Facilities
Industrial operations in mining, oil and gas, forestry, power generation, and materials processing often face aggressive wear conditions that can significantly reduce equipment life and increase maintenance costs. Abrasion, erosion, impact, corrosion, and combinations of these mechanisms can rapidly degrade critical assets and affect operational reliability.
InnoTech Alberta helps organizations identify, develop, qualify, and deploy wear resistant materials and surface engineering solutions that reduce degradation, extend equipment life, and improve operational performance. Our team combines materials expertise, advanced manufacturing capabilities, and industrially relevant testing to help clients select the right solution for their operating environment.
We work with a broad range of wear-resistant material systems, including:
Our expertise supports both new equipment design and life-extension programs for existing assets operating in demanding industrial environments.
Developing effective wear solutions requires more than selecting a material. InnoTech Alberta works with clients to develop and evaluate wear-resistant materials using a variety of advanced manufacturing technologies, including:
Our objective is to help organizations develop practical solutions that improve durability while remaining suitable for industrial deployment and long-term operation.
Effective wear protection begins with understanding the operating environment and the mechanisms driving material degradation. InnoTech Alberta investigates wear processes and failure mechanisms to identify mitigation strategies and guide material selection.
Typical applications include:
This understanding enables the development of targeted solutions rather than simply selecting harder or more expensive materials.
Testing remains an important part of the wear materials development process. Our wear testing programs are designed to generate meaningful performance data for material selection, comparison, and technology validation under representative operating conditions.
Customized testing programs can also be developed to reproduce client-specific operating conditions and wear environments.
InnoTech Alberta supports the complete path from concept development through field deployment. Beyond material design and testing, we help clients qualify materials, evaluate competing technologies, compare manufacturing approaches, and generate the technical evidence required for deployment decisions.
Our work spans material development, manufacturing technology assessment, performance validation, and industrial implementation, helping organizations make informed decisions regarding equipment reliability and life extension.
Through programs such as the MARIOS Consortium, InnoTech Alberta works with mine operators, manufacturers, and technology developers to advance wear mitigation solutions that improve equipment reliability and reduce lifecycle costs. Activities include wear-resistant materials, protective coatings, carbide-based technologies, and non-metallic wear systems.
A recent example involved the development of a weldable cemented tungsten carbide wear tile using spark plasma sintering. The technology achieved attachment strengths more than twice those of conventional brazed joints, creating a more reliable wear protection solution for mining applications.
Partnering with InnoTech Alberta provides organizations with several key advantages: