Hontek was founded in 1992 to solve the expensive sand erosion damages on helicopter rotor blades observed in military operation in the desert. Landing on the desert ground, the rotor blade whips up a storm of sand/dust cloud, causing the pilot to lose vision of the surrounding. This is called “Brown Out”.
At the tip speed of 500 miles/hr (232 meter/sec), sand/dust particles quickly eroded hard metals such as nickel and titanium, the metals used to protect the leading edge of the helicopter rotor blades. A helicopter rotor blade, costing US $100,000 to US$700,000 can be quickly damaged. The sand striking titanium also creates bright visible sparks at night, forming a “halo” effect”, exposing the military helicopters to enemy fires.
PROVEN SUPER SAND EROSION RESISTANCE
Hontek has developed many formulations that have been tested by helicopter manufacturers and research organizations to be far superior to other competitive products. These formulations can be offered as
- Moldable Resins,
- Sprayable Coatings,
- Rollable Coatings,
- Brushable Coatings and
- Preformed Shapes.
Below is a comparison of Hontek coatings versus 3M 8542 conducted by an helicopter OEM. The 3M 8542 product is a well known product in the helicopter industry.
All 5 Hontek coatings showed lower sand erosion mass loss than 3M 8542.
For LEP protection of wind turbine coatings, example of Hontek LEP coating vs. a well-known competitive products:
SAND BLASTING RESISTANCE
Hontek has characterized the sand erosion resistance of commercial competitive products and Hontek’s own developmental coatings. One method was to sand blast the cured coatings with aluminum oxide particles at close distance. Very informative visual patterns were observed.
Below are a few of the coatings tested:
Aluminum oxide blasted for 45 seconds. 3M 8545 (0.040” thick) showed deep cratering. 3M 8663 (0.018” thick) was eroded through. Much thinner gray Hontek HT97-265-2 (0.012” thick) showed only minor surface darkening due to black dusts eroded from black PU tapes.
Aluminum oxide blasted 45 seconds. Hontek coatings show only surface darkening. No penetration into molded or sprayed sheets, even at much lower thickness of 0.006” (152 microns).
Aluminum oxide blasted 45 seconds. Hontek coatings show only surface darkening. No penetration into molded sheets, even at much lower thickness of 0.006” (152 microns)
Aluminum oxide blasted for 1 minutes at 1” distance: 3M 8663 tape on wood propeller was eroded into deep craters. Hontek HTK5706 coatings show only surface darkening. No penetration into molded sheet.
