High Tech Optical Coatings Made Of Gold
The uses for gold far outweigh any investment value that can be calculated through gold coins, bullion and the like, because any use that it has is an asset to the greater nature of society beyond individual it’s financial value. Gold is used to make optical coatings, which can be used for a variety of items and this is just one more reason gold is such a value for the investor. It is a commodity that is used regularly in manufacturing.
The gold coatings process wasn’t easy to achieve, because it is a complex task that involved having a gold coating deposited electrochemically onto a surface, while having a surface that is the same as gold but can be physically cleaned. Since gold is such a soft metal, getting it to a hardened state to allow this to happen took many years of trial and error.
Gold is an efficient and durable reflector of infrared energy, which makes it a great choice to use in optical coatings of all kinds. Gold only reflects about 40% in visible light, but it can reflect more than 99% in the infrared spectrum when freshly deposited or sputtered into the spectrum. The need for this substance to be made sustainable and not fragile so that it was ineffective came from Xerox, who needed this material on their machines. Therefore, the specialists who were hired to do the job toiled endlessly to create a gold plating that could withstand paper abrasions, cleaning, and still have a low reflectivity. Xerox specifically needed a 91% reflectivity.
This process was not easy, and it actually took several tries to get it right. Xerox was using a specific tool to measure their products once they were received, which they shipped to Epner Technology, who was working on creating these optical coatings for them. With that arrival came a renewed interest in creating optical coatings that would meet their needs and the needs of many other companies in the future. This company is now the sole supplier to the National Bureau of Standards, and a prominent member of the industrial gold use manufacturers.
It is the reflective nature of gold that makes it a great product for optical coatings. However, it did take many years to achieve the right balance of reflectivity and hardness so that the coatings wouldn’t be instantly damaged by the abrasive things that passed it by. With modern technology, gold has come a long way from its status as just a naturally occurring metal in the mines and quartz reefs around the world, and is used today in a variety of industries, applications, and other manufacturing uses outside of collecting, gold investing, and the jewelry market.