Every metal component in airplanes, vehicles, steel mill machinery or glass factories…requires a special coating to protect it from constant friction, chemical exposure and other extreme conditions. Nuria Espallargas, a Spanish chemist, is revolutionizing the protection of these components with ThermaSIC, a coating almost as hard as diamond.
The tougher the coating material, the better the protection. So what better material than SIC silicon carbide, almost as hard as diamond?
The problem is that SIC, discovered in the 19th century, had an insurmountable challenge: it could not be applied by thermal spray. Silicon carbide has no melting point, so when subjected to high temperatures it sublimates, going directly from solid to gas, rather than melting. Since the 1950s, several scientists have been looking for a way to thermally spray it, until Barcelona-born Nuria Espallargas challenged the impossible.
Nuria, along with her research team, designed a chemical process that allows silicon carbide particles to be thermally sprayed, increasing the strength of the material and making the process cheaper. Specifically:
- They gave silicon carbide the much-needed “melting point,” the property that allows it to be sprayed at high temperatures and generate a coating.
- They added an oxide layer to each silicon carbide particle, a kind of protection or coating that allows it to be sprayed at high temperatures.
This is how ThermaSIC, one of the hardest synthetic materials in the world, was created. It is a special silicon carbide powder for thermal spraying.
ThermaSIC’s enormous resistance to wear and abrasive chemical exposure is valued in aeronautics, industry, automotive and even space exploration. The European Space Agency conducts tests to prove its abrasion resistance to sand on the Moon and the planet Mars.
It is a testament to the talent, innovation and genius that Spain continues to bring to the world, to move it forward.
In #TECNIMUSA, as an engineering firm, we design and manufacture automation solutions for innovative, sustainable and eco-efficient industrial development… for the progress of the world.
