Equipment in Abrasive Environment
Equipment in Abrasive Environment
(OP)
I'm working on an application using pneumatics in a plant that will have airborne cement dust. Does anyone have practical tips for what works and what doesn't in this type of environment? I'm especially concerned about the cylinders, valves, bushings, and bearings(esentially anything that moves). The air used will be dry clean air, but there will be dust gathering on the cylinder rods, etc.
I've got some ideas of things that will probably work, but I'd like some practical feedback. Do bellows/boots help? Do cylinders last longer if they are run without lube? Are there special bearing materials that hold up well?
Thanks in advance,
Farmboy
I've got some ideas of things that will probably work, but I'd like some practical feedback. Do bellows/boots help? Do cylinders last longer if they are run without lube? Are there special bearing materials that hold up well?
Thanks in advance,
Farmboy





RE: Equipment in Abrasive Environment
Hello.
Yes, I'd avoid any form of 'wet' lubrication. Lubricants will only trap dry erosive particulate and accelerate wear.
Erosive applications like this are best mitigated through surface hardening.
Consider heat treat for hardness, then polishing and coating. Coatings with 'micro-hardness' are key. Worthwhile examples include B4C ("black diamond") and PCD (polycrystalline diamond).
Erosive applications can be difficult. If you can't eliminate the cement dust through filtration or other isolation-containment, wear-abrasion will likely continue using coatings, albeit at a slower rate.
For more coatings help, see:
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Good luck!
William Gunnar
http://www.IndustrialCoatingsWorld.com
RE: Equipment in Abrasive Environment
Know that the best thing you can do in an environment like that is make sure that everything can easily be replaced. Putting you cylinders in special enclosures and using covers can add a little life, but it also has the potential to add days of down time trying to get to something that is going to fail.
My last position was designing equipment in a foundry and a tremendous amount of effort was put into making sure that all the wear components can be easily changed. Protection is nice, but in some places the protective equipment may do more harm than good.
I would also include redundent systems into everything so the inevitable maintenance could be performed durring scheduled down times.
RE: Equipment in Abrasive Environment
I did a little research on Diamond-Like Carbon coatings and it seems like a good product for mass produced parts. Is it practical to have a just couple of parts coated? Where could I do this? It seems like it requires specialized equipment to perform the coating.
James, I think you've got a great suggestion. I think you've hit on the main problem with our existing equipment. It's too difficult to replace when it fails.
I may go with rebuildable cylinders that can be swapped out quickly and rebuilt offline.
Thanks,
Farmboy
RE: Equipment in Abrasive Environment
Rod
RE: Equipment in Abrasive Environment
Take a look at coatings used in tool cutting. Since they too must combat high abrasive wear.
Coatings like these are processed in larger batches, which means lower minimum charges to you.
Try Oerlikon-Balzers' Futura Nano, which is associated with titanium alumina nitride (TiAlN). Minimum charges, I believe, are around $100-$150. Very reasonable.
Other coatings for extreme wear, like those from IonBond, include boron carbide (B4C or 'black diamond') and polycrystalline diamond (PCD). Minimum charges may be a little higher.
If you like, here's a little more help:
<a href="http
Good luck!
William Gunnar
http://www.IndustrialCoatingsWorld.com
RE: Equipment in Abrasive Environment
Abrasives will eventually get between moving parts in an environment such as yours thats where a stringent maintenance plan would need to be in effect.There are products out there that would protect your linkages to some degree an example of this is the wrapping thats used in protecting new parts from corrossion(sorry for the life of me I cannot remember the product name)and is used in pumping stations in mining to prevent water rusting bolts on pumps.This may be very effective in your environment.
RE: Equipment in Abrasive Environment
http://www.densona.com/Index.htm
For bearing sealing look at products by Inpro or Isomag.
http://www.inpro-seal.com/design.html
http://www.isomag.com/
For sealing hydraulic cylinders there are double lip seals that do a very good job. We used one that was quite similar to the one used on CAT equipment.
On some systems we let a water tolerant grease be the excluding agent. We mainly used products from Lubrication Engineers. The grease products were 1275 or 3752. Both of these products are very water resistant.
ht
RE: Equipment in Abrasive Environment
RE: Equipment in Abrasive Environment
RE: Equipment in Abrasive Environment
RE: Equipment in Abrasive Environment
While this example may not be germane to your specific application; the concept still applies. Accept that you are going to have wear in this environment and make the part that wears be the one that is quickest, easiest, and least expensive to replace.
rmw