Aerospace & Defense
Aerospace Coatings
The term ‘leading edge’ originated in the airplane industry, and it has evolved into ‘cutting edge’ for today’s aerospace industry. Acree works on the cutting edge of aerospace coatings. For example, Acree is one of the only companies in the world making significant progress in band based control of infrared transmission through TCO coatings. Other coating projects of note in the aerospace sector include:
- Erosion resistant coatings for high speed turbine components. Acree has developed a coating that is extremely effective against airborne particle impact, erosion and wear. This coating has been proven effective on turbine/rotary compressor aircraft engines. The coating was optimized using Finite Element (FE) computer modeling, and it consists of a very hard ceramic multilayer coating system. The coating has been tested extensively for erosion resistance under a wide variety of particle impact angles and speeds on a number of substrates. The coating is thin, so dimensional tolerances are not affected. Because of its hardness, toughness and ease of application, this coating can be used on virtually any component suffering from erosion or wear. Complex shapes can be coated because Acree uses a specialized non-line-of-sight coating process.
- Low cost fabrication methods for polymer matrix composites
- Air flow modification for aircraft flight control
- Advanced transparent, electrically conductive (TCO) coatings for EMI shielding for aircraft domes, canopies, windows and windscreens
- Advanced surface treatment that provides tenacious adhesion of DLC and other coatings to ceramics
- High temperature sensor development
- Wireless temperature sensor development
- High temperature nanocomposite wear resistant coatings
Aerospace systems must operate correctly, smoothly, and on command. There is no room for error or component failure when flying, whether it’s supersonic combat or launching a rocket into orbit. Acree coatings help get the job done.