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Curtiss-Wright Surface Technologies will be attending the Surface World Show at the NEC in Birmingham from 22nd to 23rd March 2017.
Interested in finding more about our coating services? Visit us at Stand B5 and speak to our surface technology experts.
For more information about this fantastic event or to register, please click here.
Curtiss-Wright Surface Technologies will be exhibiting at Advanced Engineering at the NEC in Birmingham on 2nd & 3rd November.
Interested in speaking to us about our coating services? Please come and find us on Stand Number L83.
Curtiss-Wright Surface Technologies will be exhibiting at the MACH Show at the NEC in Birmingham from 11th to 15th April 2016.
If you would like to find out about our coating products and services, please visit our specialists on Stand Number 4697.
To register for this fantastic event, please click here.
Curtiss-Wright Surface Technologies will be exhibiting at MedTec Europe in Stuttgart from 12th to 14th April 2016.
If you would like to discover the services Curtiss-Wright can provide to the medical industry, please come and visit us on Stand Number 3F42 and speak to our Surface Technology experts.
Admission to the event is free, however, you will need to register your place prior to attending the event. To register as a free visitor, please visit the MedTec Europe website.
Announcing our new video animation of the Curtiss-Wright Parylene coating process. This will provide you with a comprehensive overview of this unique coating process and the benefits of Parylene’s application.
Shot peening in its earliest form was known as mechanical prestressing or cold hammering. It is a process for increasing the life, strength and performance of metal parts, but why and how?
Controlled shot peening creates an area of compressive stress which is resistant to fatigue and stress corrosion cracking. The compressive stress replaces any residual stresses that may have been introduced during manufacturing and by external applied stresses such as bending load, torsional load and pressure load. If shot peening is introduced as part of the manufacturing process, significant improvements in life and performance can be realised. Fatigue resulting from residual and applied stresses, together with stress corrosion is reduced by shot peening.
Shot peening is a cost effective treatment which can be performed on components of any shape and size and also on-site for large or fixed equipment. When combined with reduced maintenance costs achieved by extended part life, you can clearly see why leading manufacturers include this process in their specifications.
Shot peening is still a cold working process where small spherical media called shot strikes the surface creating a small indentation. In order for the indentation to appear the surface layer must yield in tension. However, the compressed material grains try to restore the original shape which produces an area of compression. Continual coverage forms a uniform layer of residual compressive stress. Cracks will not occur in a compressively stressed area. For more information visit our controlled shot peening page or alternatively contact us to discuss your requirements.
Hammering or cold hammering stresses a material through force beyond its yield strength, so allowing it to be shaped and hardened. The earliest example of this process can be traced back to a gold helmet circa 2700 B.C.
In addition to shaping, cold hammering was also used to strengthen metals and was widely used in producing the final shape and hardness of armour during the crusades (1100-1400 A.D.).
During the 11th Century the sword makers of Toledo produced a sword so superior to any other that they became highly prized and sought after. As well as lightweight, it was very strong and held a sharp edge and could also be bent almost double over and over without breaking. Naturally these blacksmiths would not have known that the hammering also introduced a residual compressive stress which contributed to its strength
The process remained relatively unchanged until the industrial revolution when there were many experiments on the manipulation of metals, usually termed as “cold rolling”. This essentially replaced cold hammering and through trial and error brought about improvements in surface hardness and fatigue life.
During the 1920’s the benefits of mechanical pre-stressing were more understood and A C Sampietro, a renowned automotive engineer, was reputed to have said that fillets of crankshafts in European race cars were hand peened to improve fatigue life.
The earliest published work on shot peening was by E G Herbert in March 1927, where he wrote an article on “work-hardening of steel by abrasion”, this was followed by an article published by Mr O Poppl in April 1929 citing an experiment on five fatigue specimens which were partially peened. Of the five – four of these broke in the non-peened area under fatigue loading, but in the areas that were peened, there was no detrimental effect or fatigue. This proved that by using peening fatigue life could be improved.
