Black Coating Services

Suppress stray light in high-performance optics easily and efficiently using our advanced optical black coatings, in the ultra-violet, visible and infra-red wavelengths spectrums.

Combining extremely low reflectance and high absorptance with high thermal stability, high emissivity, very low outgassing and excellent adhesion to essentially all materials in just a few microns of a coating.

Your new optical coating is just a few clicks away!

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Suits most engineering materials and components for night vision systems, cooled Iinfrared detector parts, LED screens, microscopes lenses, spectrometers, satellite equipment, solar panels, optical clocks and more.

Discover the technology

Acktar’s proprietary sophisticated vacuum deposition (vacuum coating) technology generates coatings with an extremely high specific surface area. Discover the unique characteristics of our vacuum coating technology.

What are the key features of Acktar's black coatings?
  • Completely inorganic

 

  • Ultra Thin: conforms to sharp edges; enhances compliance with part tolerances; low coating mass; “no” additional weight

 

  • Made with Extremely low outgassing materials

 

  • Wide-range thermal stability

 

  • Excellent adhesion to metals, glass, ceramics, heat-resistant polymers

 

  • High vibration stability

 

  • Abrasion resistant

 

  • High resistance to solvents (acetone, alcohol)

 

  • Tailored thermal conductivity

 

  • A tailored electrical conductive coating

 

  • Bonding of lenses/baffles on top of Acktar coating allowable

 

  • No Particulation

 

  • High resistance to ATOX and space radiation

 

  • Environmentally clean (product and process)

 

  • Tailored surface topology
What are the typical applications for Acktar's black coatings?
  • Stray light absorption/suppression – ultraviolet absorption, Infrared absorption, visible light absorption

 

  • Light blocking and anti-reflection

 

  • Low reflection coating for biomedical applications (endoscopes, etc.)

 

  • Anti-static black

 

  • Anti-flare black coating for digital camera

 

  • Flare and ghost elimination in lens assemblies

 

  • Infrared detector cold shields

 

  • Space-borne optical systems

 

  • Space and ground telescopes

 

  • Stray-light suppression in automotive cameras

 

  • Detector and optical system parts – cooled and un-cooled

 

  • Sharp-edged diaphragms & blades

 

  • Optical packaging

 

  • Available as a black coated foil with or without adhesive in rolls

 

  • Black bodies, laser energy meters, thermal radiation detectors

 

  • Passive thermal control coatings with tailored absorptance/emittance – black, white, or selective

 

  • Black layers for contrast enhancement in displays and LED modules

 

  • Applications requiring ultra-high specific surface area

 

  • High-performance battery electrodes

 

  • Nano-porous materials
How do Acktar’s black coatings compare with typical paint coatings?

Acktar’s black coatings are manufactured using vacuum deposition technology. They are very thin, completely inorganic, have very low outgassing and low reflectivity. See our video here.

The table below provides a detailed comparison of Acktar’s black coatings with typical paint coatings.

Comparison Table

Characteristic Paint – typical Acktar
Coating Density 1.1 gr/cm3 1.8 gr/cm3
Coating Thickness µm-100µm 60 10 ~ µm
Coating weight 10.8 mg/cm2 dry 0.9 mg/cm2
Coating Reflectance (0.8-12µm) < 10% < 4%
Coating Outgassing- CVCM < 0.1% 0,001%
Coating Outgassing – RML < 1% 0.3%
Bonding to coating problematic excellent
Coating Edges build-up on edges/corners not build up
Coating Drying period 7 days none
Coating Temperature range 96K-473K 4K-623K (720K for short periods)
Coating Particulate contamination particulates not particulates
Coating Organic contamination (silicones, polymers, etc.) high none
Coating thickness control poor good
Coating Thickness tolerance ±20µm ±1.5µm
Coating adhesion limited excellent
Coating Resistance to atomic oxygen limited excellent
Coating Electrical conductivity typically non-conductive tailorable conductivity
What is the typical thickness of Acktar’s coatings?

Acktar’s black coatings are typically between 3-14 µm thick, but can be tailored to between 1-30µm upon request.

What makes Acktar’s coatings the best choice for IR detectors and Space applications?

No Particulation, broad working temperature range, low outgassing, thin coating with tight tolerances, low reflectivity over a wide wavelength range, high emissivity, completely inorganic, can be applied on essentially any substrate, perfect cover (no build-up) on edges.

Can you coat selected areas on the part?

Yes, easily! We use mechanical masking that is tailored to the requirements of the coating area.

What would be considered as a typical applications for the black coatings?

The most common applications are: stray light absorption in UV-VIS-IR wavelengths, night vision systems, cooled Infrared detector parts, satellite parts, high surface area capacitor electrodes, LED screens and more.

What Quality standards do you comply with?

Acktar is certified as a production and development facility by ISO 9001:2000, IQNet, S.A.M.S, RoHs and REACH.

In addition we are certified as a “Ship to Stock” supplier for one of the world’s largest manufacturers of IR detectors – based on our quality and strict inspection regime.

See the full list of certificates.

How can I coat large area parts / surfaces?

Acktar’s coatings are available in two options:

    1. Direct Black Coating (current page) – where you send the part to us and we coat to your specifications.
    2. Foils and Films – Black coated foils and films with or without adhesive that can coat large areas.
What is the coating thickness tolerance?

The thickness tolerance of our black coatings can be as tight as 1-2 µm.

What is the quality of the black coatings on the edges?

Our coatings have excellent coverage over the entire part including the ability to confirm to edges as seen in the below photo.

There is no need for special design of the edge to attain the perfect coverage.

How do Acktar Black coatings perform in extremely low temperatures?

Acktar’s Fractal BlackTM was tested by an independent laboratory to compare its performance at very low temperatures with that of thick epoxy layers and black paint.

The summary of the report is as follows: “The main advantage of Fractal BlackTM coating for us is the relatively high blackness at low temperatures (10K-50K) of the source of the thermal radiation achieved by small thickness of the coating.

A full copy of the report is available upon request.

Most of your black coatings have very high emissivity. Can you produce a coating which is black in the visible range, but has low emissivity in IR?

Yes, our Nano Black selective coating has high absorbance in the VIS range and low emissivity in the IR range.

Certifications

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