Our Successes
Yorkshire and Humber has seen a steady growth of both foreign and UK investment from a diverse range of businesses. Read about just some successes that other industry leaders have enjoyed from their time in the region.
IonBond AG
Materials Analysis and Research Services CIC
IonBond are the international leaders in the highest quality thin-film PVD (physical vapour deposition) coatings. As modern technologies demand component parts with specialised surfaces, the market for coatings which impart required properties is growing. The PVD coating market is currently worth over £600mn, a value expected to rise to over £3bn by 2015, with much of this growth down to new methods of coating and new types of coating formulation.
Through the Nanotechnology Centre for PVD Research, the Materials Analysis and Research Services Centre of Industrial Collaboration (MARS CIC) has spear-headed the development of a new generation of treatments using High Power Impulse Magnetron Sputtering (HIPIMS). IonBond approached the CIC for help in adopting the HIPIMS process to facilitate new and better coatings for their client base.
The CIC optimised the use of high power pulses of electricity to create ion implantation and extremely high coating densities. They also worked with the producers of a specialist power supply company to deliver the technology at an industrial scale. The combination of high energy pre-treatments (which enable extremely strong adhesion) and highly dense, defect-free coatings result in system performances in excess of any alternative PVD technology in the world.
IonBond will be able to offer a new generation of HIPIMS coating systems to the market. It is expected to launch in 2008 and will create its own market worth several million.
The CIC continues to give invaluable help in providing licensed technology and support which will lead to new processes and products, giving IonBond a leading-edge in the worldwide PVD market.
For further information visit:
www.ionbond.com
www.marscic.co.uk
Benefits of IonBond's collaboration with the Materials Analysis and Research Services CIC:
- Created leading-edge performance in a new market
- Maximised future income potential
- Support continues as project moves to production
- Superior product offered to customers
