Link chain with improved wear resistance and method of manufacturing same
AssigneeJoh. Winklhofer & Soehne GmbH & Co. KG
InventorsHelmut Girg, Martin Kohn, Stefan Pintoiu, Stephan Schmitt, Gerald Jorgensen, Bernhard Schachtner
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Link chain with improved wear resistance as well as method of manufacturing such a link chain. For manufacturing of a link chain, several chain links (39; 40) comprising link pins (41) or plates provided with coatings being applied by means of a PVD process are assembled. The coatings consist of hard material layers and/or slide material layers. It is possible that no PVD coating is provided on a transition zone (1a; 4) of elements (41; 42) used for the manufacturing of the chain links predetermined for connection with another element (42; 41).
Claims14
A link chain comprising at least one PVD applied coated element, the PVD applied coating of the at least one element comprising a hard material layer comprising a material selected from the group of materials consisting of AlN, AlON, CrN, CrCN, CrC, WC, WCN, TiN, TiBN, TiCN, TiC, TiAlN, ZrN, VC, cubic boron nitride and boron carbide.
A chain wheel for contact with a link chain, the chain wheel comprising sprockets, wherein an area of the sprockets have a coating thereon applied by means of a PVD process.
A method of manufacturing an element of a link chain comprising:
- inserting at least one end of an element of a link chain into a dead hole;
- depositing by means of a PVD process a first coating comprising at least one material selected from the group of materials consisting of AlN, AlON, CrN, CrCN, CrC, WC, WCN, TiN, TiBN, TICN, TiC, TiAlN, ZrN, VC, cubic boron nitride, and boron carbide on the element;
- removing the element from the dead hole;
- and
- optionally, applying a second layer of material on top of the first coating, said second layer comprising a material selected from the group of materials consisting of slide materials, hard materials, and combinations thereof.
A method of manufacturing elements of a link chain, the method comprising:
- providing two or more plate elements, each element having at least one plate hole;
- threading an object through the holes of the elements;
- depositing coatings onto the elements by means of a PVD process, the coatings comprising at least one material selected from the group of materials consisting of AlN, AlON, CrN, CrCN, CrC, WC, WCN, TiN, TiBN, TiCN, TiC, TiAlN, ZrN, VC, cubic boron nitride, and boron carbide;
- and
- removing the elements from the object.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.