Bristol Metal Spraying & Protective Coatings Ltd

Plasma Spray This process originated in the aerospace industry where it was employed to coat critical aircraft engine components in rocket and jet engines. Corrosion resistance, good sliding properties.

Plasma is used to apply thermal barrier coatings of Zirconia and alumina that will resist temperatures of up to 1000°C and provide electrical insulation and high wear resistance.

Ceramic coatings can be applied locally to reduce the heat transmitted into a component or as a shield between components using plasma sprayed ceramic thermal barriers developed for the Aerospace industry. We spray various aerospace engine parts with these materials and have also used them in the Motorsport industry.

Turbo Charger Housing (before & after coating) for a single seater racing car. This component is plasma sprayed with a zirconia thermal barrier to prevent heat transference/heat soak damage to adjacent parts.

We apply a wide range of plasma sprayed Ceramics, Chromium and Tungsten Carbides that produce dense and extremely wear resistant coatings.

These are used where there is a need for a coating to withstand a harsh chemical or wear environments with a Rockwell hardness of up to Rc65. We offer a diamond grinding service for these coatings.

Typically we treat: Pump impellers, Pump casings. Hydraulic rams and plungers.

An aircraft rotor disc assembly which has been plasma sprayed on the outer seating diameter to reclaim a mis-machined area. Plasma sprayed coatings are used widely in the aerospace industry to offer hard wearing surfaces/coatings onto the light weight new technology fabrications/components.



Harrier jump jet with Pegasus engine– approximately 90% of the components that make up this aircraft engine have been coated with plasma or thermal sprayed coatings.
A cast steel valve cover is shown here having a tungsten carbide coating applied by the plasma process. The 0.008” – 0.010” thick coating will greatly extend the life of the valve which is used for controlling the movement of dry powder products.
Exhaust manifold section for a sports saloon racing are plasma sprayed with a thermal barrier of zirconia. This coating will protect other engine components from the heat transfer damage from the exhaust and also prevent loss of temperature in gases going to the turbo charger.
Outer combustion chamber of a jet engine shown during plasma spraying. This component receives two types of coating – a ceramic thermal barrier (zircon) and wear resistant/anti fret coating of chrome carbide.
Plasma sprayed coated of tungsten carbide onto a valve body cover. This coating is hard wearing and will resist abrasion and wear when in service thereby extending the useful life of the valve