Maintenance and repair welding cases

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Hydropower plants:

The most common steels used for hydropower components is the martensitic 13/4 CrNi steel. This steel offers good mechanical characteristics, satisfying machinability, weldability and considerable resistance against erosion and cavitation. Yet, combining all these different features is a compromise to a certain extent.

Cavitation occurs to varying degrees throughout the wide spectrum of hydraulic machine types, sizes and ages. Cavitation produces local elastic and/or plastic deformation of the surface and provokes surface tearing or surface fatigue. The length of the incubation period depends on both cavitation intensity and the material's resistance / suface finish.

Heavily worn Pelton wheel

Sand erosion occurs to areas subject to turbulence or changes in direction. In order to characterize the behaviour of each coating material against sand erosion, tests were performed on specimens with a special device developed at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology of Lausanne. After the first qualification with a speed of 65 m/s and an angle of 15 degrees for many different coating materials, the HVOF (WC/Co/Cr) and Arc Spraying gave the best results. They were then used for further experimentation in varying the speed and the angle.

Actually, there is an increased need for tailor-made coatings to improve wear resistance of turbine components. A broad range of coating systems is proposed such as HVOF, Plasma, Arc spraying, Welding and Cold Polymeric Coating Systems.

Selected coatings for Francis turbines

Increased availability and efficiency of hydropower plants and the protection or repair of expensive components is the final objective of Wear-Management. Surface protection technologies such as HVOF or arc spraying as well as new materials for welding offer the possibility of optimized wear solutions.

Thermal power station

Thermal power station: Wear-Management as a key contributor to business profitability

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