A new material has been developed by ZeMC² to produce wear components for pumps. In the past, it was easy to manufacture a component that would last but the hardness they required to prevent them from wearing would wear the shaft on which they rode; this new material, the company says, “is the first to demonstrate neither measurable wear, nor mar to the shaft after five years in continuous service and to do it at high temperature. ZeMC², a manufacturer of Bulk Molding Compounds (BMC), has provided Carver Pump, a large and well known manufacturers of high end centrifugal pumps, with a new material that has eliminated measurable wear.”
A pump was returned to Carver Pump containing the parts manufactured with ZeMC² BMC for refurbishing after five years in the field; upon disassembly and inspection, no measurable (0.000) or visual wear was detected on the wear bushing or on the shaft.
In centrifugal pumps, the tradeoff has always been that either the moving or the stationary part must wear. The turning pump shafts and the stationary housings were expensive, so wear components were placed sacrificially between the two. The balance has always been to have wear components soft enough not to wear the shaft but hard enough to last. This balance had not been reached until now.
The following comments by R3 Composites’ CEO, the moulder for Carver Pump, gives a good indication of the toughness and wear resistance of new components manufactured from ZeMC² BMC:
“Carver Pump has been working with a potential new customer who is an OEM to sell them high-pressure pumps (Carver Ring Section RS pump) for inclusion in their product. Each ring section in one of these pumps contains multiple wear rings and bushings made of Zeon ZeMC² 3033 HT [the technical name for the new material] moulded and machined by R3 Composites. Carver Pump supplied one typical pump to this customer for evaluation before placing orders. They ran this test pump through performance, endurance and accelerated usage test and returned it to Carver pump for inspection. The customer reported the pump ran beautifully no matter what they through at it. On inspection, it appears they ran everything but the kitchen sink through the pump without problems or loss of performance. Metal parts and hose fittings were found lodged inside the pump along with other discarded floor debris. All of the rings and bushings appeared to be in good shape with minimal dimensional change except for scars on the working surfaces where the foreign materials worked their way through the tight clearances on the pump during operation.” – Aaron Rutin, CEO, R3 Composites
This BMC is available in Kevlar/ceramic filled and carbon fibre /ceramic filled, each designed for specific environments.
ZeMC² is a partner of Zeon Technologies, a manufacturing company which offers ideal materials to replace or create new products for the pump industry. Every application is unique and given utmost attention to implement materials that are best suited for pump operations. Thus, such materials offer the industry a new outlet for obtaining high performance, low maintenance, and cost effective materials for today’s and future use.
