Oil and gas industry components are routinely exposed to a variety of difficult wear mechanisms during their operation, and this makes ensuring long product life, reliability and minimising ‘downtime’ a key issue when designing and implementing these kinds of products.
Harmful wear processes often encountered by offshore units include:
- Abrasive wear is caused by hard particles gouging or chipping the sufaces of the substrate.
- Adhesive or galling occurs from metal to metal contact between processing equipment such as screws and barrels.
- Contacting metal surfaces subject to extreme temperatures often momentarily weld together sand then crack open upon seperation,depoisting metal particles in the material being processed.
- Corrosion results from chemical reactions between processing equipment and material being processed. Corrosive agents such as acid attack at the surafce of machine or equipment parts and components
- Erosive wear is similar to abrasive wear except the particulate is suspended in a fluid that impinges on the part
- Combinations of wear are common. Often corrosive fluids cause corrosion products ( i.e. rust) to be formed. This corrosion product is then able to act as an abrasive or erosive media
Selecting an appropriate base material can minimize these mechanisms but the environment still promotes erosion.
Typically shafts, pumps, vessels are examples of this corrosion. With the growing technology in Metal / Thermal spray coatings, it is possible to select a coating that will ensure high components protection from these mechanisms.
Coatings can be polished to provide a suitable surface to seal. Metal / Thermal spray coatings are far more cost effective and with a vast range of materials available, it is possible to increase the life of components.
Advantages include:
- Excellent corrosion resistance
- Dense coatings
- High abrasion resistance
- Can be applied on site in some cases
- In many cases the coatings are ready to use as soon as they have been applied
The materials that can be applied include Metals, Ceramics and Carbides such as:
- Zinc (TSZ) and its alloys
- Aluminium (TSA) and its alloys
- Steel- 316, 420 Stainless Steels etc
- Bronze- Aluminium, Silicon Bronze etc
- Monel®
- Nickel: Inconel®, Hastelloy® etc
- Cobalt: Stellite® etc
- Ceramics: Chrome Oxide, Aluminium Oxide etc
- Carbides: Tungsten Carbide, Chromium Carbide etc
Please contact Metal Spray Supplies Australia using the enquiries form for more information.