After much research the question of when and how the process of shot peening was formally discovered appears to have been between 1927 and 1929, with the automotive industry taking a further lead by introducing it into their specification for the manufacture of the Cadillac Valve springs in December 1929.
The process of controlled shot peening continues to be developed and improved as new materials emerge and change with the introduction of specifically designed robotic equipment and advances in material testing and analytical services.
thermoset PTFE coating. Following comprehensive testing, Everlube® has provided 1500hrs of salt spray protection when applied over a Phosphate pre-treatment, 2500hrs over Zinc plating and 5000hrs over a Cermet basecoat. Read more at www.emcoatingsuk.co.uk
Metal Improvement Company are proud and excited to be one of the sponsors of this innovative project and have been involved in a number of aspects including the shot peening of the race wheels by our UK Derby Division. Recently our UK E/M Coatings Division also completed work on 30 different structural parts and these aluminium components will form part of the bonded framework of the car, providing both strength and rigidity.
What is the BLOODHOUND SSC project? The Bloodhound initiative was launched on the 28th October 2008 at the Science Museum in London. The team, including Richard Noble OBE and Wing Commander Andy Green, announced their intention to build a car capable of breaking the World Land Speed Record. They hoped that by launching such an iconic project, it would inspire a new generation of Scientists and Engineers and involve Companies from across the UK and the World in the development of the car itself.
The hope is that the supersonic car will reach its intended target speed of 1000mph, a figure suggested by Ron Ayer who broke the Diesel World Land Speed Record in 2006. Interestingly the Bloodhound project name was inspired by Ron Ayer’s missile – Bristol Bloodhound 2.
Being part of Curtiss-Wright Surface Technologies we have a long history in setting records as evidenced by our founders Glenn Curtiss and the Wright brothers who undertook the first recognised flight in 1903. This was subsequently followed by Glenn Curtiss in 1907, who by riding his Curtiss V-8 powered motorcycle at a speed of 136.4 mph, became the “fastest man in the world”, closely followed a year later by achieving the same feat in the air with a speed record of 46.5 mph.
Contact us for more details about any of our operations or to discuss your requirements in more detail contact the UK division closest to your location and talk to an experienced engineer.
Medtec Ireland took place at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Galway Ireland from the 1st to 2nd October 2014 and Curtiss-Wright were represented by Denis Healy and Jason Delaney from our Parylene Coating Services Galway business unit.
Medtec Ireland features all the latest developments, research and innovations in the healthcare sector and this year Damien English TD, the Minister for Skills Research and Innovation, opened the two day event.
Parylene Coatings are widely used by the healthcare sector as they have been protecting and lubricating medical devices, medical diagnostics and electronic equipment for over 25 years. Curtiss-Wright Parylene Coatings have been tested to the relevant ISO10993 and USP Class VI tests for long term implantable use and all Curtiss-Wright Parylene Coating sites are ISO13485 and ISO9001 certified.
Please contact us for more details about upcoming events or to find out more about our services and applications.
Curtiss-Wright Corporation (NYSE:CW) who first began trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on 22nd August 1929, commemorated their 85th anniversary of being listed by ringing The Closing Bell® on Friday, August 22 2014.
For further details read the full press release or alternatively view a copy of the webcast.
Please <a href=”http://www collaboration tools.cwst.co.uk/contact-us/”>contact us for more details about upcoming events or to find out more about our services and applications.
E/M Coating Services have demonstrated once again that they are at the forefront of coating development following their recent partnership with Freeman Technology.
This partnership was formed to look at developing coatings specifically designed to reduce friction in powder processing plants. The challenges of efficient powder processing affect a variety of industries and Freeman Technology have spent the last 14 years researching powder flow with the use of their FT4 Powder Rheometer®. By combining this technology with E/M Coating Services dry film lubricant knowledge and expertise they were able to compile a unique research paper on how these coatings can reduce wall friction properties in power handling equipment, see attached PDF for more details:
Please contact us for more details about upcoming events or to find out more about our services and applications.
