During World War II, Sulzer Metco’s customers needed alternatives to materials that were difficult to source. The rise of aviation prompted the search for new materials to reduce fuel-to-weight ratios and to fulfill unprecedented safety standards. In partnership with customers, companies, which today are part of Sulzer Metco, developed technologies such as atmospheric plasma spraying, chambered plasma spraying, and the high-velocity oxygen fuel (HVOF) process, as well as the first truly automated spray cells, which guaranteed reproducibility. Also today, new products require new surface solutions. Such is the case with solid oxide fuel cells. Here, customers need very thin, very dense ceramic coatings, which can be quickly applied to large surface areas. Sulzer Metco’s LPPS®-TF technology shows great promise in meeting these needs, very quickly applying fully dense ceramic coatings with a thickness of just 10μm. |