SBIR-STTR Award

The United States faces the imminent loss of a technology critical to national security. The guidance systems of many key missile defense systems rely on Coatings of Titanium Carbide (TiC) applied by a novel Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) Process on the balls of precision ball bearings. This unique process produces a ball with performance characteristics unmatched by any material technology tested to date. The European source of this coating has announced plans to shut down the operation and sell the equipment. BryCoat has purchased the equipment and is planning to transfer the technology and equipment to its U.S. facility. The objective of this program is to develop and implement a testing protocol for qualification of the original, current and future production coatings for bearing applications in advanced guidance systems and to optimize the coating process to meet performance, repeatability and yield objectives for these applications

The United States faces the risk of losing a technology vital to national security. Coatings of Titanium Carbide (TiC) applied by a novel Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) Process are applied to the balls used in ball bearings in several important strategic and tactical missile defense systems. A Swiss company was the sole source of these coatings and their production capability has now been phased out. BryCoat has been selected by the coated ball bearing stakeholders to transition this technology to the U.S. and continue production. Phase I of this project initiated the technology transfer and Phase II is expected to continue the transfer of technology and equipment, qualify the product produced at BryCoat, and improve the coating processes. There is already a defense critical market for TiC coated ball bearings that must be served by the transfer and improvement of TiC CVD coating technology. High performance surface coatings can also be used in commercial applications for the treatment of machine parts, instruments and medical devices.

Keywords:
Bearings, Balls, Guidance Systems, Ceramic Coatings, Titanium Carbide (Tic), Tribological Testing, Thin Film Coatings, Lubricants