The name says it all: Hifficiency® stands for High Efficiency. For baking, that means: no baking paper, no or greatly reduced use of release agents, shorter baking times, easy cleaning e.g. in the dishwasher, and a longer lifespan for both the coating and the complete baking accessory, explains Dr. Christoph Stecher, managing director of acs Coating Systems GmbH, Wilhelmshaven, describing the new developments.
This is made possible by the latest coatings, DURAPEK® nonstick and -multislide®, which are robust, alkali-resistant and dishwasher-safe, and show only a fraction of the wear compared to conventional PTFE/PFA/Teflon coatings - not to mention silicone, the company adds. "Especially for in-store baking they have another advantage: they contain no solvents or resins that aren't particularly temperature-stable. So even at high temperatures there's no off-gassing of harmful substances - no fluorine, no PFOA, no PFO, no benzenes, no (bis-)phenols, no sulfones etc. - and the coatings are suitable up to over 300 °C," Dr. Stecher further explains. That, too, is unique. These multiply patented coatings, produced at acs's special facilities without solvents or paint chemistry, are based on the high-performance plastic polyaryletherketone. This is naturally much harder and more resistant than any fluoropolymer/Teflon along with the plastic resins typically added to it, says the expert.
"acs manufactures the powder coatings itself, and these coatings aren't available anywhere else."
Dr. Christoph Stecher, Managing Director, acs Coating Systems
Non-stick effect
Since the non-stick effect works very well for the vast majority of applications, Hifficiency® accessories can be used very universally. However, for some applications, such as bread baking bands, specially modified formulations are needed, Dr. Stecher points out.
acs has also developed a new generation of baking trays that don't warp in the oven and are also much more stable overall than all trays common today, the company adds. The somewhat higher purchase price should quickly pay for itself through the longer lifespan and the advantages described above.
For initial baking with alkaline treatment, acs has developed the Hifficiency® alkali perforated tray, using patented technology in which the entire aluminum body is fully encased by the coating. "The oldest of these special alkali perforated trays have now been in use with customers for three years and have passed various official inspections without any problems - without baking paper," says managing director Dr. Stecher.
Nevertheless, there are customers who don't want to use aluminum at all, just to be absolutely safe in theory too. For them, acs has now developed a coated stainless steel tray. The baking-behavior disadvantages of stainless steel compared to aluminum are compensated for by a special, thicker DURAPEK® variant, the company reports. Even customers who use a tray-cleaning machine will find something new on offer. These and other innovations are being presented at the südback trade fair.