Surface coatings provide production advantages

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Dec 3, 2002

Colin John, Managing Director of Poeton Industries suggests that considering coating technology early in the production engineering cycle can save time, money and disappointment.

Colin John, Managing Director of Poeton Industries suggests that considering coating technology early in the production engineering cycle can save time, money and disappointment.

The latest developments in surface coatings have the potential to lower manufacturing costs, improve product performance and appearance and control quality - provided manufacturing companies talk to coating specialist in the early stages of product development.

Tapping in to the experience of specialist surface engineering companies such as Poeton in the early stages of manufacturing means involving them in materials and coating selection, component design and process and production.

An understanding of the design requirements will help them decide on the most suitable coating from the vast range available, including nickel and nickel composites, hard chrome, hard anodising, thermal spraying and the latest composite and Keronite coatings.

At Poeton, customers also have access to materials expertise, comprehensive laboratory and R and D facilities, wear test data and analysis, and specifications and standards.

This wealth of experience can be applied to solve manufacturing problems such as how to increase product life, improve performance and reliability, reduce weight, enhance appearance and reduce product and production costs.

It can even extend to expert witness support and product failure analysis for compensation claims.

Coatings can be tailored exactly to suit the material and the performance specification of a component.

For example, specifying a specialised nickel composite that combines the protection of low friction polymers with the natural hardness and corrosion resistance of nickel, can provide excellent hardness, permanent lubricity and superior wear abrasion and chemical resistance when applied to components manufactured from stainless steel and other ferrous alloys.

The same coating can also substantially reduce material costs by allowing cheaper materials to be specified to meet high performance needs.

Poeton surface engineers working on Kaizen improvement reviews with customers' engineers before designs are finalised can save many thousands of pounds.

Parts manufactured from low carbon steel and coated with the nickel composite can be used to replace more expensive alloy components with no loss of performance.

Costs can be further reduced as parts are machined from more workable and readily available metals.

And whilst an approach in the early stages is certainly the ideal situation, many coatings can also be applied to solve problems that only become apparent after production.

Poeton works within the framework of special Partnership Agreements with many of its customers, providing the expertise that helps to reduce lead times from concept to manufacture.

It helps that the company holds ISO 9002 and TS157 approvals, manufacturing approvals from leading aerospace customers such as BAE Systems, Rolls Royce and the CAA, and more than 38 second-party approvals.

Alongside its unique range of Apticote coatings, more than 80 established treatments are available including key aviation coatings.

The comprehensive coating service is complemented by a substantial nondestructive testing (NDT) facility with magnetic flaw detection, dye penetrant, etch inspect and hardness and conductivity testing.

With so much experience and innovation available, manufacturers should take the time to ask for technical advice and discuss sample part processing.

It can save money, time and a considerable amount of stress.