SUPERSONIC SUPERPOWERS

VRC METAL SYSTEMS IS MOVING AT LIGHT SPEED TO BRING THEIR PIONEERING COLD SPRAY TO THE COMMERCIAL REALM TECHNOLOGY

The high speed minds behind VRC Metal Systems aren't just pushing the limits of technology, they are disrupting the concept of responsiveness. As necessary, impressive, and revolutionary as their work on cold spray technology is, they've also taken the lead in defining what it means to be an industry-shaping partner with a focus on customer satisfaction that's unparalleled in the industry.

Co-founded in 2013 by cold spray innovator Rob Hrabe and Dr. Christian Widener, the global leader in the technology is also the only company providing full cradle-to-grave services. In addition to R&D they provide engineering, design, advanced additive manufacturing, robotics, integration and service repair, production manufacturing, and process development. "That gives our customers many options to implement the technology without a lot of the pain," Hrabe recently told BOSS.

Simply stated, cold spray is a high energy solid-state coating and powder consolidation process used to fuse metals, metal alloys, and metal blends. Metal particulates speed through a supersonic nozzle, propelled by gas, usually nitrogen or helium, which causes the particles to accelerate to Mach 2-3 speed, which translates to approximately 1,534 to 2,301 miles an hour.

"That's basically the speed of a rifle bullet. If you shoot a rifle bullet into a really thick metal plate, it'll embed in the surface and weld itself in there," Hrabe explained. "We're doing the same thing with small, fine powder. It's like spray-on welding; it forces the metal together with kinetic energy instead of melting it."