Coating & Powder Development

R&D Services for Advanced Materials Coating Solutions

In addition to development of coatings for use in sales and marketing and in-house sprayed coatings Mettech provides coating development services to all interested in Axial III APS and SPS technologies. Mettech’s associations and collaborative agreements with many leading research institutions allow access to wide spectrum of analytical equipment, usually unavailable to our customers.

Our interactive R&D program combines Mettech's plasma thermal spray expertise and know-how with customer-specific program objectives and deliverables. Mettech's R&D services provide customers with efficient and cost-effective ways to:

  • research new plasma coatings and applications
  • optimize existing coatings for specific parts and/or applications
  • determine technical and / or economic viability of a particular coating or application
  • perform a technical evaluation of Mettech's Axial III Plasma systems

Upon completion of R&D projects Mettech customers are left with clear reliable results for making business decisions. These may be provided in form of:

  • written report and analysis
  • coating samples
  • coated prototype components
  • coating lab analysis (hardness, density, porosity, microstructure, bond strength, etc.)
  • material and operational cost analysis

R&D Services in Plasma Processing & Synthesis of Powders

Thermal plasma processing and thermal plasma synthesis of powders for new, usually military applications, has been recently gaining considerable interest.  High temperature gas-phase chemistry within thermal plasma environment becomes an attractive way of synthesizing nano-structured powders as well as modifying (processing) powders manufactured conventionally. Carbides, nitrides, oxides and complex solid solutions have already been successfully synthesized in thermal plasma reactors.

Axial III APS and SPS systems, due to axial injection of feedstock, offer an interesting alternative to conventional systems. Mettech has invested considerable amount of effort to research this area. Consequently, based on accumulated knowledge and experience, Mettech is able to offer plasma processing R&D programs to our customers.

Areas of R&D successfully pursued to date include:

  • synthesis of meta-stable, fine and ultra-fine powders
  • powder melting and spheroidization
  • densification of powders
  • one-step spray drying and calcinations
  • one-step agglomeration and calcinations
Alumina Spinel – as fed Alumina Spinel – as fed Axial III processed - Metastable Alumina Spinel Axial III processed - Metastable Alumina Spinel
Axial III synthesized Y2O3 Axial III synthesized Y2O3 Axial III synthesized YSZ Axial III synthesized YSZ

Contact Us with Your Coatings Needs

See Contact Us for information on discussing your coating solutions needs.