Hardide Plc (LON:HDD), developer of Hardide surface coating technology, has recently completed raising funds for the construction of two additional reactors at the company’s U.S. facility. This comes shortly after Hardide gained National Aerospace and Defense Contractors Accreditation Program (Nadcap) accreditation for its Hardide-A coating.
The accreditation allowed Hardide to expand its business in the aerospace sector to offer advanced tungsten carbide-based coatings to aerospace manufacturers, which drove the decision to expand stateside operations. The accreditation followed its March 2017 award of approved supplier status by Airbus Group.
Aerospace is considered a key growth market for Hardide, according to Philip Kirkham, Hardide’s CEO. “An increasing number of aerospace companies require their suppliers to be Nadcap accredited, so to be fully approved opens up the market to us. As well as cementing our position with customers such as Airbus, Leonardo, and BAE Systems, it will qualify us to work with any of the prime contractors and their worldwide supply chains.”
Hardide Coatings developed Hardide-A for the aerospace and defense industry as a replacement for toxic hard-chrome plating (HCP). HCP has been a mainstay of industrial coating in aerospace, heavy equipment, automotive, and various other industries where extreme operating environments require corrosion- and wear-resistant coatings. An example of this would be in hydraulic aircraft landing gear or wing flap actuators where leak-tight seals are present. Corroded metal finishes can accelerate seal degradation and affect reliability, downtime, and maintenance costs.
