Miba awarded Austrian State Prize for Innovation for its sputter technology
November 20, 2020

Miba AG, Laakirchen, Austria, reports that its sputter technology was awarded the Austrian State Prize for Innovation with the jury prize for radical innovations, which was awarded for particularly outstanding achievements. Chaired by Rector Meinhard Lukas from the Johannes Kepler University Linz, the jury honoured Miba’s outstanding research and development work with the award.
Miba explains that its sputter technology makes aircraft more efficient, more environmentally friendly and quieter. The coating process reportedly leads to 15% less fuel consumption, 20% less noise and 15% less CO2 emissions in aircraft turbines.
The development of Miba’s sputter technology took more than twenty years, and it is now being installed in more than half of all new medium-sized aircraft (single-aisle aircraft) worldwide. The gears in the gearboxes of the aircraft turbines are coated by Miba’s sputtering process, meaning they require less installation space, thus making the turbine more efficient, more environmentally friendly and quieter.
According to Miba, pilots have reported that the effect is so great, they can no longer hear the turbine from a speed of 100 km / h. Since the start of series production in 2016, the company explains that the technology has developed into a successful Miba product, with development work continuing. Miba states that the next step is working on a lead-free sputter coating, which would make the technology even more environmentally friendly.
“The sputter technology is one of many examples of how we contribute to more sustainable, environmentally-friendly mobility with our products,” commented F Peter Mitterbauer, Miba CEO. “We do this in line with our corporate mission “Technologies for a cleaner planet” we want to work every day to use our technologies to make the production, transmission, storage and use of energy even more efficient – and thus to contribute to a cleaner planet.”