Application Engineering

Our application engineering and R&D team at Metallisation combine several decades of thermal spray experience. We combine this with 2 robot spray booths, an additional manual spray booth and a full suite of flame, arc, plasma and HVOF spray equipment.

Research And Development

Application Engineering Projects

If you’re new to thermal spraying or laser cladding and have a coating requirement that you wish to prove out, we can assist with this by offering our facilities and experienced engineering team. Or maybe you already spray but don’t have the time or resources to investigate process improvements – we can either offer just our facility or our facility and engineering expertise.

A typical application engineering process is outlined as follows but all are tailored to each customer specific needs

  • Identify with the customer the basic project requirements and what would be considered a successful outcome. Complete any necessary non-disclosure agreements to ensure protection for the customer and Metallisation.
  • Review the process economics to ensure the basic principle is feasible (the detail of this increases as the project progresses).
  • Develop an application engineering program, clearly identifying the aim, method, resources, costs and expected data collection (spray parameters, coating evaluation, process times/economics, materials used etc). Obtain approval funding from the customer.
  • Undertake the testing/process prove-out either independently or with the customer present. Record all agreed data and evaluate with the customer.
  • Identify next steps training program or prepare a turnkey solution to implement with the customer to apply the approved coating.

A number of these projects have been undertaken and are in progress at any given time but as all have been covered by non-disclosure agreements with customers, we cannot publish any details but would be happy to review your specific project with you at your convenience.

Application Engineering Projects

R&D Projects

Metallisation also undertake R&D projects relating to specific equipment developments or new application development. Projects are often completed in collaboration with industrial partners, research institutes. The projects are often partially or fully grant funded.

As would be expected, the detail of the current and historic projects are covered by non-disclosure agreements. However, one of the projects that we have undertaken has some public information available and called is the FLARE project. In collaboration with Rolls-Royce and Nottingham University, the Innovate UK funded project has sought to miniaturise the ceramic thermal spray process to enable in-situ patch repair of thermal barrier coatings in turbine engines. A video outlining the project success to date can be viewed here.

A further, Innovate UK funded project called CROWN has investigated the use of thermal spray coatings to provide 40 year life to first maintenance coating systems for offshore wind turbines and support structures. This project concentrates on the coating materials as well as the application engineering involved in optimising the application of the coatings to large, complex structures.

These two projects give a small insight into the variety of applications and research projects that Metallisation positively contribute to, always enhancing our learning, sharing our knowledge and staying open minded to new challenges. We hope that you can help to challenge us and push the boundaries on our next project.