Hardide’s tungsten carbide coatings offer improved erosion resistance and durability for oil and gas fracturing equipment, helping extend the service life of frac sleeves and reduce the risk of premature equipment failure.
The company’s Hardide-T coating is designed to protect critical components, including ball seats, ports and internal bore transitions, which are exposed to repeated high-velocity proppant impact during hydraulic fracturing operations.
Unlike conventional surface treatments, chemical vapour deposition (CVD) applies a uniform, pore-free coating across complex internal geometries. This allows components to receive protection in areas that can be difficult to reach using traditional thermal spray processes.
Independent ASTM G76-95 erosion testing found that Hardide’s CVD tungsten carbide coating delivered seven times lower erosion than the HVOF thermal spray coating it replaced on a previously eroded valve sleeve. The treated components have since been deployed permanently downhole in three land wells.
Laboratory testing recorded coating hardness of between 1,100 and 1,600 HV, alongside strain to fracture above 0.3%, providing resistance to repeated impact without the cracking and delamination associated with some harder coatings.
Further testing found that CVD tungsten carbide delivered three times better erosion resistance than steel and more than twice the performance of cemented carbide. Comparative data also indicated up to 12 times the abrasion resistance of hard chrome plating and approximately six times the wear resistance of HVOF coatings.
The technology addresses limitations associated with existing treatments. Gas nitriding improves surface hardness but creates a relatively thin hardened layer, which can expose softer underlying material once breached. Thermal spray coatings, including HVOF, are restricted by line-of-sight application and can struggle to provide consistent coverage across internal bores and ports.
Hardide plc (LON:HDD) is a pioneer in advanced tungsten/tungsten carbide CVD coatings. They showcase unmatched capabilities to greatly extend the life of complex geometry components facing extreme wear, erosion and corrosion.
