Alpha Coating — our hardest all-purpose PVD coating.
Alpha delivers roughly 2–4× the life of TiN on cutting tools and punches. It's the coating we recommend when a customer says "make my tools last as long as possible."
What Alpha is, in numbers.
Approximate properties — final spec is confirmed for every job during quote.
Alpha-coated cutting tools. Our hardest all-purpose coating at 4,200–4,600 Hv, typically 2 to 4 times the life of TiN.
The coating our customers ask for by name.
Alpha is Surface Solutions' proprietary hard PVD coating, developed and refined in our Fridley, MN facility over 30+ years of coating tools and dies. It's the reason many of our long-standing customers keep sending us their most wear-intensive cutting tools, punches, and dies.
Where TiN is the industry general-purpose coating, Alpha is what we use when a customer needs the maximum life we can put on a tool: harder, longer-lasting, and finished with a distinctive light gold appearance you can spot on the shop floor.
Because Alpha is proprietary, it's only available through Surface Solutions. If you've been running TiN and want the next step up without changing your process, Alpha is usually the answer.
Where Alpha earns its keep
- Cutting tools & end millsLonger runs between sharpenings on carbide and HSS.
- Sheet-metal punchesExtends life on high-cycle stamping punches.
- Wear-intensive toolingAny hardened tool where uncoated wear is the failure mode.
What Alpha did for one of our customers.
Alpha cutters eliminated an entire process for us — the time savings across our manufacturing runs have been significant.
Compare Alpha with the rest of our lineup.
Ready to try Alpha on your toughest tool?
Send us the part, material, and the wear you're trying to solve. We respond within one business day.