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Thermally Sprayed SiC Coatings for Offshore Wind Turbine Bearing Applications

Abstract

Tribological tests were conducted on thermally sprayed silicon carbide (SiC) coatings to investigate its potential on reducing wear in offshore wind turbine bearings. The tests were carried out under dry conditions, 3.5 wt.% NaCl solution, and polyalfaolefin (PAO)-lubricated conditions. In order to obtain good quality SiC coatings, it is compulsory to modify the feedstock to limit SiC decomposition during atmospheric spraying process. The SiC feedstock used in this research has been modified with yttrium aluminum garnet (Y3Al5O12) oxide additives that originated from its metal salt precursors. High-frequency pulse detonation (HFPD) technique has been utilized to produce coatings of around 100 μm in thickness. The sliding tests have recorded the lowest coefficient of friction (COF) of 0.15 in PAO condition and the highest COF of 0.50 in dry sliding. The wear tracks morphology show that during dry sliding test, the coatings experience abrasive wear accompanied by tribo-oxidation reaction that initiates crack formation along the splat boundaries. On the other two sliding test conditions (NaCl and PAO), polishing of asperities and some grain plowing from the splats were observed in the wear tracks. Tribochemical wear was found to be the main mechanism producing smooth surfaces. Nevertheless, in all cases, the wear losses were negligible.

Category

Academic article

Language

English

Author(s)

Affiliation

  • Norwegian University of Science and Technology
  • SINTEF Industry / Materials and Nanotechnology
  • Tecnalia

Year

2013

Published in

Journal of thermal spray technology (Print)

ISSN

1059-9630

Volume

22

Issue

8

Page(s)

1303 - 1309

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