We discuss how and why SilcoTek® coatings are used in research.
How CVD Silicon Coatings Improve Research
If you do a web search for the words "SilcoTek" and "journal" you get over 4000 results. Search for the terms "SilcoTek" and "paper" and you'll get over 7000 results! Why is it that a coating company is mentioned in so many journal articles and papers? We'll discuss why our coatings are used in studies and why so many top researchers select our coatings for their most demanding environments.
In this blog post you will learn:
Why so many scientists use our coatings in research applications.
How our silicon coatings are used to improve the quality of studies.
Learn about some examples of how and why our coatings were included in research plans.
Why do Scientists and Engineers Use Our Coatings?
Researchers select SilcoTek® coatings for their most demanding applications because we offer both the technology and technical support needed to make a project successful. We offer the data, applications research, and industry knowledge needed to assure the user that the right coating technology is being used in the application. Let's discuss some of the benefits that contribute to why researchers turn to SilcoTek when faced with challenging material applications.
Meet our experts of PhD Scientists, Engineers, and Technicians to learn how our team can benefit your next research project.
Benefit 1: Collaboration with our Team of Experts and Coating Support
For some applications, selecting the right coating that supports or achieves the test objective can be challenging. The R&D team is here to help guide customers through the evaluation and selection process in order to get the most out of our CVD coatings. How do they do that? By applying their knowledge and experience to your application and providing you with the best information available so you can make an informed decision about what coating is best for your application. Want some examples of how we worked with customers to improve the performance of their products? Read our case studies.
The coating selection process starts with listening to customer needs and developing an understanding of their specific application. Our staff has worked in a wide range of industries and can share some of that knowledge with you, assuring a smooth evaluation process. We'll apply our knowledge and understanding of your needs to help guide customers to the right solution.
Our R&D team can also work with your scientists and engineers to develop a test plan that best fits the desired performance results. Our team uses advanced material characterization techniques to support our customer's research initiatives and to assure our coatings offer the highest performance.
Testing the Coating, the Tools We Use to be Sure Your Parts are up to Snuff
Material surface characterization capabilities serve an essential role in supporting SilcoTek® coating science and R&D efforts. The ability to thoroughly evaluate a surface is key to developing new inert barrier coating products, and plays an essential role in assisting customers with studies performed under challenging conditions.
Various surface characterization techniques enable SilcoTek scientists to study materials, analyze surface bonding mechanisms, and develop a deep understanding of surface properties.
SilcoTek® production technicians use material characterization tools in their daily QA/QC process to make sure all our inert, corrosion resistant coatings meet our quality standards and satisfy customer needs. Last but not least, it is not uncommon for customers to work with R&D staff to provide characterization help with their specific substrates or coated parts as part of their product development.
In addition to in-house characterization capabilities, SilcoTek® also enjoys convenient access to a wide variety of characterization techniques available at the Pennsylvania State University (PSU), thanks to our physical proximity to the University’s main campus, and an established academic/industry relationship between PSU and SilcoTek®.
SilcoTek’s R&D scientists are certified users of many characterization instruments located at the Materials Characterization Lab (MCL) at Penn State University.
Benefit 2: Ease of Coating Selection and Purchase
SilcoTek® offers CVD coating solutions to make your products perform better, but wading through coating data, applications, and purchasing options can be daunting. Of course, we're always here to help! Contact us and you'll quickly speak to one of our Technical Service Representatives. We'll be happy to walk you through the coating selection, purchase, and use process to make buying and using our coatings easy!
The coating selection and purchase process involves the following:
Read through our website. Get coating coating data from Our Coatings Pages, Read through our Coating Resources Tab and Get Additional Data from our Whitepapers and Technical Insights page. You can also learn about Our History, About Us and Meet our Experts. If you have questions or need additional support, contact our Technical Service Team.
Get a quote for coating service and send in your parts for coating application. We'll send the coated parts back to you in about 10 working days.
After the purchase. After you receive your coated part, support doesn't stop there. We offer continuing support after the sale to keep your coated part performing at is peak.
Product support and collaboration. SilcoTek R&D staff have co-authored many papers in support of research and the advancement of science.
Customers can also use our coating selector to help determine what's the best coating for their product. The selector was developed with input from our R&D staff to determine the best coating available for more common applications. Give it a try.
For more challenging applications our staff will help customers evaluate and interpret test data to support beta testing and product ramp-up. Our staff of engineers will join in the program to help develop tooling and process methods that optimize efficiency and product quality.
Benefit 3: Known Performance
Since 1987, our coatings have been used in research and analytical applications to enhance the performance of stainless steel, glass, ceramics and specialty alloys. Because our coatings have been used in so many applications over the years, researchers know to turn to us for improved surface performance tailored to their specific performance parameters. Here are some examples:
Coating Inertness and Non-reactivity
We offer superior surface inertness in a high durability CVD coating. Compared to a blank control surface and industry competitors, or coatings compare favorably when preventing surface absorption.
