A high resistance product application center received 150 million yuan ($21.9 million) in investment from Kennametal Stellite (Shanghai) Co, which is located at Xuhang town, Jiading district, Shanghai, and was recently been put into use.
The application center is mainly used for the research and development (R&D) and testing of high wear-resistant, corrosion resistant, and high-temperature resistant materials. In its first phase, it is expected to increase the annual sales of the enterprise by more than 50 million yuan.
The center covers an area of about 400 square meters and is equipped with advanced equipment such as laser cladding, plasma transfer arc surfacing and supersonic spraying. In addition, traditional equipment such as oxyacetylene spray welding, argon arc surfacing and electrode arc surfacing, and laboratories for surfacing layer and coating performance testing, as well as analysis equipment are included in the facility.
"In the past, enterprises had to send samples to overseas laboratories for laser particle size, salt spray, abrasive wear and ring block tests. Now, the domestic center will save time and costs. Furthermore, it will speed up the R&D of domestic laser cladding powder, boost the production of high-end laser cladding powder, and provide products with higher cost performance for the market," said Shi Hong, an engineer of the center.
On top of that, the center also helps to improve the R&D and testing capabilities of enterprises, and provide one-stop services from production to testing for enterprises in the industrial chain.