This September, the 2017 Speciality & Agro Chemicals Conference is coming to Charleston, South Carolina. Each year, this conference promotes chemical manufacturing, technologies and related services that have particular applications within the agrochemical and speciality chemical markets, specifically those that are based out of North America.
If you haven’t yet registered for the conference being held September 6-8, you can get your tickets here. And if you haven’t taken a look at the exhibitor list, you can do that here. There are a lot of great exhibitors and attendees are going to gain so much from the conference.
That said, Industrial Hard Carbon will not be attending this year. So rather than learning about what IHC’s technology has to offer the chemical sector through an exhibit, this article is here to offer the insights!
Who is IHC & What can it Offer the Chemical Industry?
Industrial Hard Carbon, or IHC, is a diamond-like carbon coating thin film company based out of Denver, North Carolina. IHC consults clients on their specific application - in this case, chemicals - and customizes the application of diamond-like carbon coating, or DLC, to the specific need.
In the chemical industry, machinery experiences corrosion, wear-and-tear, and production rejection throughout the production process. DLCs are a viable solution for chemical production due to their unique properties.
For instance, DLC is extremely hard at up to or equal to 17 GPa. It acts as a lubricant showing 50 percent or greater friction reduction with no lubrication as compared to bare metal. It’s flexural strength can withstand up to 46,000 psi tensile and compressive stresses, and compressive strain of 0.17 percent. DLC also protects the underlying substrate from most corrosive agents, is applied through a vapor deposition process so the entire substrate is coated evenly, and it’s thermal conductivity is up to 10 W/cm°K. Plus, it operates from -200 degrees Celsius to up to 600 degrees Celsius.
This is because DLC is created from layers of nano-crystalline diamond and nano-crystalline silicon carbide, and its properties can only be surpassed by pure diamond.
The Benefits of Coating Chemical Machinery in DLC
While there are many benefits to coating chemical machinery and production parts in DLC, a few of the main benefits are lubrication, clean product releases and less unscheduled downtime.
Since DLC is a strong lubricant, coating machine parts in DLC keeps the machinery cleaner and operating more efficiently. There is less buildup of excess oil and grease that comes from production, and it protects the machinery from corrosion in tough processes such as pumping and mixing. Not to mention, it also offers protection from high temperatures and aggressive formulations.
DLC also enables a clean release from chemical product molds, pins and other associated parts. With less production rejection, there is less time spent cleaning. Less time spent cleaning and protection of the machinery and its parts leads to less unscheduled downtime.
Discover More!
While IHC will not be at the 2017 Speciality & Agro Chemicals America Conference this September, you can still learn more about IHC’s DLC and discover how it can change the way your production facility operates and increase the efficiency of your manufacturing process.
Contact our team of experienced thin film engineers today and we’ll walk you through DLC’s capabilities and build a custom application for your chemical production process.
