Applications

Abradable coatings are most often employed as sealing surfaces in gas turbine engines for clearance control at the tips of rotating fan, compressor and turbine blades. Turbine blade tips are usually designed to cut grooves in the soft coating creating a gas-path seal that increases engine performance by preventing gases from bypassing the blades. Plasma Processes deposits many abradable coatings such as Nickel/Graphite, Nickel/Bentonite, Aluminum/Polyester or other hard/soft material combinations.

Both EL-Form® Electrodeposition and Vacuum Plasma Spray processes are used for additive manufacture of structures. Both processes manufacturing reduces the cost of fabrication due to high material utilization and reduced machining. The ability to produce a multilayered structure of different materials enables the properties of the component to be tailored for optimum performance. Free-standing shapes from refractory metals, platinum group metals, superalloys, advanced composites, ceramics and intermetallic materials, and combinations of these materials are achievable. Exploitation of these rapid processing techniques can decrease cost and reduce lead times.

Biocompatible coatings are required for implantable medical devices. Titanium and Hydroxyapatite coatings are typically applied to orthopaedic joint implants for hip and knee replacement. Plasma Processes also offers other FDA-approved coating materials including alumina, tantalum, iridium and ceramics.

Corrosion protective coatings can be applied to almost all metals providing increased service life. Plasma Processes applies aluminum and zinc coatings providing 20+ years of service life depending on thickness and environment. Corrosion-resistant coatings such as Inconel 625, Hastelloy®, nickel, stainless steel 316L, tantalum, etc. can be applied 99% dense. Polymer coatings of acrylics, nylons, fluoropolymers, epoxy, polyethylene, peek, and polyimide provide corrosion protection in a variety of colors. Corrosion-resistant coatings can be shop or field applied.

Dielectric Insulation Coatings with a high dielectric constant are useful in a broad range of applications. Plasma Processes capacity to apply an almost unlimited array of materials enables us to provide coatings for high and low voltage applications over the range of DC to RF. Plasma Processes’ dielectric coatings can be used to safely insulate nearly all substrate materials. The most common electrically insulating materials are oxides of aluminum, titanium and yttrium; and polymers including polyimide, PEEK, fluoropolymers and nylon. Ceramics are more durable, wear- and corrosion-resistant and have higher dielectric strengths than polymers.

Dimensional restoration coatings are used to restore components to original conditions foregoing costly replacement. Plasma Processes can return worn shafts, journals and roll surfaces to “like new” condition and oftentimes “better than new” condition with the addition of a hard face coating for increased wear-resistance. Typically the worn area of the component is machined away, a new surface is applied and the final step is machining/grinding the coated surface to OEM specification.

Electrical conductive coatings are often used to create conductors for contacts, electrical connections, heating elements, electromagnetic and radiofrequency shielding (EMI/RFI). Conductive materials include silver, copper, aluminum, tin and bronze alloys.

Complex electronic medical equipment can be very sensitive to electromagnetic interference (EMI) and radio frequency interference (RFI). To protect these sensitive devices, Plasma Processes provides a number of specialized metallic coatings to provide EMI and RFI shielding. These coatings can be applied to plastics, thermoplastics, including carbon fiber and fiberglass composites.

All objects and materials do not radiate infrared (thermal) energy equally and emissivity is a term describing the efficiency with which a material radiates infrared energy. A blackbody has an emissivity of 1.00 and no other material can radiate more thermal energy at a given temperature whereas an object with an emissivity of 0 emits no infrared energy. Real-world objects have emissivity values between 0 and 1.00.

The surface characteristics of a material determine its emissivity. Radiative heat transfer is particularly relevant at high temperatures where conventional thermal insulation is not effective and managing the heat flux is critical to extending material durability. High emissivity coatings improve radiative efficiency and keep substrates cooler. Plasma Processes custom tailors emissive solutions for specific temperatures and wavelengths.