ACARL continues to provide coating service for the local companies such as Assembly Automation Ltd (ASM) and Johnson Electric (JE) in terms of surface coatings of critical components and various surface measurements. On the other hand, she also seek for the contracted research collaboration with the oversea company, such as General Motors (GM) and SKF.
　

Assembly Automation Ltd (ASM)

The cooperation with ASM started since the inception of ACARL and ASM has been the regular supporter of the laboratory ever since. Donations has been made by the company to recognise ACARL's support of thin film applications to the local manufacturing industry. In particular, ACARL has helped the company to improve the quality of their engineering components and result in desirable the market competence.

Johnson Electric (JE)

Johnson Electric is one of the world's largest supplier of motion subsystems and motion components for automotive and industrial applications. In the last two years, the laboratory carried a contract research work for the Company. The collaboration with JE including the training of three postgraduate students had received support from ITC Teaching Company Schemes. All postgraduate research students has employed by JE as R&D engineer at the end of the project, and the project output was also adopted by the Company in their laboratory.

General Motors (GM)

The world's largest vehicle manufacturer, has established R&D partnership with ACARL of CityU since October, 2001. The primary purpose is to develop the next generation of nanocomposite coated tools for machining applications in more efficient, effective and environmentally friendly manners. GM has provided funding to ACARL for five years in succession in the development of PVD superhard nanocomposite coatings, and this cooperation has resulted in a patent application in 2004 and patent was granted in 2006 about multi-layered TiSiN coating process on tungsten carbide drills (Patent No. US 7.097.922 B2).

Kennametal (KMT)

This year, Kennametal (KMT), the largest US cutting tool manufacturer, also participates in the ACARL/GM research collaboration. Kennametal has the capability to conduct the tests under simulated manufacturing conditions for drills. The international collaboration with GM/KMT will be essential as ACARL moves from the research to developmental phase with leading global manufacturers.

SKF

The SKF Group is the leading global supplier of products, solutions and services in the area comprising rolling bearings, seals, mechatronics, services and lubrication systems. "Novel designof single DLC-coated rolling element hybrid bearing". It is a joint research project between SKF and ACARL of CityU, starting from Jan. 2007, and lasts for three years. TThe project aims at a systematic study of the effect of the replacement of a coated ball or roller. Initially, the ideal type of coating which provides the required properties has to be identified.