Application Spotlight: Erosion Resistance

Excessive exposure to water droplets and solid particles can have an impinging effect on various surfaces. For example, they can cause material loss from solid surfaces when mechanical interaction occurs. If parts such as rotor blades and turbines are affected, erosion can cause a reduction of blade material and drop in turbine efficiency respectively. That’s why it is highly recommended that you take prompt action before the performance efficiency drops.

At A&A Coatings, we have many years of experience in increasing erosion resistance for many different parts and equipment. You can be sure that we are the right partners that can help you select the most ideal coating for your unique application. We will also consider a myriad of factors including substrate properties such as temperature capability as well as other conditions like particle size of erosion media.

Common Coatings That Offer Erosion Resistance

Below is a quick look at what the available coating families are as well as their respective performance characteristics:

Tungsten carbide or WC: For starters, tungsten carbide coatings provide heavy erosion protection. It can be applied via the High Velocity Oxygen Fuel (HVOF) process on a variety of substrate materials that feature low fatigue debit.
Titanium nitride or TiN: Next up, are titanium nitride coatings and they provide stellar low-angle erosion protection. These coatings are perfect for aircraft components, where coating thickness and weight are major concerns.

What You Need to Know about Titanium Nitride Coatings

Considering TiN coatings for your parts?

An overview on the today’s challenges: Modern gas turbines that are designed to generate power usually use water fogging to adjust performance/efficiency. The water droplets impacting the leading edge of these compressor blades may result in liquid droplet erosion of the base metal. If this issue is left unresolved, you could expect the erosion to lead to a reduction of the chord width. This will also happen over extended periods of operation, leading to fatigue crack issues that could worsen.

Whether you opt for TiAICN, TiAIN, TiZrN, TiCN or TiN coatings, you can expect these coatings to prolong the life of compressor parts in a sand erosion environment. Yes, protection against liquid droplet erosion is covered too. With the availability of multilayer TiN coatings, you can also rest assured that today’s parts can be enhanced to operate in severe water-wash, fogging or coastal environments. Now that’s one less worry off your mind.

What is Cavitation Erosion?

This type of erosion is basically the process of surface material loss and surface deterioration. The causes include the relative movement between a metal surface and a corrosive fluid as well as the generation of gas pockets or vapor inside the flow of liquid. Cavitation erosion does not only occur on the surfaces of metals but non-metals as well. This form of erosion needs to be prevented by applying the right thermal spray coatings because they can destroy both valuable and critical equipment. Cavitation erosion damage can extend to power station, military, industrial equipment, parts, and more. Even the safety of the operators of these equipment are at risk too.