4 Types of Damages Protected by Siding Wear Coatings

When you rub two objects together, it creates friction. In many cases, this friction can cause wear. Industrial metal pieces should be equipped with low friction coatings that keep them safe from erosion. Wear can change the shape of a piece of equipment and can cause severe damage or even complete malfunction of a product as a result.

Wear resistance is one of the most important things that many people consider when purchasing a piece of equipment, but nearly any large piece of industrial metal equipment is subject to erosion and wear, regardless of the material it’s made of. Boilers, steam turbines, and jet engines, among others, are subject to constant movement and sliding, and other highly localized stress. While many hard coatings are good at maintaining stationary pieces, specific sliding wear coatings are necessary to protect against additional wear.

Sliding wear can be categorized into several different categories, that all have varying degrees of damage.

Abrasion

Abrasion causes very rapid wear. Rough surface scratches and cuts, can allow grit or dirt to get in between the sliding pieces.

Adhesion

When surfaces slide against one another, some material can transfer from one piece to the other. This can result in galling or seizure of the machine altogether, if the adhesion is severe enough.

Coating these parts with a harder surface will disallow the adhesion of the surfaces and allow for smooth, non-stick sliding.

Erosion

Erosion can be caused by damage to the surface of a material, and its severity varies depending upon the velocity and hardness of the item that hit it, as well as the angle of impact.

Fatigue and Stress Cracking

Just as humans get tired when they are overworked, similar things can happen to machinery. When a gear fixture is not given proper rest time, the fixture can crack, resulting in component failure.

Though machinery that is subjected to constant stress and fatigue fractures should be redesigned, high-quality coatings can protect substrates from intense cracking due to long use.

The average consumer might not realize it, but they depend on industrial coatings every day. As of 2014, more than 352 million gallons of industrial coatings like sliding wear coatings were sold, with a total value of at least $6.8 billion.