Case Studies
From Fortune 500 companies to NASA, the U.S. Army and a prestigious NSF Grant: Our wide-ranging experience
speaks for itself
In addition to our current programs with several major
biomedical companies, we’ve worked on a number of exciting projects for a
leading Fortune 500 company…the U.S. Army’s Benét Laboratories…NASA.
…and other innovative organizations.
Here’s a quick overview.
Launching A Reliable, Cost-Effective
Manufacturing Process for a Fortune 500 Company. A worldwide leader in consumer goods manufacturing
wanted to introduce a new product that required a high-quality coating. When
other production methods failed to produce the necessary adhesion, the company
turned to a polymer plasma treatment process developed by the founders of
Isoflux.
After feasibility tests proved that the new process would meet the company’s need for
quality, efficiency and cost-effectiveness, Isoflux personnel designed and implemented
technology to facilitate full-scale production.
Developing Longer-Lasting Cannons For The U.S.
Army. Innovative
coatings play an important role in the development of next generation weaponry.
That’s why the R&D professionals at Benét Laboratories—the Army’s main
R&D center for large caliber armament systems—rely on Isoflux help to
produce coatings that meet extremely demanding performance requirements.
“Isoflux is a critical part of our
advanced, PVD-coating design team,” says Michael J. Audino, who heads up the
Protective Coatings organization at Benét Labs. “Their background in PVD
generation and application has provided the U.S. Army with longer-lasting
cannon systems.”
Helping NASA Produce High-Tech Telescopes For An
Orbiting Observatory. For more than 10 years, NASA has been using Isoflux technology to coat glass
cylinders with gold film. That’s a key step in the process of producing
powerful X-ray mirrors capable of making precise astrophysical measurements in
an orbiting observatory.
“With our first mission behind us,” says Curtis E. Odell, Laboratory Manager at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center,
“we are proposing a follow-on astrophysics mission using replicated optics. Due
to the confidence we have in Isoflux technology, we intend to continue using
the Isoflux hollow cathodes throughout the next production cycle.”
Winning A Prestigious Grant To Improve Wear Resistant Coatings. In a
cutting-edge collaboration with Northwestern University, Isoflux was
awarded a prestigious National Science Foundation grant to investigate the
potential for improving wear resistance by developing novel, nano-composite
coatings.
The result of this R&D effort was a new material with superior hardness. In
fact, the material was several times harder than the models predicted,
demonstrating Isoflux’s ability to work with partners to produce coatings and
surfaces with advanced performance characteristics
A report based on this groundbreaking research appears in the April 2005
proceedings of the Society of Vacuum Coaters. (See our Tech Library.)
To learn more, visit our Tech Library.
