Hannover, Germany. Ever since 1986, firms specializing in electroplating and surface treatment have been presenting their goods and services at the "World of Surface Treatment" showcase staged within HANNOVER MESSE. This year, the World of Surface Treatment (staged by ZVO, the industry's central trade association in Germany) will be part of the Industrial Supply show and its newly launched SurfaceTechnology Area in Hall 6.

The companies exhibiting at Industrial Supply in the categories forging, sheet metal forming, turned parts, foundry products, fastening technology, controls, closure systems, industrial materials, lightweight construction and adhesive bonding technology represent key stages in the value-adding chain for the electroplating and surface treatment industry, and are therefore direct customers for the industry's products and services.

Specialist firms contributing to "World of Surface Treatment" will be showcasing their services to international trade visitors at Industrial Supply – services that range from pre-treatment, coating and after-treatment to industrial parts cleaning. Participating exhibitors will demonstrate how they are meeting their customers' ever more demanding requirements in electroplating and surface treatment. Sometimes it is a case of avoiding suspect raw materials in order to comply – for example – with the EU's REACH directive; sometimes it is about reducing the input of chemicals and energy in general, or recovering and recycling industrial wastewater. Avoiding fire risks, and adapting to changes associated with the advent of Industry 4.0, are other important issues addressed by exhibitors at the ZVO stand.

Specialist chemical supplier Atotech will be showing innovative solutions for resource-efficient coatings that contain no borates, coltan or chlorine VI. "World of Surface Treatment" also introduces visitors to the latest developments from Umicore for functional surfaces on PCBs, as well as two innovative processes developed by AHC Oberflächentechnik: CompCote® is an extremely hard-wearing and corrosion-resistant composite coating for aluminum alloys, based on aluminum oxide and added polymers. In this process the coating of molecular polymer constituents effectively "grows" into the base material. With the PVD (physical vapor deposition) process, IVD aluminum vacuum coating, layers of pure aluminum can be deposited on a variety of substrates, or an aluminum surface can be transformed into an aluminum chromate coating.

"Intelligent control for immersion processes" is the claim made by ICOM Automation for the software solutions it is displaying at the ZVO group stand. The Ilmenau-based company will be showing three powerful software products tailored to the specific needs of users in the surface treatment industry. GalvaCom is an automation solution for controlling electroplating plant, and features ISO-9001-compliant data acquisition and data logging, as well as interfacing with ERP and BDE systems. AWACom is a wastewater treatment control system for electroplating shops, fully adaptable to different plant sizes and plating requirements. Finally, the LawaCom software system from ICOM Automation offers many functions for data analysis and plant maintenance in the plating and surface treatment industry.

German company plating electronic is launching a brand-new product at the ZVO group stand in the shape of the very compact POWER STATION pe 4606, a family of modular, air-cooled DC rectifiers with a range up to 48 kW. The encapsulated cooling system with optimized airflow prevents aggressive ambient air from coming into contact with the onboard electronics. Also specializing in rectifiers for more than 30 years is Munk, a company based in Hamm, Germany. Under the tagline "smart DC", the company is exhibiting its PSP Tower and PowerCabinet systems, which are available in air-cooled and water-cooled variants for heavy-duty industrial environments, and with a footprint of just one square meter are capable of supplying power to up to six plating cells individually.

WMV from Windeck is unveiling an updated version of its TULZ (= dip-spin-tilt paint centrifuge) coating station at "World of Surface Treatment". The new paint recovery system (PRS) effectively prevents contamination of the chamber interior by paint spatter and paint mist as the parts are spun. An additional paint recovery stage lowers consumption still further.

The upgraded plastic submersible pump from Bohncke, which has been marketing these products for more than 30 years, delivers energy savings of up to 50 per cent. The new Series E model from the specialist manufacturer of electroplating pumps is able to achieve this substantial saving thanks to a modified internal pump geometry and a more energy-efficient motor. Pump and filter specialist Sondermann is showing a new generation of sealless, magnetic-drive centrifugal pumps, made entirely from plastic and designed to pump highly aggressive media. Available in self-priming and non-self-priming variants, the hermetically sealed and maintenance-free MAGSON centrifugal pump boasts a wealth of features for a wide range of cost-efficient applications.

The safe heating and cooling of process liquids, and the monitoring of liquid levels in treatment baths containing aggressive liquids, are both important issues for electroplating shops. Mazurczak Thermoprozesse is exhibiting its "Rotkappe" series of safety immersion heaters at the ZVO group stand, as well as a system that continuously monitors and measures the levels of aggressive liquids. The readings taken by the "KNS Continuous Level Measuring System" are not affected by the presence of contaminants in the liquid, incrustations or foaming. The company also markets a metal plate heat exchanger for the safe, indirect heating or cooling of process liquids.

Another major issue for companies in the surface treatment industry is the sustainable management of industrial wastewater. Specialist company H2O takes a radical approach to this problem: zero liquid discharge production. This is achieved by the use of vacuum evaporators, which use the principle of vacuum distillation to recycle industrial wastewater. The VACUDEST vacuum evaporator reduces the volume of wastewater by 98 per cent, with corresponding savings in disposal costs. "Any company that generates more than 180 cubic meters of wastewater a year can save money by using our system", claims the technology leader in zero liquid discharge production. The company's team at the show will be pleased to explain the individual application possibilities to visiting industry users.

A basic aim of functional surface treatments is the avoidance of corrosion. Independent test institutes have the job of checking how far standards are being met – whether these are imposed from without or voluntarily adopted by the processor. One such organization is IGOS (Institute for Electroplating and Surface Treatment Technology), based in Solingen, which will be providing information and advice at the ZVO group stand. Accredited to DIN EN ISO 17025, IGOS is the go-to advisory body for the industry and its customers at the regional and national level. At "World of Surface Treatment", Institute staff will be on hand to offer advice about a whole series of accredited test procedures for corrosion resistance.