Tribology of Advanced Materials and Coatings

A recent a government of Canada report estimated that the cost of wear to Canadian Industry is in the billions of dollars annually. In the present proposal the principles of tribology (wear and friction) will be exploited to develop novel coatings to meet technological advances in the oil and gas industry.

Oil and gas pipelines are subjected to severe erosive and corrosive conditions, which could lead to catastrophic failure. The global cost of such failure is very high, in addition to the irreversible damage to life and the environment. This has necessitated the search for superior internal protective coatings. The traditional method for protecting oil and gas pipeline steels is the use of epoxy-based coatings. However, to satisfy the ever-increasing demand for energy, today pipelines are operated at higher pressures and temperatures, under these sever conditions, traditional protection methods do not provide adequate results.

Electroless nickel-phosphorous (Ni-P) coatings provide excellent alternative to epoxy-based. Ni-P coatings exhibit superior corrosion resistance over many commercially available coatings, as well as, high hardness, uniform thickness and low coefficient of friction. However, electroless Ni-P coatings suffer from low toughness. Inferior toughness of coatings leads to reduced erosion and dent resistance. Denting of brittle coatings can lead to Brinell damage during installation and maintenance of coated pipes. Denting results in exposure of the steel surface, which leads to accelerated erosion and corrosion. The low toughness of Ni-P has limited its use in applications where high erosion and dent resistance in required.

To enhance the toughness of the Ni-P coatings, I propose to incorporate particles of superelastic TiNi shape memory alloy within the coating. The addition of TiNi particles is believed to greatly enhance the toughness of the coating as well as its erosion and dent resistance. The TiNi particles are expected to retard cracking of the coating during erosion and denting events. Due to its unique superelastic effect, TiNi is expected to absorb the mechanical energy that accompany erosion and denting events. The objective of this research is to develop and investigate the applicability of using novel electroless Ni-P-TiNi superelastic composite coating for the oil and gas industry. The new coating is expected to exhibit high erosion and dent resistance.

The Canadian petroleum industry is known for its commitment to the highest standards for health and safety throughout its operations. The present proposal will strengthen Canada's position in preventing pipeline failures and their catastrophic effect on life and environment. In addition, the proposed research would provide economic benefit by preventing down-time. The proposed research is expected to result in new technology that would be available to the oil and gas and other relevant industries.