Hardide Coatings has been awarded funding for two projects from The National Aerospace Technology Exploitation Programme (“NATEP”).
The funding will further the application of the company’s innovative coating technology to aircraft components. NATEP is a £14.4m aerospace initiative programme to mature 40 aerospace technologies in the UK aerospace supply chain. Hardide Coatings is the lead partner on both of the projects.
The first project is the development of a grinding and super-finish technology for the Hardide-A coating (a proven direct replacement for Hard Chrome Plating). This project is supported by Airbus, Perfect Bore Manufacturing Ltd (“Perfect Bore”) and Engis (UK) Ltd.
The second project is to develop the processing of an ultra-low temperature coating that will increase the range of aerospace substrate materials suitable for the Hardide coating process. Airbus, Leonardo Helicopters are end-users and Perfect Bore and Westmoreland Laboratories are support partners.
Both projects commence on 1 September 2018 and will each take up to 18 months to complete.
Philip Kirkham, CEO of Hardide Coatings commented: “These grant awards were made after a rigorous application process and we will be working closely on the projects with our end-user customers. Both projects have the potential to expand significantly Hardide Coating’s aerospace business, widening the range of aircraft components and substrate materials suitable for our coating technology.”