Metal Improvement Company in Derby are delighted to announce that they have now received Nadcap® accreditation for Coatings, this certificate demonstrates their ongoing commitment to quality by satisfying both customer requirements and industry specifications.
This new accreditation for coatings compliments the existing portfolio of quality approvals already attained by Derby who were the first Metal Improvement facility established in the UK. In addition to thermal spray coatings Derby are specialists in controlled shot peening utilising state of the art robotic peening machines, super finishing and peen forming.
Please contact us for more details about upcoming events or to find out more about our services and applications.
We were excited to participate at the recent Medtec exhbition which was held at the Messe in Stuttgart, Germany from 3rd to 5th June 2014. Our stand was hosted by representatives from our Parylene Coatings team in Galway: Denis Healy and Jason Delaney and by Jochen Fuhr our Sales and Marketing Director for Europe and Asia.
Although it was reported that the show was relatively light on attendance compared to previous years, there was significant interest in our Parylene coating services and the ability of these services to support a wide variety of applications. These included corrosion protection for electronic sensors in hearing aids, chemical resistance for polypropline tubing, moisture barrier protection for endoscopic equipment, dry film lubricity of anotomical models, delivery systems and manufacturing aids.
In addition to interest in our Parylene services we also had some interesting requests for more information relating to our shot peening services, in particular relating to the machining of parts for Orthopedica applications.
Please contact us for more details about upcoming events or to find out more about our services and applications.
We recently attended the Medtec UK conference held at London’s Olympia on the 14th and 15th May 2014 (Denis Healy, the Business Unit Manager of Galway can be seen on the stand pictured below) and whilst the show’s overall attendance was small, the organised ‘Medtec Meetings’ format included this year, was very beneficial in pairing us up with companies that will benefit from our Parylene coating services.
Jason Delaney the Galway Technical Sales Manager presented at the conference on the topic of ‘Parylene Coatings – Green Chemistry reducing friction and protecting biomaterials and medical devices’. The presentation was well received with many interesting questions and discussions after and we have included someof the questions raised below:
Can Parylene provide microbial protection for implant devices?
Parylene C is commonly used in implant devices, while it does not encourage bacterial growth, in that it acts as a restrictive coating for cell adhesion, it is not anti-microbial.
There are anti-microbial variants of Parylene on the market however these are new and untested for implant devices.
Can Parylene be used on any surface, metal, plastic or elastomer?
Yes, we work with many different substrates to great success. Specific surface preparation requirements are needed in some cases to ensure good adhesion so we always treat each new project with fresh eyes, applying the experience and expertise of our process engineering team to ensure the most effective results.
How can pin hole free coverage be ensured on a surface?
Once the product is appropriately prepared and the coating is above 0.6µm the process of application itself ensures pin hole free coverage.
The monomer is like a fog in the deposition chamber and as it forms into a polymer any and all exposed surfaces will be coated in a conformal manner, this includes the chamber as well as the product.
Florescence have been used to ensure the coating is 100%. This is a two step process where the product is coated in Parylene then the Parylene in the florescent. Then using a black light any voids will show up.
This has been used mainly in military electronic applications. However once they realise that a void will not occur where the process has been optimised this secondary stage becomes unnecessary and is usually abandoned.
How does Parylene differ from PTFE as a coating to reduce friction?
In terms for co-efficient of friction Parylene N (0.25 static and dynamic) performs as good as many PTFE coatings sitting in the middle of the range of performance. As a soft polymer Parylene does not produce particulate that has been associated with PTFE coatings and a topic of concern for the FDA. As it does not chip or flake Parylene can be higher yielding / reusable for many manufacturing aid applications so can also reduce cost in many cases as a replacement to PTFE mandrels.
Please contact us for more details about upcoming events or to find out more about our services and applications.
The MACH exhibition is the UK’s largest manufacturing technologies event and features cutting edge companies and innovative products and naturally CWST attended. This years’ exhibition held at the NEC in Birmingham from the 7th to the 11th April 2014 was the largest to date and attracted over 21,000 visitors.
