Product category:
Coatings and coating systems
News Release from: Tecvac | Subject: InnerArmor
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 01 April 2008
DLC process coats internal bores and
pipes
A diamond-like carbon (DLC) coating process coats internal bores, pipes, cylinders, tubes and pump parts with coating thicknesses of up to 50 micron.
Tecvac of Swavesey, Cambridge, UK, now offers a DLC (diamond-like carbon) coating process that coats internal bores, pipes, cylinders, tubes and pump parts with coating thicknesses of up to 50 micron InnerArmor is an enhanced plasma coating process that will coat the internal surfaces of tubes and bores up to 3m in length
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 15 Jan 2007 at 8.00am (UK)
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The company expected to find many other internal applications where DLC coating has previously proved difficult or impossible to apply.
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* DLC surfaces - the InnerArmor process creates DLC surfaces with a 'glass-like' amorphous (non-crystalline) structure, free from pinhole defects, even in tube lengths exceeding 3m at aspect ratios of 1:45.
This provides internal bores and tubes with very high levels of protection from erosion, scaling and fouling, and prevents adhesion from gases, liquids, powders and slurries.
InnerArmor DLC coatings can be conducting or insulating, and can withstand high loads at operating temperatures of 450 deg C.
Coating application temperatures for a variety of formulations are below 200 deg C.
This enables many hollow engine parts to be coated with DLC, and allows the replacement of expensive high performance alloys with lower specification steels.
* Corrosion resistance and wear performance - tests with the InnerArmor DLC process demonstrated superlative corrosion resistance and wear performance, and consistent film hardnesses of 3000 HV.
High performance was shown in salt spray tests to meet US standards.
Very high wear resistance in these tests was indicated by a very low attrition rate of less than 0.0005 micron/h.
Tecvac can coat internal bores to thicknesses of between 5 and 50 micron.
The InnerArmor process provides superior film bonding compared with other deposition methods.
It offers all interior bore coating applications a high performance environmentally friendly process that offers the highest levels of corrosion protection, wear resistance, and energy efficiency.
* About InnerArmor - the InnerArmor internal surface coating process, developed by Sub-One Technology, USA, combines the technologies of plasma vapour deposition and metallic and ceramic sputtering.
It is the first process to achieve high integrity internal surface coatings of diamond-like carbon (DLC).
The hollow work piece is used as the vacuum chamber by sealing tube ends, connecting an anode to the openings, and arranging the circuit so that the walls of the work piece form the cathode.
Known as the hollow cathode plasma ion immersion process (HCPIIP), the operating system can be arranged to provide surface cleaning using an argon atmosphere, and apply multiple layers of a variety of materials, including diamond-like carbons.
The process is covered by the recent US patent 1091983.
The InnerArmor process allows the effective placement of high integrity, very lubricious and extremely hard coatings that reach the complex cavities in pipework and internal lumens or bores.
* About Tecvac - Tecvac Limited, a member of the Wallwork Group, has more than 20 years' experience of a variety of advanced coating methods, including physical vapour deposition (PVD), ion implantation and plasma processing.
Tecvac's facility near Cambridge includes a variety of highly automated processes that use the Sub-One HCPIIP technology to apply DLC coatings to aerospace parts, oil and gas system components, and specialised medical devices.
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