Thermal Spraying

Creare is actively developing thermal spray processes and coatings for a wide range of industrial, aerospace, and defense applications. We specialize in working with rare and reactive spray and substrate materials, such as lithium alloys and rare earth oxides. Often, we are engaged in the development of innovative techniques for obtaining unique coating properties matched to challenging requirements for nontraditional applications. Our advances are enabled by our broad understanding of deposition processes, materials, and application needs. Creare currently operates traditional and custom thermal spray facilities that allow both plasma and arc spraying in air and controlled atmospheres.

The development of plasma-sprayed composite selective emitters is one example of a typical technology development. Our innovation was enabled by both an understanding of thermal processes and coating design. Thermal processes that rely on radiative energy transfer often benefit from selective emission at specified or selective frequencies. Creare developed a patented composite plasma-sprayed coating that tunes the spectral emissive properties of a surface. Applications of the coatings include high-temperature emitters in thermophotovoltaic power systems and large-scale industrial dryers for production of commodity products such as paper, where the selective properties enable significant improvements in efficiency.

Creare’s other work in thermal spray addresses such diverse applications as plasma-sprayed coatings that allow welding of titanium directly in air, fabrication of electrodes for high-performance batteries, and creation of non-skid surfaces for extreme environments.