Magnetron Sputtering
Restoration of Inner Diameters for Landing Gear Outer Cylinders
Often, the inner diameter of aluminum alloy landing gear outer cylinders can become oversized due to in-service damage/wear or new manufacturing defects. The current hard anodize repair process has a very limited build-up capability, consequently many of these oversized cylinders must be condemned and taken out of service at a significant cost impact. But this is no longer the case. After more than ten years of research and development, ES3 has validated and commercialized a magnetron sputtered repair for aluminum alloy landing gear outer cylinder inner diameter surfaces.
In 2015, ES3 began offering and performing the production repair of landing gear outer cylinders previously deemed unrepairable. Basic characteristics of the ES3 inner diameter repair include:
- Dimensional restoration up to 30 mils.
- Similar hardness properties as the original aluminum alloy substrate material.
- Adhesion/bend tests pass all specification requirements
- Minimal impact on fatigue properties of aluminum alloy substrate (less than the Type II and Type III anodize fatigue impact)
- No corrosion impact on sputtered coating or substrate alloy
- Easily machined/honed to capture surface finish requirements
- Wear characteristics increased by 200% for the sputtered surface over the original bare surface.
- Available for aluminum alloys and currently under final testing for titanium alloys.
For more information about ES3’s magnetron sputtering capabilities in general or about ES3’s landing gear outer cylinder restorative services in particular, please contact the ES3 Magnetron Sputtering Facility by phone at 801-926-1150×500 or by email at magsput.info@es3inc.com.