News on extreme surface engineering workshop

On 23-25 June 2015, FRIENDS2 project group (www.friends2project.eu) organized its first ever training workshop on Extreme Surface Engineering and Coatings, at the main Cranfield University campus. FRIENDS2 is a new Marie Curie staff exchange project which promotes international and inter-sectorial collaboration between two academic partners (Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, a top research institution from Germany, and Cranfield University from the United Kingdom) and two industrial partners (Metal Estalki, a Spanish SME, and the international company Abengoa) to develop new coatings for the thermosolar power industry.

During the three-day course, practical sessions reviewed concepts of surface engineering for multiple applications along with integrating theory and lab practice ensuring a greater understanding and appreciation of coatings concepts for various applications. Eight practical sessions were carried out during the three-day course for the dozen industrialists who attended this very first “hands on” course. The program covered practical deposition and characterization of functional and high-temperature coatings and thin films. These coatings and films are intended for multiple applications and are deposited using a large variety of manufacturing methods such as chemical vapor deposition, physical vapor deposition, sol-gel, electroplating, and plasma spraying.

The directors of the workshop (Professor Jose Endrino and Dr. Jeff Rao) declared that they were very pleased with the good response to the training program and with the support of all the staff from the Surface Engineering and Nanotechnology Institute (SENTi), who helped making the program a success. The course also had the support of two well-known industrialists, Dr. Mark Craig, Safran Power UK, and Dr. Yuri Zhuk, technical director of Hardide plc. The short course also included a tour of the nearby Oerlikon Balzers Coating Center in Milton Keynes. The tour was hosted by Toby Middlemiss, Aerospace Segment Manager at Oerlikon UK.

During the three days of lectures combined with over eight hours of hands-on deposition training, analytical demonstrations and laboratory tours provided enthusiasm and motivation to the attendants involved in coatings technologies seeking to broaden their expertise. The delegates commented that the lecturers were very friendly and knowledgeable and that they would definitely recommend the course to their colleagues. The next “hands on” coatings workshop will be conducted from 27th to 29th June 2016.