Diamond Coat II

Our Stair Tread Finishing Line

Diamond Coat II requires UV light to be applied at high intensity to cure

What is Aluminum Oxide?

Aluminium oxide is an amphoteric oxide of aluminium with the chemical formula Al2O3. It is also commonly referred to as alumina, corundum, sapphire, ruby or aloxite in the mining, ceramic and materials science communities. It is produced by the Bayer process from bauxite. Its most significant use is in the production of aluminium metal, although it is also used as an abrasive due to its hardness and as a refractory material due to its high melting point...

Both its strength and abrasive characteristics are due to aluminium oxide's great hardness (position 9 on the Mohs scale of mineral hardness) [diamonds are position 10 - the highest level possible]

Aluminium oxide is used for its hardness and strength. Most pre-finished wood flooring now uses aluminium oxide as a hard protective coating...
Source: Wikipedia

At Stair-Treads.com, we have been quickly adapting to service your needs. We have been infusing new software and new equipment into our operation to increase efficiency and significantly reduce lead-times. Our product quality has never been better and all of our prefinished stair treads have an aluminum oxide finish!

We call our new finishing method Diamond Coat II keeping with the tradition of the former Diamond Coat family of products.

  • Our products are finished using the latest technology and are coated with a UV cured Aluminum Oxide finish. Aluminum oxide is the most resilient longest lasting finish on the market to date and its 100% green. This is the same finish found on nearly all high end prefinished flooring. We are one of only two companies in the world that uses Aluminum Oxide in the top coating on stair treads.
  • We utilize a press-roller in our coating system that achieves a much higher grain fill rate than a traditional spray line operation. This translates into a smoother finish that much more resembles prefinished flooring that you may be familiar with.
  • Our lead times are significantly shorter than what is traditionally accepted. Because we do not need to ship our products between finishing operations and manufacturing operations, we cut several days off the total production time
Our Stair Tread Finishing Line

Viewed from the front, our UV oven emits light that resembles a large tanning bed

Our Diamond Coat II is a specialized polymer coating that is specifically formulated to be used in applications with heavy foot traffic . We coat our prefinished stair treads with at least five coats of finish and sealer. Our sealer contains tiny particles of Aluminum Oxide particles that give our finish unique durability.

UV (ultraviolet) and EB (electron beam) are two advanced technologies used for curing today's high performance polymer coatings. Both forms of energy interact directly with the components of the coating, as a catalyst, to form a high performance polymer bond. All paint components convert from a liquid to a solid during the curing process to achieve coating transfer rates approaching 100%. UV/EB coatings meet regulatory guidelines for low VOC and HAPs content. Their 100% solids, thermoset polymer structure, offers high strength, strong adhesion, superior chemical resistance and excellent mar and abrasion resistance. They are user-friendly, non-drying, low temperature cure coating that offer improved productivity and performance.

UV-curable coatings are high-solids, cross-linked coatings cured by brief exposure to intense ultraviolet light. The cure schedules for these types of coatings are incredibly fast - usually less than five seconds - allowing finishing lines to be shortened, line speeds increased, and products immediately handled and packaged. Also, since these products are high solids with little or no VOCs, compliance to stricter VOC regulations is made easier. Other advantages of UV coatings include increased superior hardness and durability compared to conventional coatings.

The chemical reaction, or polymerization, that occurs in UV coatings involves two major constituents: monomers and oligomers. While reaction time is dependent on radiant intensity levels of the energy source, these two components are capable of reacting at extremely high rates. Oligomers are polymers that vary in chemical composition and define a coating's physical properties. These are four types of oligomers currently used in the majority of UV-wood coatings. They include urethane, epoxy and polyester acrylates, and unsaturated polyesters.

Our Stair Tread Finishing Line

All of our products are finished on our flat-line UV Finishing system

Durability

UV cured finishes have a far superior resistance to scratching and wear than any other coating on the market today. The pre-finished stair tread saves a lot of labor and is a better finish than any other type of finish that can be applied on-site. It has to be applied in a factory setting with numerous pieces of equipment and is sanded three times as well as abraded between each of the five coats of finish with aluminum oxide. The finish is baked on with high-intensity UV lamps and as it goes through, each layer it is built upon the previous layer. Our finish has actual microscopic pieces of metal in the finish that give it a very high Taber Test result, which is a test done in a laboratory where they test the finish by taking an abrasive wheel and testing to see how many rotations it takes to wear through into the wood.

Abrasion Resistance Testing

Here we can easily see how UV coatings outperform the next best finish on the market

Our Stair Tread Finishing Line

Dozens of stair treads wait to go through the finishing line

Environmental Impact

Because there is no VOC emission from finish evaporation, there are absolutely no harmful vapors emitted into our atmosphere. UV coatings cure through polymerization rather than evaporation and UV finishes emit no VOCs . All UV coatings can be formulated to meet federal, state and local environmental regulations. They also create a much more hospitable work environment. In spray applications with the appropriate equipment, overspray can be recovered and reused, minimizing waste disposal costs. Our products are a perfect marriage of proven European technology and our knowledge of the American wood finishing market.

Because we care about our environment and our natural resources, we strive to protect our planet for our children and yours!