Both ISRO and ARCI are offering technologies for ‘micro arc oxidation’ coating, which has immense industrial applications. ISRO offers MAO for magnesium and its alloys; ARCI on several metals.
The traditional methods for coating are susceptible to corrosion and wear off easily. They are also not scratch-resistant. MAO coated metals are pretty hard, comparable to stainless steel. MAO, also known as plasma electrolytic oxidation, (or spark anodization) is a surface treatment technique which uses a high voltage, high current process to obtain a hard, corrosion resistant oxide coating surface of the metal.
ISRO says its technology will give hard, ceramic-like coating with superior corrosion resistant and abrasion and wear resistant properties. No pre-cleaning of the component is required and thickness and hardness can be adjusted.
MAO coatings find application in the various engineering industry for components, which require corrosion resistant and very high wear resistant surface such as pistons, cylinders, and hydraulic gear and for variety of components in aerospace industry. These coatings also improve the tribological properties of the components. These coating are also used in various components of automobile industries to improve their durability, corrosion resistance and heat radiation characteristics. It also offers high heat resistance. Components coated with thick MAO film can withstand unusually high temperature for a short duration. Also, the high insulation value of coating makes it useful in developing a dielectric layer with a breakdown strength of about 25 -30 V/micron thick coating. This coating is also used in Mobile phones and laptop casing.
Similarly, ARCI also promises uniform, dense, hard and thick coatings; Superior coating properties and performance compared to other conventional acid-based processes like anodizing and hard anodizing; The technique also offers excellent tribological properties and corrosion resistance. ARCI’s has not only developed the technology but also invented an apparatus for carrying out the process.
There is a lot of scientific material on ARCI’s website about this.
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