This system uses a wide variety of fuel gases, including propane, methane, and natural gas.
The detonation process is capable of producing coatings of the following:
metals: (Al, Zn, Cu, Fe, Ti, V, Co, Ni, etc.)
oxides: (Al2O3, Cr2O3, MgAI2O4, TiO2, etc.)
carbides: (WC, Cr3C2, 91WC-9Co, 85Cr3C2 - 15[Ni-Cr], etc.)
alloys: (2OCr-8ONi, 30Al-O.2Fe-69, 8NI, 53Nb-47Ti, etc.)
compounds: (lOONi [B, A], etc.)
These coatings can be sprayed on various metal, dielectric and plastic substrates; including glass, ceramics, and others.
An example would be the production of a WC-9Co coating for the high-strength alloy gears of turbines, for helicopter engines, with 0.3% porosity, 250 MPa adhesion and 1392 HV average microhardness. This resulted in a 7-fold increase in the operational lifetime of this part.
Detonation technology can be used to spray a great variety of materials. A broad selection of base substrates can be coated. The gas detonation coating process provides the following benefits:
Low Substrate Temperature: Due to the intermittent nature of the
process, the amount of heat transferred to the substrate stays very low.
The substrate temperature, during spraying, does not exceed 150 C and
can be maintained at room temperature, if necessary. This makes
possible the spraying of precision components such as crankshafts, or
turbine blades, without the danger of causing thermal deformations, or
chemical changes. It is also possible to spray low melting point
materials, such as plastics.
No Use of Nitrogen: The use of Nitrogen changes the properties of the
detonation wave, particularly its velocity, degrading the quality of the
coating. The new gas supply system excludes the use of Nitrogen, as a
protective gas. A significant feature is that the gases are fed
continuously into the combustion chamber and backfiring is prevented
by the special design of the gas supply unit. This eliminates the need for
a buffer gas, as well as mechanically moving valves in the gas supply
system, making the process much simpler and more reliable.
Low Cost of Operation: The manufacturing experience of our customers
demonstrates that the use of the detonation coating process, in
production, is very cost-effective. It results in substantial operational and
maintenance cost reductions, as compared to the typical HVOF and
plasma spray systems. This is due to the following five principle factors:
1. Less Gas Used: A high-pressure fuel and oxygen supply is not
needed. The gases are fed into the combustion chamber at low
pressure, slightly exceeding atmospheric pressure. The total
amount of gases consumed, per unit mass of powder sprayed, is
about 10 times less than the typical HVOF system.
2. Less Water Consumed: Due to the low amount of heat transferred to
the gun barrel, a special cooling system is not needed. Water
consumption is very low.
3. Less Electrical Energy Consumption: Very effective electric power
consumption - the unit consumes a total of 200W of electrical power,
which is comparable to a regular electric bulb. A water chiller is not
needed, which requires a lot of electricity.
4. Less Downtime: The process is very simple to operate and very
reliable. There are literally no components that can wear out, similar
to Laval nozzle in the HVOF gun.
5. Less Scrap: There are no nozzles that can melt, or disintegrate, and
spit copper on expensive parts being sprayed.
