PVD Coatings
Coatings can help release the true potential of the aerospace industry’s most promising new materials. PVD
coatings protect aero engine parts against environmental attack.
PVD physical vapour deposition is carried out under vacuum conditions and is a three-step process of
transferring material at atomic level.
●Evaporation – the donor material is thermally evaporated or sputtered by energetic ion bombardment to vaporise
(sputter) its surface atoms.
●Transfer – of the vaporised atoms.
●Deposition – the build up of a surface coating by condensation where, for some processes, reactions take place
between donor and recipient atoms (and, in some instances, reactive gases are also introduced into the mix).
PVD Coatings achieve protection of aerospace parts against environmental attack, they increase the durability
and performance of coated TiAl components, and the aerospace applications envisaged for these components will push
the material to its very limits.
Multi-layer coatings of this type on super-finished compressor blades (which obviously vary between engine
designs and materials) offer the prospect of significant benefits in reduced wear and related maintenance
intervals. They also help reduce specific fuel consumption, possibly between 0.75 and 1.5%.
Ion Vapour Deposition
Ion Vapour Deposition, known as IVD or Ivadising, is a physical deposition process which is used to apply pure
Aluminium coatings to various substrates, improving their resistance to atmospheric and bi-metallic corrosion.
•Provides sacrificial corrosion protection to Steel and Titanium parts without the risk of hydrogen
embrittlement.
•Provides improved corrosion protection to high strength Aluminium alloys.
•Can be used in contact with aero engine fuels.
•Neither the process nor the coating create toxic materials.
•Corrosion resistance is at least equal to that of Cadmium.
•Can be used to prevent dissimilar metal corrosion e.g. for Steel fixings in Aluminium assemblies
•The coating can be applied within closely controlled limits.
•The coating is highly conducting.
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