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Hardide Coatings technology approved by Airbus

Hardide Coatings, a provider of advanced surface coating technology based in Oxfordshire, U.K., has announced that its Hardide-A tungsten carbide coating has met the technical performance requirements as a potential alternative to hard chrome plating on some specific Airbus aircraft components, such as airframe and landing gear components.

Following an eight-year program of development and testing, the carbide coating has met the Airbus requirements for thick chemical vapor deposition (CVD) tungsten carbide coatings. It is considered a suitable alternative for hard chrome plating, the use of which is being banned in September 2017 under EU REACh environmental health and safety regulations, unless otherwise authorized by the EU Commission, as it uses carcinogenic hexavalent chromium salts in its production. Increasingly tight restrictions are also being imposed in the U.S. by OSHA.

The coating is resistant to abrasion, erosion, corrosion, chemicals, and impact. Applied by low-temperature CVD, the process can coat external and internal surfaces as well as complex shapes.