Overview

Cautiously Confident
Despite the recession, our turnover remained steady throughout the last financial year.

This year, hasn’t been quite so good. There was an initial downward trend overall, especially our organics sales.

But after having pessimistic feelings about the financial situation and its possible effects on the company over a long period, things now seem a little more positive.

Part of the reason is the company’s relative stability, a result of its trading situation; more specifically its market spread.

The bulk of our customers are now outside the UK, the largest proportion of these being American and French companies.

We also have customers in Canada, India and a number of EU countries in addition to France.

Business recently obtained with Snecma, part of the Safran Group, is a good example of significant overseas trade.

This and other business gained overseas in the last 18 months or so has been a major factor in helping us ride-out the recession.

Nevertheless we are still gaining some new business in the UK and overall it is true to say that we are now cautiously confident.

Brian Norton

Dowty Double
For Indestructible

Dowty Propellers, part of the GE group based at Staverton, Gloucester, produces composite propellers for a large number of turboprop aircraft, both civil and military.

A problem of poor adhesion of the surface coating used by the company in a particular application required urgent attention.

Indestructible were consulted by Dowty, and a satisfactory solution was found.

Using a product from the IP3 range of low VOC 2 pack epoxies not only fully solved the adhesion problem, but provided a significant additional benefit - a reduction in VOC emissions greater than half a tonne per annum.

As a result of this success, the two companies have worked together on other surface coatings projects with a view to further reducing VOC emissions at Dowty’s Staverton site.

This cooperative approach has utilised other products from the IP3 range, including a specially formulated green basecoat for use on hovercraft propellers, and a matt black primer-surfacer, with easy sanding properties, for passenger turboprop aircraft.

Development continues with research into further reductions in VOC content on other products used by Dowty.

These include a conductive matt black finish, an elastomeric flexible polyurethane coating for the main surfaces of a particular propeller and a special material for application to the flexible rubber leading edge moulding.

Ipcote in
India

Ipcote used in overhaul of gas turbines for power generation

The Ipcote range of inorganic high performance coatings, which includes Ipseal, are usually associated with the gas turbine engines that power aircraft.

However, these products can and have been used in gas turbines used for other purposes, power stations being one example.

Indestructible’s technical team has recently been working closely with its Indian distributor, Messrs Matcon, to establish an application method for Ipcote and Ipseal to the power generation gas turbine compressor blades and stators.

Specifically developed for application and curing of Ipcote and Ipseal on site at the location of the gas turbine, this special coating procedure also includes a purpose designed curing oven.

This enables the high temperature curing of these sacrificial coatings to take place in situ, providing substantial economic benefits.

A full overhaul of the first unit was completed during the autumn, the second unit being due for completion during November.

Higher engine operating temperatures result in greater efficiency. As a result the current trend is for new aircraft gas turbine engines to run hotter than their predecessors.

Construction of these engines now requires new or modified materials to resist these higher temperatures.

The need for increased heat resistance applies to the specialised coatings used on and, in particular, those used inside the engine as much as to any other materials.

Indestructible Paint Ltd of Birmingham, who provide these specialised organic and inorganic engine coatings work in close conjunction with most of the main engine manufacturers.

Development programmes at the company, to produce new coatings that meet the exacting demands posed by the latest engine designs, often involve close liaison between the company’s technical personnel and the engine manufacturer’s technical and commercial staff.

These programmes frequently require co-operative effort on an almost day-to-day basis. On occasion, other companies may also be involved.

In a recent example, a three way project needed close co-operation between a manufacturer of bearings, the engine maker and Indestructible Paint Ltd.

In this case it was necessary for the bearing manufacturer to swage a casing around a ball race, but the existing dry film lubricants (DFLs) often used for engine bearings cracked during or after the swaging process.

Several other new developments needing this type of co-operation have resulted in enhanced coating properties such as hardness and heat resistance.

One example is a high heat resistant aluminium coating utilising ceramic nano particles for use on aero engine shafts.

Water based epoxies

Indestructible have for many years manufactured the ROCKHARD range of baking and two component cold cure epoxy systems.

These are widely accepted and used extensively in a number of aerospace applications.

In recent times, much development work has been conducted on reduction of the VOC content in both grades, and these have since been adopted in many areas.

As part of Indestructible’s continuing commitment to reduce the environmental impact of its coatings, a major development programme is underway to produce water based equivalents of these products and further reduce VOC levels.

Initial results are encouraging, and laboratory formulations have been produced with similar if not better technical performance than the traditional solvent based range.

Water based PVDF

PVDF (polyvinylidene fluoride) coatings provide the performance needed to give long term protection in architectural applications, typically where steel or aluminium parts are used in buildings.

Traditional paints used for both new applications and repair are low solids high VOC systems and, like most other companies, the applicators in this market area are looking to reduce VOC emissions.

Indestructible, working closely with resin manufacturers, has been developing water based alternatives.

Initial trials of these materials have produced results that look extremely promising.

The company expect these water based variants to be adopted commercially in 2010, initially in re-paint situations, but the wider market for first applications by architectural manufacturers should then develop rapidly.