Anybody who has worked in an industrial field knows that erosion protection is one of the most important factors in preventing wear and extending the life of large, expensive, and important equipment. While corrosion is a big problem in modern industry, its less talked about but more pervasive cousin – erosion – may have a larger impact on the average plant, their efficiency, and their bottom line.
The Necessity of Erosion Protection
There are very few plants of any sort in the world that don’t have large areas dedicated to moving liquid. Whether it be hydraulic tools or water processing, there will likely be a significant amount of fluid flowing all around. This presents the essential problem with erosion as a difficulty in manufacturing and power production because of the costs and the associated down time.
Corrosion is a chemical or biological process wherein either certain reactions between matter at the molecular level or living microorganisms slowly eat away at tiny pieces of substrate. While this is negligible in any given slice of time because of the tiny nature of the interactions in most cases, over time this builds into a larger issue and can cause all sorts of problems. There are ways to prevent these reactions and neutralize the microorganisms in play, but it is impossible to arrest in perpetuity.
Erosion, on the other hand, is part and parcel of the process. All matter at a small enough level is solid. Other states of matter are produced by the concentration of mass in a certain density, but even gaseous substances have molecules that crash into other molecules when they are in motion, slowly dislodging them over time. No material on Earth is entirely immune to this, so when you move large qualities of liquid from one place to another, you will inevitably see the wearing down of the surfaces that it is moving over and through. Erosion protection reduces this effect by creating more sturdy barriers that defend against this motion.
Standard Protection
Fortunately, these sturdier barriers exist and are fairly easy to apply. Products like CeramAlloy CL+AC and CP+AC developed by ENECON are produced in trowelable pastes that harden into metal-hard protective coatings and final coatings of ceramic liquid polymers like CeramAlloy CL+AC, that allow for the free movement of liquid without putting it into direct contact with the pipes, tanks, and gratings that they will have to pass through. This extends the life of the more expensive equipment by not only armoring these parts, but also helping to rebuild them from earlier damage.
To protect your most important equipment against the processes of erosion, ENECON offers a full line of protective coatings and sealants for all types of industrial applications. Thinking ahead can avoid costly accidents and major repairs in the future. Every industrial operation needs to make sure they have a plan in place to ensure proper erosion protection.
