Beyond the surface: Exactatherm

In the solar glare of a vacuum furnace, a tray of steel tools glows brighter than neon as their illuminated surfaces harden. The heat treated tools are being surface-hardened with titanium nitride to give them incredible toughness and resistance to wear. For industry, this process can potentially extend the lifespan of machinery tools by up to 400%. For consumers, it can mean a new set of designer bathroom taps – forged of metal but treated to look like brass or 18K gold.

The innovative process to create these surface enhancement treatments is now sparking a new generation of designer alloys. It has us on the verge of being able to customize the composition of virtually any surface alloy – whether to coat the nose cone of a jet fighter or the anodized hands of your watch.

Here in Ontario, Exactatherm is advancing coating technologies and thermal processing, taking them in enterprising new directions. The strength of their success was forged in partnership with Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE), with whom they’ve formed a powerful bond.

Exactatherm is thriving proof: when OCE brings industry partners together with leading university researchers, the power of innovation is unleashed.

Understanding the Duplex-Coating Process Coating technologies use alloys to form harder and stronger surface treatments to protect various tools, objects, and components. In their latest process, Exactatherm combines plasma ion nitriding with Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) vacuum coating to produce a duplex-coating. For industrial applications, this new coating enhances the performance of tools and components by increasing load-bearing capacity.

Breaking the Mold.

Dr. Peter Lidster, an accomplished metallurgist, was looking for a way to improve the tool and die making process at the heart of his heat-treating and ion-nitriding business. He wanted "to master the fundamentals of more complex coating technologies". OCE listened to his concerns. They took Dr. Lidster to the University of Toronto, and introduced him to several specialists in metallurgy. This meeting of minds was the first step in a path to help Exactatherm refine the development of their practices and technologies.

Given Exactatherm’s direction and ambitions, they were a perfect candidate for OCE’s First Job initiative. OCE shared the cost of hiring a PhD-level researcher to bring to Exactatherm the advanced technical and research expertise that could really jump-start the operation.

The new brain trust at Exactatherm set the stage for significant advances – as the company became the first in Canada to introduce a new filtered arc Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) vacuum coating process. The development of the new filtered arc process meant that Exactatherm could provide a coating substantially cleaned of contaminants (macros) typical in the conventional process: contaminants that would be the site of weakness in the coating and the source of corrosion. This technology is now used to create brilliant and highly durable and functional metallic finishes on everything from high strength engineering products, plumbing fixtures, and electronic components to jewelry and household appliances. Future development is aimed at introducing this technology to automotive and aerospace components.

Sparking Connections.

OCE then connected Exactatherm with researchers from McMaster University with expertise in surface enhancement treatments who could further advance the filtered arc coating process. The team played an important role in the development of Exactatherm’s coating technology which enabled the company to expand its workforce by an additional five people.

One advance followed another and Exactatherm and OCE kept pushing the frontiers with ongoing research programs co-authored with the Ontario university community. The next step combines the PVD process with plasma ion nitriding, creating a new duplex-coating with applications in aerospace and consumer products.

Dr. Lidster excitedly envisions the potential to take alloy processing even further: “Start with pure titanium, flow the aluminum into that and vary the process. If we can do this, it will be incredible. We will essentially be doing our own alloying.”

Raising the Bar.

Driving innovation is just one part of the OCE process. Just as important is OCE’s connection to industry standards committees like the SAE/AMEC. The OCE business development team keeps right up to date on North American standards and practices for the heat-treating industry. OCE acts as a liaison to Exactatherm so they can keep their standards right on the leading edge of industrial practices. As Dr. Lidster explains, “I’ve learnt a lot about specifications from our contacts at OCE, how they are written and why they are written.”

This knowledge has proven invaluable – the close attention to spec, standards and practices recently paid out a massive dividend for Exactatherm here in Ontario. Dr. Lidster reports: “We recently received our biggest order ever – 160,000 lbs. of high value material for plasma ion nitriding – from China.” An American construction company is involved with building steel mills there. They needed high-end coating and in their comparative assessment of all the suppliers, they rated Exactatherm as technically superior.

Exactatherm continues to expand facilities and operations – with two plants in Ontario and one opening recently in the United States. Peter Lidster is quick to point out that “OCE has been instrumental in getting us to this level.”

Clearly, the science of alloys supports the theory: combine the right elements in the right conditions – and fuse them into something stronger than ever before.