Repair of Stainless Steel Shafts and Axles with Material Build-up | Innovative Repair with Kanmeta Cold Spray

Cold spray was applied for the repair of bearing wear areas and corrosion-induced material loss on Stainless Steel shafts and axles at a petrochemical plant.

Customer's Challenge:

There were several concerns with existing repair techniques for material loss in Stainless Steel shafts and axles:

　1)High heat input from welding on Stainless Steel shafts and similar equipment can cause distortion.
　2)Fusion thermal spraying with self-bonding alloys involves temperatures over 1000°C, carrying a high risk of distortion.
　3)In corrosive environments, corrosion resistance is required, but anti-corrosion thermal spraying is difficult to apply for material build-up,
　　and there is a limit to the coating thickness.

Kanmeta Engineering's Proposal:

Kanmeta Cold Spray was adopted due to the following benefits:

　1)No high heat input, preventing damage to the base material.
　2)No limitation on coating thickness, with environmental barrier capabilities to withstand harsh corrosion environments.
　3)Flexible application, making it suitable for existing equipment.

 Results:

　1)The material loss areas were repaired with a thick, high-environmental-barrier cold spray coating, providing three-dimensional restoration.
　2)Even on Stainless Steel, which are sensitive to heat, the cold spray was applied without any adverse effects.
　3)High-performance coatings were applied over the existing equipment, eliminating the need for component replacement.