Exxonmobil Research and Engineering Company

Emery Bela Lendvai-Lintner

ChangMin Chun

Narasimha-Rao Venkata Bangaru

Christopher John Fowler

John Roger Peterson

Robert Lee Antram

Neeraj Srinivas Thirumalai

Jayoung Koo

Hyun-Woo Jin

The present invention is directed to a method for protecting metal surfaces in oil & gas exploration and production, refinery and petrochemical process applications subject to solid particulate erosion at temperatures of up to 1000&#xb0; C. The method includes the step of providing the metal surfaces in such applications with a hot erosion resistant cermet lining or insert, wherein the cermet lining or insert includes a) about 30 to about 95 vol % of a ceramic phase, and b) a metal binder phase, wherein the cermet lining or insert has a HEAT erosion resistance index of at least 5.0 and a Kfracture toughness of at least 7.0 MPa-m. The metal surfaces may also be provided with a hot erosion resistant cermet coating having a HEAT erosion resistance index of at least 5.0.

Erosion resistant cermet linings for oil and gas exploration, refining and petrochemical processing applications

The present invention is directed to a method for protecting metal surfaces in oil & gas exploration and production, refinery and petrochemical process applications subject to solid particulate erosion at temperatures of up to 1000&#xb0; C. The method includes the step of providing the metal surfaces in such applications with a hot erosion resistant cermet lining or insert, wherein the cermet lining or insert includes a) about 30 to about 95 vol % of a ceramic phase, and b) a metal binder phase, wherein the cermet lining or insert has a HEAT erosion resistance index of at least 5.0 and a Kfracture toughness of at least 7.0 MPa-m. The metal surfaces may also be provided with a hot erosion resistant cermet coating having a HEAT erosion resistance index of at least 5.0. Advantages provided by the method include, inter alia, outstanding high temperature erosion and corrosion resistance in combination with outstanding fracture toughness, as well as outstanding thermal expansion compatibility to the base metal of process units. The method finds particular application for protecting process vessels, transfer lines and process piping, heat exchangers, cyclones, slide valve gates and guides, feed nozzles, aeration nozzles, thermo wells, valve bodies, internal risers, deflection shields, sand screen, and oil sand mining equipment.

Multimodal cermet compositions comprising a multimodal grit distribution of the ceramic phase and method of making are provided by the present invention. The multimodal cermet compositions include a) a ceramic phase and b) a metal binder phase, wherein the ceramic phase is a metal boride with a multimodal distribution of particles, wherein at least one metal is selected from the group consisting of Group IV, Group V, Group VI elements of the Long Form of The Periodic Table of Elements and mixtures thereof, and wherein the metal binder phase comprises at least one first element selected from the group consisting of Fe, Ni, Co, Mn and mixtures thereof, and at least second element selected from the group consisting of Cr, Al, Si and Y, and Ti. The method of making multimodal boride cermets includes the steps of mixing multimodal ceramic phase particles and metal phase particles, milling the ceramic and metal phase particles, uniaxially and optionally isostatically pressing the particles, liquid phase sintering of the compressed mixture at elevated temperatures, and finally cooling the multimodal cermet composition. Advantages disclosed by the multimodal cermets are high packing density of the ceramic phase, high fracture toughness and improved erosion resistance at high temperatures up to 1000&#xb0; C. The disclosed multimodal cermets are suitable in high temperature erosion/corrosion applications in various chemical and petroleum environments.

Bimodal and multimodal dense boride cermets with superior erosion performance

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Vienna, VA, United States of America

Emery Bela Lendvai-Lintner