Extreme Wear-Resistant Thermal Spray Coatings.

The demand for higher performance and rapid transition of new technologies into extreme performance has lead to the need for engineered materials and surface modification technologies. The present proposal is focused on finding a surface engineered solution that can withstand exceptionally harsh environments such as those found in supersonic ground test tracks or rail gun environments. This SBIR program objective is to develop and demonstrate an improved and reliable high temperature wear resistant solid lubricant coating system for the supersonic ground test tracks or rail gun applications that is capable of surviving repetitive sliding contacts at Mach 8 and above. BENEFIT: Successful implementation of applying the solid lubricant wear resistant coatings on rail gun material will provide a superior wear resistance and improved fatigue strength at higher speeds. This will also prove how the plasma spray coatings will demonstrate performance under extreme operating conditions. Developing these coating systems and proving their applicability in such extreme harsh environments will also pave the way for other such applications in automotive and aerospace extreme environment applications.