Navy spray and laser cladding repair program

The reason you should know about this is the Navy thinks this is one of the greatest repair techniques going. They've got worn-out shafts, worn-out bearings, worn-out all kinds of things, and so you put metal spray all over the surface — flame spray, plasma spray, different heat sources. You're basically casting by shooting little droplets, and the microstructure will have some porosity and some inclusions. Plasma spray can do steel; it's very good for copper alloy bearings, and for aluminum alloys you spray on a thick, somewhat porous coating that's great for corrosion resistance in some applications.