In order to provide protection from environmental damage or to improve the mechanical or physical performance of the surface, surface engineering is the design of a surface composite system that achieves performance which could not be accomplished.

The performance is unachieved either by the surface composite or the substrate alone.

This Alphatek article will explore surface engineering coatings and the properties that make them quite beneficial to industries.

What is Surface Engineering?

A broad range of methods are referred to as surface engineering when they are used to change the surface characteristics of metallic as well as non-metallic components. Mostly it’s for both functional and aesthetic reasons.

Some examples are enhancing corrosion and wear resistance to prolong component life, boosting the aesthetic appeal of products, and providing them unique features. Unique features like lubricity and non-stick surfaces.

Surface Engineering Processes

There are multiple surface engineering processes. This is how just a few of them are classified:

  • Aqueous

Consisting of both electrolytic and non-electrolytic processes. Electrolytic processes often involve electroplating stainless steel and anodising aluminium. For those metals – titanium, steel, aluminium – the most notable materials applied are copper, nickel, gold, and tin.

They’re administered using chemical reduction techniques that eliminate the use electrolytic energy.

Electroless processes involve cleaning, picking, phosphating, passivation, and mechanical plating. There’s also a number of colouring operations like ‘blacking’ steel.

  • Galvanising

A method that involves dipping ferrous objects into molten zinc or a zinc alloy to create a surface coating that is relatively thick. The created surface coating is thick in order to help prevent corrosion of the actual machine composite.

  • Metal Spraying

Metal spraying is a technique for exclusively transferring metals to the surfaces of ready components using heat, plasma, or an arc.

Coatings

A coating is a layer of material that is applied to a substrate to improve its surface characteristics for corrosion and wear protection.

Industrial coatings are basically specialist paints which are applied to steel or concrete to protect it against corrosion.

Some factors that can influence coating selection are as follows; service environment; substrate material compatibility; life expectancy; component shape; size, and cost. So, composition and processing factors have a significant impact on the application and performance properties of the coatings.

Although they have quite varied qualities, coatings with features ranging from wholly organic to wholly ceramic can provide substantial advantages for the component.

There are numerous ways to classify the various coating kinds. One prominent strategy is based on how the material is applied to the substrate surface. This includes bulk cladding or coating, particle deposition, and atomic deposition.

Why Are Industrial Coatings Important?

There isn’t really any business that can afford to avoid applying a coating to equipment, nor can they afford to put off doing routine maintenance on existing industrial coatings. And it’s because they’re really beneficial to companies’ equipment.

This is just a few of them:

Protection

The requirement to protect the object being coated is very important.

Heavy wear is something that is unavoidable in any industrial setting, so different surfaces may be protected by applying industrial coatings in order to help them maintain their gloss, hardness, and other qualities for a longer period of time.

For instance, flooring underneath several heavy pieces of massive machinery is going to need to be secured to endure that pressure for longer than a year.

Safety

A surface may occasionally need to be made non-slip or non-stick. A component that may require an industrial strength coating to avoid slippage is floors. Particularly those in locations where many liquids could fall onto the floor.

For other machines to process materials quickly and efficiently, a non-stick surface might be appropriate. Using industrial coatings are a great solution to keeping many different surfaces safe.

Corrosion Prevention

Another problem that frequently arises in industrial applications is corrosion-causing debris like rust. Most times, the materials durable and stable enough to construct machinery are often the ones that corrode with time.

They are often exposed to elements and other materials travelling through them which can result in corrosion. The sole remedy is the application of an industrial coating which can be designed to offer the ideal connection between the machine and the substance it’s managing.

These coatings can resist not just the material being processed but they can also stop normal corrosion that could happen due to the material composition of the actual machinery.

Get in Touch

All component parts and equipment pieces need industrial coatings. Therefore it’s crucial to really take the time to conduct an adequate study in order to choose the appropriate coating.

You can learn from a professional what kind of coating you require for your specific application.

Alphatek will provide the greatest outcomes thanks to its unmatched competence in thermal spray methods and technologies.

We have application ready solutions for whatever industry you work in. To increase component effectiveness or prolong component life, are you interested in a low friction coating?

You can rely on us.

Our internal R&D department creates custom coating solutions to address any requests or difficulties you may have. We can assure you of our professionalism because we have more than 20 years of experience.

Have faith in our team.

Call us at +44 (0)1706 821 021 or reach out by emailing postbox@alphatek.co.uk to get in contact with us.