High Performance Thin Films for Aerospace Applications

The usefulness of polymer-based materials and coatings in aircraft components is two-fold.  First, weight reductions are highly desirable to decrease fuel consumption and second, polymer-based materials are usually less expensive and convenient to manufacture. However, when used in applications with strict optical requirements, these polymeric surfaces can be susceptible to erosion which results in increased haze and decreased clarity. For example, when staple materials such as polycarbonate or stretched acrylic are used in windows, windshields, and canopies, one of the drawbacks is the tendency to scratch and craze. Polymeric windows have been historically coated with polysiloxane or polyurethane based coatings to overcome this limitation by improving the surface resistance to scratches. Still, improvements to the processes involved can decrease the required long drying times and can offer long term solutions in which the resistance to erosion is maintained overtime. Advanced thin film coatings based on Plasma Deposition Technologies can improve the durability of many components on aircrafts. These technologies can be exploited to generate materials with high performance, which are also environmentally friendly and produced with waste free processes. We are currently focusing our efforts in the development and study of thin films to improve the resistance to material erosion on polymeric substrates with applications in the aerospace industry and defense.