COATINGS FOR FLOW CONTROL

Hardide coatings are particularly suitable for metal-seated ball valve applications.

Ball valves can suffer from abrasion by sand or stone debris present in fluids and from erosion by accelerating flow when the valve is being opened or closed. Hardide coatings render valve parts scratch-proof and are extremely effective in protecting ball valves from abrasion and erosion from flow acceleration and corrosive chemicals. The CVD coating application is binder-free and provides a consistent coating thickness, reduces assembly costs and the matching of seats to valve bodies is not required.

In slurry tests undertaken by valve and pump manufacturer Flowserve, Hardide-coated 316 balls and seats remained operational after more than 70,000 cycles in slurry, whereas Co-Cr wear-resistant balls and seats failed in 29,000 cycles.

The coating can be applied easily to internal surfaces and complex shapes enabling greater valve design flexibility, while the smooth and uniform ‘as coated’ finish streamlines in-house finishing operations, meaning faster turnaround times, improved quality control and traceability.

Hardide coatings are technically comparable and a superior performing replacement for Stellite and hard chrome plating.

Hardide coatings extend the life of pump components and enhance performance in applications where the handling of chemically aggressive or abrasive fluid causes costly loss of production and downtime.

In one application, the Hardide coating delivered a four-fold increase in life in positive displacement pumps handling viscous fluids containing abrasive pigments and fillers.

Operational efficiency is improved on positive displacement pumps, drilling mud pumps, reciprocating pumps, progressive cavity pumps, multi-stage centrifugal pumps, lobe pumps and vane pumps.