The company also specializes in coating wires with gold and other precious metals such as silver and nickel. Luma Metall is a specialist in coating technology for ultrafine wires in the diameter range of 0.004mm to 0.2mm.

Among the highly demanding applications for Luma wires are:
– Medical applications (see below)
– Gold plated wires for satellite antenna mesh in space
– Digital Printing technology
– Detectors in Particle Accelerators, Security Controls, and R&D
– Connectors (Micro chips)
– Luma wires as a integrated part of musical strings (Cellos, Violines, Violas)

Focus on “Medical” and “Space”
The wires in medical devices and equipment are as significant as an underlying technology in many kinds of hardware. If they don’t demonstrate high quality and strength, the performance of medical devices is bound to be hampered. Hence, the manufacturing and plating of wires require utmost precision and care to offer the best possible functionality. While several global players produce these wires, a small Swedish company, Luma Metall, has made a mark in the medical industry with the finest, ultra-thin wires.

The company supplies Tungsten and Molybdenum wires, which are drawn down to ultra-thin measurements to offer the finest possible wires that are known to be 20 times thinner than a strand of human hair. The company also specializes in coating wires with gold and other precious metals such as silver and nickel. Gold plating can have several purposes; it can make guide wires visible on the x-ray during the surgeries. It is also used to protect against corrosion, which is critical during surgery and afterwards. The team at Luma uses electro-chemical plating technology to ensure that the coating has the desired characteristics for its applications. The company offers customized coating solutions to each of its clients, which has helped it sustain a vast client base in the medical space and across other traditional areas such as musical strings. None of Luma´s products is identical with another.

The team at Luma works incessantly to find partners who can invest in R+D projects, enabling the company to develop products for them. Ulrich Stöhr, Sales Manager, comments: “It is a significant part of our vision, and we want to partner with our customers and work with them to develop new techniques and products. This is what we are good at.” The company brings in-house competence in electro-chemical plating for the medical and the space sector, which present a significant share of the market for Luma.

Apart from bringing a cutting-edge solution portfolio to the market, Luma’s ability to continuously innovate makes it stand ahead of even the more prominent players. Over the years, the company has consistently been bringing new applications to the market. To further expand its horizon, the team at Luma is working on a European project, developing an in-line vision system that would enable it to have nearly 100 per cent quality control of an ongoing production run, which is not the case at the moment. This would be a real breakthrough in coating technology.

Having evolved continuously since its establishment in the 1930s, the company has achieved many milestones over time. Since it set foot in the coating technology segment, Luma has built an extensive client base in North America. However, the company now seeks to focus on Germany too, emerging as a leading market in Europe for fine medical wires and other high tech applications, followed by the UK and France. While Luma already has a presence in these countries, it now seeks to strengthen it further.

Luma Metall AB
Amerikavaegen 5
393 56 Kalmar, Sweden
Contact person is Ulrich Stöhr
Tel.: +46 480 429045
Ulrich.stohr@luma-metall.se
www.luma-metall.com