1. 1 CHROMIUM PLATING REPLACEMENT AT SIKORSKY AIRCRAFT ROBERT GUILLEMETTE JOHN BARTALOTTA MATERIALS AND PROCESSES ENGINEERING APRIL 26, 2001

2. 2 OUTLINE I. Current chrome plating applications II. Past & current efforts with thermal spray coatings III. Methodology for qualification of thermal spray coated components

3. 3 US ARMYUS NAVY US AIR FORCE US MARINES

4. 4 Current Applications for Chromium Plate Airframe Drive System Rotors Flight Controls

5. 5 H-60 Airframe Chromium Plate Replacement AXLE

6. 6 H-60 Drive System Chromium Plate Replacement

7. 7 H-60 Main Gearbox Chromium Plate Replacement SEAL SLEEVE, MAIN ROTOR SHAFT

8. 8 H-60 Intermediate Gearbox Chromium Plate Replacement

9. 9 H-60 Tail Gear Box Chromium Plate Replacement INBOARD RETENTION PLATE SLEEVE OUTPUT GEAR TORQUE WASHER INPUT

10. 10 H-60 Main Rotor Head Chromium Plate Replacement

11. 11 Flight Controls Chromium Plate Replacement: non- hydraulic and hydraulic components Boost Servos Primary Servos

12. 12 Base Metals Plated With Chromium Steels –4340 (150-280 ksi) –300M (280 ksi) Stainless Steels –17-4 –15-5 –PH13-8Mo Aluminum –7075-T73 Titanium –None Carburized Steels –None

13. 13 PRIMARY ALTERNATIVES DETONATION GUN SUPER DETONATION GUN PLASMA HVOF

14. 14 Detonation Gun Over 35 years experience with detonation gun thermal spray coating Excellent track record Specified for difficult, critical applications Chromium replacement primarily done for improved performance, now environmental driven

15. 15 Current Super DGun Technology Several applications on S-92 and RAH-66 Comanche Implemented reduced weight designs by taking advantage of improved fatigue strength of DGun over chromium electroplate Comparison testing shows Super DGun has superior fatigue properties to HVOF

16. 16 HVOF Coating Evaluated at Sikorsky Aircraft Diamond Jet –Aluminum Silicon –tungsten carbide JP5000 Tungsten Carbide Jet Kote tungsten carbide

17. 17 Base metals coated with thermal spray coatings

18. 18 Detonation Gun Tungsten Carbide reduces fretting fatigue at bearing journals (implemented 1987) Thermal Spray Tungsten Carbide Results in Substantial (6x) Life Improvement for H-60 Main Rotor Shaft

19. 19 HVOF Aluminum Silicon for Rework of Magnesium Transmission Housings (implemented 1992)

20. 20

21. 21 SH-60 DAMPER IMPROVEMENTS – ZERO LEAKAGE FROM THE STATIC SEAL AREA HAS BEEN ACHIEVED SINCE THE INCORPORATION OF THE TUNGSTEN CARBIDE COATING. – THE TRIBALOY AND TUNGSTEN CARBIDE COATINGS ARE SHOWING A GREAT IMPROVEMENT OVER THE CHROME AT 750 HOURS. ISSUES – DAMPER BENCH TEST STOPPED AT ~750 HOURS DUE TO LEAKAGE FROM DYNAMIC END OF DAMPER AND FAILURE OF THE NON- METALLIC BUSHING. – AWAITING STRONGER NON-METALLIC BUSHING FROM SUPPLIER. THE BUSHINGS ARE EXPECTED TO BE DELIVERED LATE MARCH 2001.

22. 22 Tail Landing Gear Piston

23. 23 SH-60B Tail Landing Gear Piston, Cleveland Pneumatic PN 2012C4, Base Metal: 300M Steel, Coated with SDG2057 tungsten carbide chromium

24. Qualification Test matrix for Navy H-60 Tail Gear Piston Coating adhesion Tensile Fatigue (HCF) Fatigue (LCF) Cyclic stress/strain Metallurgical Wear test (bench scale) Drop test (full scale) Corrosion –open section –crevice testing First article destructive evaluation/validation NAVAIR review Lead-the-fleet testing

25. 25 UH-60 Tail Landing Gear Fork

26. UH-60 TAIL LANDING GEAR Fork

27. Qualification Test Matrix for UH-60 tail landing gear fork Adhesion (coupon) Metallurgical (coupon & full scale) –hardness –porosity/uniformity –heat/mechanical effect on substrate Fatigue (coupon) Fatigue after exposure to salt fog (coupon) Wear test (data from Garlock) Corrosion testing (full scale) Army AMCOM review Lead-the-fleet testing

28. 28 Guidelines for qualification of components with chrome plate replacement Parts have frozen process planning. Change of supplier may require full scale testing Difficulty exist with across-the-board substitution by similarity qualification Lead-the-fleet (actual service operations) often needed as part of qualification Flight Safety parts to be addressed by Flight Safety Change Board

29. 29 CONCLUSION Chromium replacement for multi-service helicopters is a continuing effort at Sikorsky Aircraft Criteria for qualification is a major challenge