New Coating Provides Innovative Solution for Oil Sands Equipment Wear and Tear

Oil sands producers need to count on their plant equipment to operate without fail in an aggressive operating environment that includes abrasive sands and corrosive chemicals. Without this durability, they face the risk of plant downtime or, worse, environmental leaks. 

Working with partners including Vancouver area-based Pacific Particulate Materials (PPM), a world leader in developing high-performance industrial metal alloy powders, InnoTech’s researchers developed an overlay (coating) of chromium carbide, an extremely hard ceramic compound. When the crystals of chromium carbide are fused with metal surfaces, it improves the wear resistance and strength of the metal, even at high temperatures. As an added advantage, the compound can be melted onto metal surfaces, using an innovative plasma arc welding process, to create an extra thick protective layer.

  • Close-up of equipment
  • Chromium Carbide
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