We offer lots of inertness data in the form of Whitepapers, Technical Insights, Webinars and Technical Presentations. Some examples are:
SilcoTek® coatings are used in many challenging environments, from coated stack and flare probes that are exposed to reactive compounds at high temperature, to the extreme shock and vibration of a space launch. That's why scientists turn to our coatings when extreme test conditions require a high performance and durable coating.
Our silicon coating, Silcolloy®, minimizes surface oxidation and provides a high temperature barrier coating to stainless steel. Our Team is working on new coating technologies that further improve the oxidation and corrosion protection of stainless steel.
Our Dursan® coating significantly improves stainless steel wear resistance, making it an ideal corrosion resistant and inert surface for valves, and constant pressure sample cylinders.
Our new SP12 process improves corrosion resistance of stainless steel and aluminum surfaces. This gives the researcher the option for improved inertness and corrosion resistance for aluminum components, saving weight and cost.
How Researchers Use Our Coatings
Scientists, technicians and engineers use our coatings in research in several ways. One way is to test and compare the performance of our coatings vs. other materials or coatings. In this test, the goal is to compare and contrast the performance of coatings under various conditions. Comparative testing results have been used to improve the performance of customer products as well as helping us to improve our coatings. Comparative studies are important because they help other researchers to understand the performance of various materials and coatings under specific test conditions. This in turn helps industry to understand how to use our coatings and how to improve the performance of their products or processes.
Scientists also use our coatings as key contributor to achieving results as part of a greater experiment. Coatings are selected based on previous known data and then used to improve the resolution and precision of test instrumentation or test flow paths. For example a test may require low part-per-billion sensitivity but the instrument flow path reactivity and chemical adsorption will corrupt the test. In that application our coatings are used to coat the instrument flow path and act as an inert, non reactive barrier to the adsorptive base material. Researchers can then get repeatable high quality results. The same idea applies to improving other material properties like corrosion resistance, stiction, high temperature inertness, high purity, or bio compatibility.
Application engineers may need to expand the use of existing products into challenging environments that can degrade the performance of the original material. Rather than redesigning a probe or analytical system, engineers will employ our coatings to enhance the performance parameters of products in order to achieve needed test results.
Examples of how our coatings made research possible
Let's review just a few examples of past and current research projects that feature our coatings.
Trace Analysis and Inertness
A recent paper published in the Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology demonstrates the non reactivity of SilcoNert and why it's important for researchers to use a non reactive coating when doing trace analysis. The paper itself is about the uptake of chemicals into silicone wrist bands, and using them as an analysis tool to see what a person has been exposed to through the lifetime of wearing them.
High temperature corrosion and reactivity prevention in leading edge thrusters
*Hall-effect thrustershave been used in satellites and medium-sized robotic space vehicles since the 1970s. These engines work by ionizing a propellant and accelerating these ions with an electrostatic potential to produce thrust.
NASA Glenn Research Centerhas demonstrated thatHall-effect thrusters operating with iodineas the propellant can perform at the same thrust and efficiency compared to state-of-the-art xenon thrusters. Iodine has many logistical nd cost benefits over xenon for use in these engines. Despite these benefits, there are challenges to consider with material compatibility. Becauseiodine is a halogen, it can react with and oxidize surfaces, causing damage to process systems and in NASA's case may react with iodine Hall-effect thruster propulsion system materials. Very little is known regarding iodine reactivity with the wide range of spacecraft materials in a vacuum environment. This information would also be useful to the nuclear industry as iodine is regarded as one of the most hazardous fission products from a fuel nuclear reactor.
NASA has developed an experiment to study the interaction between iodine and a variety of common spacecraft materials. In their tests, they have included protective coatings like corrosion resistant Silcolloy®andhigh durability Dursan®coated coupons for evaluation.
Durability (NASA and ESA space flights)
The European Mars Rover (The ExoMars Rover Mission), which is scheduled to be launched in 2020, has an instrumentation pack that includes a gas chromatograph / mass spectrometer. According to the attached paper, that GC/MS is fed by an Mxt-5 GC column from Restek® Corporation. That column is made inert by SilcoTek CVD coatings.
The European Space Agency (ESA) and Russia's Roscosmos have teamed up to explore Mars for signs of life. The rover will have everything needed to detect traces of life or former life on the plant. The mission is truly a world-wide effort with the rover being built in the UK and scientific components being sourced from multiple continents. The rover will have ground penetrating radar, high resolution cameras, and the ability to drill and sample up to 6 feet into the soil. The Rover will feature it's own laboratory that can detect a wide range of organic molecules in a search for molecular bio-signatures. The analytical package will have instruments capable of analyzing trace compounds reliably and accurately. Key components of the analytical package feature our coatings. Read the Mars Rover Instrument Cluster Whitepaper.
If you're interested in using our coatings in your research project, just contact our Technical Service Team and we'll be happy to assist you in your project.
The European Mars Rover (The ExoMars Rover Mission), which is scheduled to be launched in 2020, has an instrumentation pack that includes a gas chromatograph / mass spectrometer. 
