Abakan Inc., Miami, Fla., announces several recent developments related to its PComP protective coatings. At a steel company in Mexico, roller screens that separate green iron ore pellets were coated with PComP-W and installed alongside rollers protected with standard coatings. After six months, the PComP-coated screens looked as good as new, but the rolls protected with standard coatings showed a dimensional loss of 6 to 15 mm, and required replacement.
Abakan’s agent in Mexico and Central America, Metallurgic Solutions, is now negotiating the terms of a commercial order. Abakan is also testing its PComP coatings in Taiwan, in cooperation with its partner in Asia, UP Scientech Materials Corp. In Western Canada, an Abakan customer who had been using PComP coatings primarily for pumps in oil sands production, now also coats mandrels, plungers, and other oilfield components for a large oilfield services company.
PComP materials are formed with a nanocomposite core and binder coating. The nanocomposite core provides high wear resistance, low friction, and light weight; the binders provide corrosion resistance, toughness, ductility, resilience, and improved deposition efficiency. This combination results in a high-toughness structure of high-hardness tiles separated by ductile binder laminates.
PComP cermet coatings impart wear and corrosion resistance, and reduce friction in sliding wear applications. They replace electrolytic hard chrome, electroplating, spray-and-fuse, and thermal spray carbides. They are designed to act as drop-in replacements for thermal-spray powders, and work with existing application systems.