Our stand was manned by a number of our specialist engineers over the course of the week including representatives from our various business units including CCRS, Laser Peening, Shot Peening, Thermal Spray and E/M Coatings.
During the course of the week our stand was visited by Sir Richard Noble (second from the right) who was the holder of the land speed record between 1983 and 1997 and is now a leading figure in the latest land speed project Bloodhound SSC, which is aiming to break the 1000 mph land speed barrier.
CWST are proud to be sponsoring the Bloodhound SSC project and featured prominently on their stand at the exhibition this year, where a replica of the wheel alongside a full sized model of the car was displayed.
Please contact us for more details about upcoming events or to find out more about our services and applications.
We are delighted to announce that our Thermal Spray facility located within our Derby Division has received approval from GE Transportation Aviation for the application of thermal spray coatings, to find out more about the parts we can process and the benefits of thermal spray contact us.
Curtiss-Wright Corporation announced in a press release on the 13th January 2014 that they have acquired Component Coating and Repair Services Limited (“CCRS”), specialists in component coating services. David C. Adams, President and CEO of Curtiss-Wright Corporation said “The acquisition of CCRS adds new high-technology services to our Surface Technologies business that complement those of our existing engineered coatings offerings.”
CCRS, a UK based company, was founded in 1995 and employs in the region of 100 people and currently operate two divisions one based in Glasgow, Scotland and the other in Alfreton, Derbyshire.
CCRS provide specialist services for aerospace and industrial turbine applications and are leading providers of ultra-smooth and corrosion-resistant coatings and precision airfoil repair services and anticipate generating sales in 2014 of approximately £7m (US$11m). Find out more about CWST’s specialist component coating services today by getting in touch.
Please contact us for more details regarding this acquisition or to find out more about our component coating services and areas of expertise
Metal Improvement Company, part of the Curtiss-Wright Surface Technologies (CWST) group, have been a crucial part of the supply chain for Aerospace and Oil and Gas manufacturing within the Derby area for many years providing Controlled Shot Peening, Superfinishing and other critical surface treatments. The addition of Thermal Spray processing within our Ascot Drive, Derby facility provides a real “One stop shop” solution for customers seeking reduced logistics and a more efficient supply chain management for surface finishing of critical parts.
After the recent acquisition of the U.S. based BASF and Gartner Thermal Spray capabilities our Derby Division are proud to be the first CWST facility outside of the United States to offer this service.
The two stage event was held to launch the official opening of the new Thermal Spray Coatings cell and laboratory at our Derby facility. The morning session took place at the Derby Conference Centre with overview presentations from Metal Improvement’s Ben Hayes the Regional Sales Manager for UK & Ireland and Neil Sheward, Technical Service Manager for Derby Division.
These presentations were followed by key note lectures from Dr Richard Johnston from Swansea University on “Free Standing Abradable Coatings Manufacture and Tensile Test Development” and Professor Graham McCartney from Nottingham University on “Thermally Sprayed Coatings: Strategies for Improved Performance and Reliability” which were very well received.
Dr Richard Johnston Presentation
Professor Graham McCartney Presentation
After lunch delegates were invited to attend technical demonstrations at the nearby Ascot Drive facility. A presentation and demonstration of the new Thermal spray booth in action was given by the Thermal Spray Operations Manager Rob Dicks.
An additional demonstration showing the capabilities and benefits of Robotic Shot Peening was delivered by the Derby facility Supply Chain Manager, Mark Payne.
Robotic Shot Peening and Thermal Spray Demonstrations
Metal Improvement Company are also proud to be processing a variety of critical components on the Bloodhound Land Speed Record car (http://www.bloodhoundssc.com) and the seminar afforded us the opportunity to display a scaled down model of the car in the reception area. Accompanying the model were representatives from the official Bloodhound team who were more than willing to answer questions from the seminars delegates and one lucky delegate even walked away with a small replica for them to keep.
