Almost all industrial processes involving liquids have used pumps in certain areas. From deep sea oil and gas exploration to DNA sequencing, pumps are required to perform a variety of production tasks. However, regardless of pump design or size, the key to every application is reliability and efficiency. Minimizing downtime and operating costs is critical to modern industry.

For those customers who use large industrial pumps, the special challenges they face include the following two points. First, they usually work under harsh environmental conditions. Second, they must be sustained while sustaining the threat of corrosion and abrasion. The excellent performance of the pump. With the increasing understanding of these production processes and the technologies used to solve the problems in the production process, users can implement more cost-effective pump repair procedures.


corrosion

In general, the chemical reaction between the surface of the part and the reaction fluid flowing through the pump is defined as corrosion. Corrosion can be divided into two major categories: general or uniform corrosion and localized corrosion, and the latter such as pitting and crevice corrosion. Non-stainless steels are primarily affected by uniform corrosion, while those that form an oxide layer that adheres to the surface of an object and passivates the surface are susceptible to localized corrosion.

Flow accelerated corrosion

Flow accelerated corrosion (FAC) refers to the removal of a protective oxide layer on a metal surface. The speed of this process is affected by the oxygen content, flow rate, and to some extent the chlorine content. The calcium layer formed due to the high carbonate hardness of water can weaken or even prevent FAC.

Coating technology improves pump performance and durability

The effect of oxygen can be seen in the following examples: In water containing less than 20 ppb (parts per billion) oxygen and a flow rate of about 15 m/s, the corrosion rate is usually about 0.01 mm/year. However, when the oxygen content increases, the corrosion rate will increase to a few millimeters per year, which will bring significant challenges to the industrial production process.

Fortunately, the FAC poses only real problems with mild steel and cast iron. Increasing the chromium content or using stainless steel will largely eliminate the vulnerability caused by flow accelerated corrosion.