December 2010 Newsletter

REACH Overview

Indestructible Paint, as a supplier of coatings, recognises the role that we have under REACH.

We recognise that the regulation places a heavy burden of communication within the supply chain and poses a threat to any business operating within the European Union.

Compliance with REACH is an integral part of our business at Indestructible. We will work closely with our customers and suppliers to ensure a sustained supply of products and to develop the future generation of coating solutions.

We would like to assure all customers that Indestructible Paint

are progressing work within the REACH process to ensure the continued supply of our product range. We are active participants within our industry groups and are committed to ensuring the continuity of our business.

Indestructible Paint is working diligently to maintain our continuity of supply. If the continuity of supply for one or more of our products is threatened for any reason, all affected customers will be notified.

If you wish to discuss this matter or require additional information, please contact our REACH co-ordinator:

Richard Banks – Project Chemist
E-Mail: richard@indestructible.co.uk

Additions to the Indestructible Team

The ever increasing need for research and development within the aerospace market, and our need to keep on top of the technical requirements of this demanding industry has led us to increase our technical capability with two new chemists.

We welcome to our technical team Earl Dilworth, who joined us in November as an additional project chemist. Earl has many years’ experience in the paint and coatings industry, and his knowledge of current automotive systems will be of great benefit in our development of decorative systems for helicopter and business jet airframe finishes.

Alongside Earl, we also welcome Chris White, who has joined us on a 4 year EngD project, in conjunction with Surrey University. During this contract, Chris will be fully involved in the study of the use of nano particles in coatings to meet the ever increasing performance requirements of aerospace coatings.

I am sure that the current and projected research projects will keep Earl and Chris fully employed for the foreseeable future!

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Meet The Team

Indestructible Paint Ltd remains a friendly family organisation despite having grown enormously since its foundation in 1978 by Chairman Douglas Norton.

The company is, and has been for many years, a leading supplier of aerospace coatings to companies such as Rolls-Royce, Pratt and Whitney, Sikorsky, British Aerospace and many others.

With a wide range of advanced surface coatings available to meet the ever increasing technical performance requirements. Indestructible can almost certainly provide the coating system that you need.

The team are always pleased to take your enquiries, provide advice on the right coating for your purpose or assist you with any paint problems that you may have.

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Chrome Free Sacrificial Coatings

The Ipcote range of sacrificial aluminium coatings has been a mainstay of the Indestructible product range for many years.

Used widely in aerospace applications, including compressor blades, casings, undercarriage components amongst others, the range has always contained chrome, albeit the more readily accepted Cr111.

As this becomes more unacceptable, the need to formulate chrome free systems becomes paramount.

We have had for some time now a chrome free system, that once applied meets the performance requirements specified for the typical end uses. The difficulty has been to produce a storage stable product that can be stocked and shipped to clients throughout the world.

Working closely with a research institute, applicators and end users, Indestructible are now moving toward a storage stable chrome free product.

The project has been funded partly through a local government research grant, arranged through the Midlands Aerospace Alliance.

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The Bright Future of Silver Spray Systems

The use of spray-reduction application of silver to produce mirror-effect and chrome imitation systems has been available for many years. The process has however been fraught with difficulties, not least in reproducibility.

One of the issues was the application of a suitably smooth basecoat for a wide range of substrates, and a clear hard, durable finish coat that adheres to the deposited silver, and meets the performance requirements of a range of end users.

Indestructible were approached by a new player in this field; Zagonda Ltd of Ashford. Over the past 12-18 months, they had perfected the chemistry of the silver spray system, so as to give a reproducible coating time after time. Help was however needed to produce a basecoat that gave the necessary ultra-smooth, orange peel free finish, and a durable top lacquer that stuck to the silver.

Working closely together, the chemists from both Zagonda and Indestructible have perfected a full system of basecoat, silver and top lacquer that will provide stunning metallic and mirror effects across a wide variety of articles.

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Help for Heroes!

Indestructible Paint Ltd was approached by the largest prosthetic and orthotic clinic in the UK to coat artificial limbs in various designs and colours.

There were themed designs of the Union Jack and also a dark and light camouflage design, along with a variety of selected colours.

The composite prosthetics were finished with low weight epoxy primer-filler IP3-00019 and IP6- grade, 2 pack PU finishes.

Lightweight Primer- Filler IP3-00019 can be used where high build is an advantage; the primer is readily applied to high film thickness with minimal coats. The filler component used to provide the exceptional filling properties and the lightness in weight provides an additional advantage acting as a thermal barrier to reduce the speed of heat transmission through the coating.

The typical finish would be the IP6 Range of Low VOC Polyurethanes. The range is available in gloss to matt finishes, including infra-red reflectant and to a variety of colour specifications.

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Technology Advancements and new Approvals

Indestructible Paint are constantly working with our customers on new specification approvals to meet the ever increasing technical requirements of the aero engine and aero ancillary industries.

We have recently gained approval for the Ipcote range of sacrificial aluminium coatings from Snecma for use on compressor and turbine shafts on the CFM56 family of engines, and the product will also be specified on the new CFM “Leap X” engine.

The continued requirement for chrome free anti-corrosive primers has resulted in collaborative work with many aerospace primes, and recent work with these products has seen success at Messier-Dowty on undercarriage components and Eurocopter on helicopter frame components.

Utilising knowledge gained with UK aerospace primes, with especial interest in environmental issues, a recent project with Turbomeca has seen an approval for our graphite dry film lubricant for use on their turbine engines for helicopters.

Indestructible Paint continue to evaluate new products to Defence Standards requirements, and have recently secured contracts with several applicators across the defence and ordnance industries.

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Making an Exhibition of Ourselves!

Indestructible Paint would like to thank everyone who came to visit our stand at the following exhibitions:

Airline Purchasing & Maintenance
(5th – 6th) May 2010
Olympia, London

Surfair 2010
(10th – 11th) June 2010
Biarritz, France

Aero Engineering & Composites Show
(29th – 30th) September 2010
NEC, Birmingham

Aero-Engine Exhibition
(13th – 14th) October 2010
Hamburg, Germany

Indestructible Paint are pleased to say that our exhibiting experience has been very successful. We were overwhelmed by the amount of new enquiries we received which has resulted in us being extremely busy trying to respond to them all.

It was really good to finally have the chance to meet both customers and suppliers; it is always nice to put a name to a face. Indestructible Paint are already committed to 2 exhibitions in 2011, IMFair at the RAF Museum in Cosford in 14 - 16th June, and the Aero Engineering and Composites show, back at the NEC 9th - 10th September 2011.

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