Wear resistance is the key to increasing the lifetimes of reciprocating compressor spare parts. This is not only connected to sealing materials and gas compositions but also to the application conditions and – most importantly – to the counter surfaces like the piston rod or cylinder liner materials and coatings. As an approach to improve the service lifetime of common sealing materials, the project “tribology on laser coated surfaces” was executed. The target was to characterize the wear resistance and friction coefficients of standard sealing materials against a new coating, the Diamond-like carbon (DLC) coating.
Four commonly used sealing materials were selected and tribologically characterized to measure the wear rates and friction coefficients against standard counter surfaces as a benchmark. All tests were performed in a Hydrogen atmosphere to follow our mission statement for enabling the reciprocating compressor to be a key element for a carbon-neutral world. The reciprocating tribometer used for these investigations is a unique testing device, that can apply conditions that are close to real reciprocating compressor applications.
Join our EFRC R&D Working Group to share experience, to learn more about tribology and how to improve the reliability of reciprocating compressor spare parts.
