Industries that process plastic foils or paper frequently need to produce surfaces with an attractive irregular, matte appearance. To create the desired surface texture, the foil or paper is pressed between a textured embossing roll and a press roll. A thermal spray coating applied to a new or used embossing roll can produce a surface having a homogeneously, random pattern. The size range of the surface pattern is largely controlled by the roughness of the coating, which can be from 10µm to 300µm Rz. For pattern embossing, thicker thermal spray coatings of copper are often used.

Within the printing industry, thermal spray coatings are a mainstay for anilox rolls. A dense, homogeneous coating of chrome oxide is applied to the roll, which is subsequently laser engraved with a fine pattern. These coated rolls, used for ink transfer during the printing process, are both wear resistant and corrosion resistant to today’s water based ink formulas.

The surface profile of corrugating rolls is maintained using wear resistant thermal spray or thin film coatings, with rolls of over four meters (13 feet) in length regularly coated.