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	SwRI has state-of-the-art equipment in place and technical personnel dedicated to facilitating access to research, development, and demonstration of PIII and PIIP technologies.

The surface engineering program at Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) is a contract R&D and coating service for the practical treatment of materials and components using energetic ion beams.

At SwRI, ion beams and plasmas, sometimes used in conjunction with coatings, provide an extensive range of surface engineering possibilities to protect material surfaces from:

• Corrosion

• Wear

• Fatigue failure

• Fretting

• Oxidation

Surface Engineering Processes and Capabilities

Processes include ion implantation of gaseous ions and ion beam-assisted deposition (IBAD) of metals, ceramics, and diamond-like carbon (DLC).

The SwRI surface engineering capabilities are used by:

• Manufacturers

  	The versatility of the “plasma” approach to surface modification allows the use of any gas with the same equipment.

• Utility companies

• Biomedical industry

• Government agencies

Projects range from small-batch, single-day processing jobs to long-term research and development projects.

SwRI has two capabilities that allow non-line-of-sight coating and surface modification of materials with higher throughput and potentially lower cost:

• Plasma Immersion Ion Implantation (PIII)

• Plasma Immersion Ion Processing (PIIP)

SwRI Surface Engineering Facilities

Ten vacuum chambers, each approximately 6 feet long and 4 feet in diameter, allow processing of either large tooling or hundreds of smaller items. These surface engineering resources are currently being used to address client needs in a wide variety of areas including:

• Friction and wear reduction in metal and ceramic components

• Biocompatible and catalytic coatings

• Treatments for corrosion and oxidation resistance

To learn more about Materials Chemistry, visit http://www.swri.org/4org/d18/mateng/matdev/ionsurf/matchem.htm.

For more information about surface engineering capabilities at SwRI or how you can contract with SwRI, please contact Kent E. Coulter, Ph.D. at kcoulter@swri.org or (210) 522-3196.
 

| Materials Engineering Department | Mechanical & Materials Engineering Division | SwRI Home |

Southwest Research Institute® (SwRI®), headquartered in San Antonio, Texas, is a multidisciplinary, independent, nonprofit, applied engineering and physical sciences research and development organization with 11 technical divisions.

October 01, 2008