Case Study
Sputtering & Cathodic Arc Targets
Coating for Engine Bearing Supplied with Consistent Quality for 4 Years
Challenge
A jet engine manufacturer wanted to coat precision bearings with a wear-resistant coating to extend service life. The coating is based on a commercially available alloy, but there were some added complications. The purity had to be higher and the alloy composition had to be controlled within a much tighter range than the alloy available commercially. In addition, we needed to control several detrimental elements. The customer also wanted completed cathodic arc targets consisting of target material bonded to a copper backing plate.
Approach
Working with the customer's coating engineer, Sophisticated Alloys developed a melting process and selected input materials to yield a cathodic arc target which provided the exact coating needed on the customer’s parts.
We reviewed the customer's prints and specifications for the overall configuration of the finished target assembly and developed a complete process to fabricate the target assembly.
Highlights
- High Purity Needed
- High Quality Delivered
- Long-Term Relationship
Solution
Sophisticated Alloys delivered the customer an initial set of completed target assemblies for testing and evaluation. Tests conducted by our customer revealed that the sputtering targets delivered the right coating on the bearings.
Results
The bearings that were coated using Sophisticated Alloys' specialty alloy targets went into production. We have been supplying the customer with production targets for the past 4 years without a single quality issue.