Regional Sales Manager, Ben Hayes said
“Not only was the event a fantastic opportunity for Metal Improvement Company to demonstrate some of our new high technology material treatment capabilities but it also proved to be a great networking and social opportunity for all involved on the day.
We are very proud of our operating facilities and it was a wonderful opportunity to introduce many key people from local industry to the range of our operations.”
We are delighted to announce the launch of the new EM Coating Services website. The new website features improved functionality, design and navigation and incorporates up-to-date information on EM Coatings products and services.
To find out more about EM Coatings services, visit the new website: http://www.emcoatings.co.uk
Curtiss-Wright Corporation announced in a press release on the 1st August 2013 that Martin R Benante who is the current Chairman and CEO will retire in April 2015. To ensure a smooth transition during this period and effective immediately, David C Adams has been promoted to President and CEO and will serve as a member of the Board and following Mr Benante’s eventual retirement will then assume the dual role of Chairman and CEO.
Mr Benante has worked for Curtiss-Wright for nearly four decades and has served as Chairman and CEO since April 2000. During this period annual sales have grown from US$293 million to US$2.5 billion (based on current fiscal year 2013 guidance) and he has significantly expanded the Company’s product portfolio into new areas. Prior to his appointment in 2000 he held a variety of posts including President of the Flow Control business segment, Vice President of the Company and then President and Chief Operating Officer of Curtiss-Wright Corporation.
David C Adams, was President and Chief Operating Officer of Curtiss-Wright Corporation before this latest announcement and joined the company in 2000. During his tenure with Curtiss-Wright Corporation Mr Adams has had a number of positions but more recently he has had responsibility for Flow Control and served as President of two operating business segments, namely Controls and Surface Technologies.
For more information relating to this announcement please either visit www.curtisswright.com or alternatively contact us for more details.
The new Shotpeener magazine has now been releassed and it includes an article relating to our new Asian operation located in Bangalore India and an article written by Dave Breuer on Duel Peening applications. Read the magazine here..
Metal Improvement Company previously operated under the Metal Treatment business segment of Curtiss-Wright Corporation. However, on February 19th 2013 Curtiss Wright announced in a press release that the Metal Treatment segment would be renamed Surface Technologies.
Curtiss Wright Surface Technologies (CWST) business segment continues to incorporate all of the same companies that were included under the Metal Treatment segment such as Metal Improvement Company, E/M Coating Services, Everlube® Products, Parylene Coating Services, IMR Test Labs, and FW Gartner Thermal Spraying.
This newly renamed segment enables CWST to offer a diverse range of highly engineered services including controlled shot peening, laser peening, protective coatings and analytical services and continues to protect critical components in a variety of markets such as aerospace, oil and gas, medical, automotive, transportation and power generation among many others.
Leading companies utilise CWST’s cutting-edge techniques within their products and processes to improve performance and operating life, examples of which are as follows:
Curtiss-Wright Corporation announced in a press release on the 3rd January 2013 that they acquired F.W. Gartner Thermal Spraying, Ltd.
F.W.Gartner were established in 1923 and employ, at their two Houston Texas facilities (both ISO9001 accredited), approximately 115 people, with sales in 2012 reaching US$ 24 million. The name of the company has been retained and operates under the Curtiss-Wright Surface Technologies (CWST) business segment.
F.W.Gartner has been providing wear and abrasion resistant coatings to the energy and power generation markets and pioneered the application of thermal spray coatings. Thermal spray coatings are used to protect critical components and enhance their lifespan and performance and are suitable for use in a varety of industries including aerospace, oil and gas and power generation among others.
Metal Improvement, who operate as part of the CWST business segment, are extremely excited by this new acquisition and the added expertise it will bring to our own thermal spray operations facility based in Derby. Our state of the art purpose built booths offer both plasma and HVOF coatings and with the addition of the Houston facilities brings the total number of booths we operate Worldwide to in excess of 50.
Please contact us for more details on thermal spray technology.
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