Abakan Inc, an emerging leader in the advanced coatings and metal formulations markets, has announced that its CermaClad high-speed large-area metal cladding technology has received the Steel Excellence Award from the American Metal Market under the ‘Best Process Innovation category’ where other notable winners in other categories included the number one steel manufacturer ArcelorMittal, Nucor Corporation, and AK Steel Holding Corporation.

Abakan’s CermaClad clad pipe manufacturing technology won this highly prestigious award as it delivers up to two orders of magnitude higher productivity, outstanding mechanical and metallurgical properties in the final product, and a host of other high-value benefits such as ease in inspection, reeling, and installation of clad pipes.

CermaClad technology uses a high-intensity plasma arc lamp to rapidly melt, fuse, and metallurgically bond corrosion-resistant and wear-resistant materials to metal substrates, including pipes. The technology addresses the large and increasing demand-supply gap for corrosion resistant alloy (CRA) clad pipes in general, and more importantly, it addresses the huge demand for large-diameter and thick-walled CRA clad pipes, which are extremely difficult to manufacture, inspect, reel, and install using existing technologies.

“This latest award further validates the significant impact that our CermaClad technology can have on improving production times, quality, cost efficiencies, and deepwater installation of clad pipes, greatly benefiting the rapidly growing $4 billion metal cladding industry,” said Robert Miller, CEO of Abakan. Almost 40 per cent of the $1.2 trillion capital expenditure from the global oil and gas industry will be directed towards deepwater pipelines of which clad pipes for risers and flowlines constitute a significant portion, said Miller. “That makes our CermaClad CRA clad pipe vital for production from these reserves.”