Beyond the Surface is series of Q&A interviews by Becca Kaiser, freelance marketeer, with coatings expert Jim Rowbotham from Nycote Laboratories. Originally published in Aerospace Manufacturing Magazine's May-June Issue.
So Jim, tell me how things are with Nycote Laboratories?
Jim: This is a really exciting time for Nycote. There has been a lot of consolidation in our industry over the past few years, and Nycote is one of the independent aerospace coatings manufacturers still managed and owned by the founding family for over 60 years. It gives us a strong position and is a very enjoyable environment to work in. We are just moving into a new facility, which is a significant advancement in our capability. We will have multiple times our current capacity and new production and R&D infrastructure to support the growing needs of the aerospace and defense industries and allow us to develop new technologies. The new plant is 20 miles from the old one and demonstrates Nycote’s commitment to its home in Southern California. The environmental controls in the region are strict, and that helps us to make sure we have a very low environmental impact. We have a number of new industry approvals underway, and we are really excited about the company’s prospects.
What are the important applications related to the protection of electrical installations?
Jim: Whatever the situation, our coatings are intended to prolong the working life of components. That is by encapsulating them in a thin, lightweight resin layer that prevents contact with corrosive media such as water, salt, oxygen, and chemicals. In addition, Nycote coatings provide an insulative layer, effectively dielectric, with a breakdown voltage >80kV/mm, which is a high strength for a thin film coating like ours. That prevents unwanted contacts or flashovers. We have 60 years of experience with coating electrical components on aircraft, so we have a strong understanding of how these applications stand up to very long service intervals.
What type of electrical components are protected with Nycote coatings?
Jim: They fall into two broad categories. The first is the electrical bonding points and connections, which are located throughout the aircraft structure. These can have spade end connectors fixed to a stud, which grounds any static or other charge into the airframe. They are made up of several different materials and are difficult to access for maintenance. That is ideal for Nycote as our coatings adhere to numerous substrates, last for many years without maintenance, and are easy to apply should maintenance be needed. The second category is electronics, such as printed circuit boards. These have a lot of very small and complex geometries, and the coatings used are usually called “conformal coatings”. Nyform is our brand for this, and our products comply with the industry standard IPC-CC-830, which defines the resistance to a wide variety of service conditions and electrical performance requirements. Nyform uses our unique Nylon hybrid resin composition, which provides very long periods of durability and is suitable for high-value electronics in defense and aerospace. It is very suitable for “tropicalization” of PCBs.
Are there any other features needed?
Jim: Besides these major requirements, there can be a requirement to color-code the coatings to identify different types of components. Transparency is also important to allow visibility of the underlying substrate. For certain bonds, the coating is also a security lacquer that shows if the bond has been undone. We are also working on traceability tags, which we can embed in the coatings that can additionally be useful for traceability of components for digital passports, etc., and to prevent the use of counterfeit components.
I hear Nycote coatings have made their way into space — can you walk us through that?
Jim: Yes indeed, space, the final frontier. Nycote has been in space since the space shuttle program, where Nycote products were used to protect seals. The main issue here is that whatever the properties of a material are on Earth, these need to be replicated when used in space. In this case, we are talking about electrical performance, working in a vacuum and at extreme temperatures. As proven aerospace coatings, Nycote’s electrical coatings see service temperatures regularly fluctuating between -55 °C and +150 °C on aircraft and with spikes that exceed these. The vacuum causes the release of some of the composition of polymeric materials through the desorption of vapors, “outgassing”. That changes the material and hence its performance; it can also result in deposits of outgassed substances in unwanted areas. Nycote’s coatings meet the key ESA and NASA outgassing requirements with recovered mass loss (RML) <1% and collected volatile condensable material (CVCM) <0.1%. That means the products change little through being in a vacuum and will continue to perform their functions.
Becca: Thank you so much for your time and insight, Jim. It's clear that Nycote is doing some remarkable work, and we can't wait to see what’s next...
© Nycote Laboratories Jim Rowbotham
Originally published in Aerospace Manufacturing
Pic 1 - © Nycote Laboratories
Pics 2 – © Nycote Laboratories
Pic 3– © Nycote Laboratories