A revolutionary scientific technology in high demand with Rolls-Royce, the space science department at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory and even the US military is to be celebrated at the annual HIPIMS conference.

The HIPIMS 2014 conference, being held in Sheffield between Monday 30 June and Thursday 3 July, will also see the official launch of the National HIPIMS Technology Centre, supported by a number of huge companies including Rolls-Royce, IHI Ionbond, Biomet, Sandvik, Fraunhofer, Trumpf Hüttinger and others.

The new centre marks a key part in the journey of HIPMS, High Power Impulse Magnetron Sputtering, which has been spearheaded by Sheffield Hallam University Professor Arutiun Ehiasarian.

The scientific plasma technology, backed up by multi-million pound equipment in Sheffield Hallam's new £6m laboratories, pulses out several megawatts of power to create a highly ionised gas-metal plasma.

The plasma is used to produce a special coating to enhance performance of hip joints, turbine blades, piston rings and even space satellites.

More recently, HIPIMS was approached by US Army engineers to help efforts to implement an improved coating for Howitzer breech spindles with several potential benefits — easing the logistical burden on soldiers, reducing hazardous waste and saving millions of dollars.

Professor Hovsepian, head of Thin Films Research Centre at Sheffield Hallam, said: 'The launch of the National HIPIMS Technology Centre is a representation of all we have achieved in this science over the past 13 years. Sheffield Hallam deserves the credit for this - it saw the potential in what was then a very new and unproven concept and backed us to the hilt.

'Now HIPIMS is acknowledged as a world power in coatings technology." Professor Wolfgang Diehl, deputy director for Fraunhofer IST and chairman of the board of directors of the Sheffield Hallam and Fraunhofer IST Joint HIPIMS Research Laboratory added: “Sheffield Hallam is known for the upscaling of HIPIMS technology and for many years has acted internationally as the home of industrial HIPIMS.

'It was only natural for Fraunhofer IST to support the establishment of the National HIPIMS Technology Centre. Implementing novel technologies and serving industry is fully in line with the Fraunhofer philosophy, therefore we wish the new UK initiative in the field of HIPIMS a great success.'

Professor Paul Harrison, pro vice chancellor for research and innovation at Sheffield Hallam, said: 'Creating a National HIPIMS Technology Centre will enable us to develop Papken and Arutiun's world-class research with new and existing commercial partners. I wish everyone in the HIPIMS community a successful conference.'