Hardide Coatings, a provider of advanced tungsten carbide coatings, has gained Approved Supplier status by the Airbus Group for the coating of flying components.
The company, which has production sites in the UK and USA, completed the Airbus Industrial Qualification process following technical qualification of its Hardide-A coating as an alternative to hard chrome plating by the aircraft manufacturer back in December 2015.
Philip Kirkham, CEO of AIM-listed parent company Hardide plc, said: “Over the past year we have been working very closely with Airbus engineers to ensure that the Hardide coatings process meets Airbus’s stringent process specifications.”
Hard chrome is being banned later this year under EU REACh environmental and health and safety regulations, unless otherwise authorised by the EU Commission, as it uses carcinogenic hexavalent chromium salts in its production. Increasingly tight restrictions are also being imposed in the USA by OSHA.
Hardide-A is one of a range of Hardide coatings which provide exceptional wear and corrosion resistance and uniquely combine extreme toughness with ductility. They can be precision applied to external and internal surfaces including complex geometries, enabling a level of design engineering not possible with other technologies.
Customers operate in high wear/high value industries including oil and gas drilling and production, aerospace, flow control, power generation and precision engineering.
Hardide Coatings’ certifications and qualifications include Airbus, BAE Systems, Leonardo Helicopters, AS 9100, ISO9001 and ISO14001. Nadcap qualification process is underway.
The company is now in commercial discussions with several Airbus sites about the coating of specific components.