Hardide Coatings awarded two major UK aerospace funding grants

Advanced surface coating technology company Hardide Coatings has been awarded funding from a UK-wide aerospace initiative, to further the application of the company’s innovative coating technology to aircraft components.

The National Aerospace Technology Exploitation Programme (NATEP) is a £14.4M programme to mature 40 aerospace technologies in the UK aerospace supply chain.

Oxfordshire-based Hardide Coatings has been awarded NATEP funding for two projects commencing on September 1, 2018 that will each take 18 months to complete.

The first project is to develop a grinding and super-finish technology for the Hardide-A coating that is a proven direct replacement for Hard Chrome Plating (HCP).

Hardide Coatings is lead partner supported by Airbus, Perfect Bore Manufacturing Ltd 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 Manufacturing and Westmoreland Laboratories are support partners in this project to Hardide Coatings.

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 Coatings’ aerospace business, widening the range of aircraft components and substrate materials suitable for our coating technology.”

The company’s production facility in Martinsville, Virginia recently received approval to the new AS 9100 Rev D and ISO 9001:2015 quality management standards.

This follows the award of AS 9100 Rev D certification to the UK production site in Bicester, Oxfordshire in December 2017.

Both accreditations were awarded by the global certifying body Lloyds Register.

Aerospace customers include Airbus, BAE Systems and Leonardo. Customers in other sectors include leading blue chip companies operating in oil and gas exploration and production, valve and pump manufacturing and precision engineering industries.

The company develops, manufactures and applies advanced tungsten carbide coatings to a wide range of engineering components.

Its patented technology is unique in combining, in one material, a mix of toughness and resistance to abrasion, erosion and corrosion together with the ability to coat accurately interior surfaces and complex geometries.

This enabling technology is proven to offer dramatic improvements in component life, particularly when applied to components that operate in very aggressive environments.

This results in cost savings through reduced downtime and increased operational efficiency.

Hardide Coatings is a Hardide plc (AIM: HDD) group company.