Butterfly Valve Bushing - Aluminium Bronze & Copper

[wagga]

Hi All

We normally used Aluminium (or Aluminum) Bronze for the bushing of our cooling water (sea) butterfly valve.

We have a proposal from a manufacturer using Copper instead.
The EPDM seat separate the service product from the bushing.

Just want to get any feedback from users out there who had experience using both Aluminium Bronze & Copper.

Thanks in advance

 

[gerhardl]

Hi wagga,

It will always give you a better answer if you try to specify your question and give as much detailed information as possible.

For instance:
What is the size of your valve, 2" or 1000"? What is the reason for the proposal of using copper? Cannot the factory produce in the required material, have no references or experience for this and/or or good experience with the copper? Which copper alloy? (Surely not pure copper!)

Notes on reaction (galvanic corrugation?) with other materials on the valve? Differences in operation from previous experiences?

Correct material choices for valves is always influenced on a number of factors, more than mentioned above.

One or the other of the combinations above cannot generally be said to be better than the other, at least not without an exact description of the alloy and an exact description of the application. Even seawater cannot be compared to seawater without temperature and chemical composition described (North Sea versus Mexican Gulf or Indian Ocean as examples)

Generally aluminium bronze can be said to be a more 'modern developed and used' material than copper alloys, without this being a reason for your final choice.