Chemical Manufacturing - Albuquerque, NM, US
Thor Technologies was founded in 1999 to apply synthetic chemistry to problems in the manufacture of ceramic materials, particularly ceramic coatings, ceramic based adhesives, and fiber-reinforced ceramic composites. Ceramic coatings under development include the nitrides of aluminum, boron and silicon, as well as ceramic oxides such as zirconia and partially–stabilized zirconia. Simple methods for the repair of damaged thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) in combustion turbines are currently under development.Ceramic composites under development include carbon and silicon carbide fiber reinforced silicon carbide, silicon nitride, boron nitride and refractory matrix materials, such as hafnium and zirconium diboride. Our unique processing method enables the manufacture of hybrid metal/ceramic composites in which low-density metals, such as copper, aluminum, steel, Inconel and other alloys, may be co-processed with the ceramic composite to yield a component with integrally-bonded metal features. These metal features can range from lugs to facilitate the attachment of the component to supporting metal structure, to coolant manifolds for actively cooled structures or metal-lined ceramic gun barrels.