Plasma Spray Coating

• High Density
• High Purity
• Near net shape deposition
• High melting temperature material
• Low or high velocity
• Controlled atmosphere
• Vacuum to positive pressure

Sputtering and X-Ray Targets

Induction plasma spray coating technology can be successfully used for rebuilding or manufacturing critical components requiring a high-quality coating, such as sputtering or X-Ray targets.
Sputtering and X-Ray targets has long been manufactured through the use of different powder metallurgical techniques for the formation of the target plate made of high purity materials which are subsequently mounted on the target backing material for proper heat management under its final operating conditions. The technique is relatively tedious and requires a number of steps for the powder preparation and densification, followed by powder compaction at room temperature and subsequent sintering to the required high density material. In certain cases, room temperature compaction is not sufficient to achieve the required density of the final product. In such cases, it is necessary to resort to the considerably more complex and expensive hot iso-static pressing (HIP) sintering techniques.

Tekna’s unique induction plasma patent pending technology is based on the in-flight plasma melting of the powder material to be used for the production of the sputtering target in an inductively coupled radio frequency plasma torch followed by the deposition of the molten material droplets at high temperature to achieve the thickens and apparent density required by the industry. The technique can be applied to a wide range of sputtering and X-Ray target materials including metals, such as Ti, Ni, Al, Cu, Ag, Palladium, refractory metals, such as tungsten, tantalum molybdenum, alloys, such as, Fe/Co, Ni/Co, and intermetallic such as MoSi2.

Fuel Cell Application

SOFC (Solid Oxide Fuel Cell) has a great potential for economical, efficient, and clean power generation. The manufacture of SOFC electrodes (cathode and anode), which require highly porous coating structure, has been demonstrated using induction plasma spraying (IPS) technology. Compared to traditional multi-steps of the screen printing technology, IPS has the  benefit of using a clean, controllable, and large volume heat source with rapid quenching and controlled atmosphere. The feedstock can be varied from solids to liquids to gas phases.

Aerospace

Near net shape deposition by induction plasma spray coating technology can be used for achieving high density and high purity coating and near net shape parts for high performance components. Fabrication using traditional technique can be very costly due to machining scrap generated from exotic materials or introduce contaminants which can be reduced considerably using the near net shape induction plasma spray coating technology.

Biomedical

Bio material must be compatible with the body, and its purity is one of the major concerns in this field. Induction plasma spray coating of bio-compatible material on hip joint part can be the best solution to meet the purity issue due to its nature of the contamination free process.

Fiber Optics

Induction plasma technology is used for the glazing and surface polishing of glass. The high temperature plasma jet can rapidly melt the surface of the glass and smooth the surface.
Preform etching and over-cladding of preforms can be achieved using Tekna’s unique patented induction plasma technology. The vapor axial deposition provides a way of manufacturing over-cladding of preforms in a less expensive way than current technology based on synthetic tube sleeving.