Rapid Coating

Among the applications for which Direct Energy Deposition technology proves to be particularly effective in coating components, there are several cases in the Oil & Gas sector, such as bearing supports, rollers, or hydraulic components, which are coated to ensure better protection against wear and corrosion, but also applications in the agricultural sector, in the production of heat exchangers, or the mining industry.

Prima Additive's rapid coating process

In many applications of this type, however, it is required to carry out this process in the shortest possible time. This is why Prima Additive has developed the Rapid Coating process.

Rapid Coating (RC) is a high-speed laser cladding technology strongly derived from traditional DED, used to quickly cover a metal component with a thin layer of metal powder.

The innovative idea, which allows this process to be carried out in a very short time, is to shorten the time taken to completely melt the substrate, leaving it to melt only partially and melting most of the powder in flight during the transition through the laser beam. This is possible by defocusing the powder spot relative to the substrate.

The best solution for Brake Disc Coating

One of the main applications of rapid coating is undoubtedly in the automotive industry, with the laser coating of brake discs. 21% of particulate emissions from combustion vehicles come from brakes. This is because every time the brake is applied, part of the material that makes up the brake disc is consumed and released into the atmosphere in the form of particles with a diameter of less than 10μm (PM10).

The Euro 7 standard, which will soon come into force, provides for a 13% reduction in polluting particulate emissions and, specifically, a 27% reduction in brake disc emissions.

The solution to create less polluting brake discs is to coat them with harder and more wear-resistant materials.

Thanks to Prima Additive's developments in the Rapid Coating process, it is possible to execute quickly and with excellent surface quality and repeatability brake discs coating with the two layers required by the process, usually made up of 430L steel and TiC titanium carbide.

Prima Additive has also developed complete automation solutions already validated and tested in production environments in the automotive sector based on the IANUS robotic cell and capable of producing 24/7 thanks to a fully automated loading/unloading system, coupled with an automatic and efficient powder management system.