Electrically Conductive/Insulating

As most thermal spray processors utilise powders as ‘feedstock’ materials, and almost every material is now accessible in powder form, there is a near infinite number of coatings and coating composites available. The benefits of thermal spraying, to the electronic and electrical industries are now becoming exploited. Components can be coated to provide the exact level of electrical conductivity required.

Applications can be broken down into two areas:

• Conductive workings. Typically these may be copper, aluminium and zinc etc. Precise conductive paths can be created using masking techniques. These conductive coatings can be deposited onto a wide variety of substrates such as carbon fibre, glass reinforced plastics and numerous other polymeric materials.

• Insulative Coatings. Typically these may be pure ceramics, such as Alumina or Titania. As with the conductive coatings, deposits can be laid down accurately to customer specifications. Conductive and Insulative coatings can also be used together to produce a composite insulated component with an integral electrical path.