The valve manufacturer Heap & Partners has developed its own range of ‘Phase’ trunnion-mounted ball valves for the UK energy sector, and the use of the Hardide-T coating has significantly improved the valves’ performance.
Phase includes numerous variations of soft and metal-seated side entry ball valves used for the safe isolation of pipeline production and process equipment. This safety-critical application, often in erosive operating environments, meant the new valve required a durable protective coating. Heap & Partners selected Hardide-T for use in the Phase range, particularly in the smaller diameter valves, for several reasons. The primary rationale being the inherent hardness of Hardide-T, at 1100 to 1600 Hv with a typical coating thickness of 50 microns.
Peter Burnett, Business Development Manager at Heap & Partners, said: “The Hardide coating achieved excellent results, meeting all the required leakage rates and delivering consistent results on various substrates. We also chose to partner with Hardide Coatings as we worked with the team previously on a project in the nuclear sector to tackle a corrosion issue and carry out re-engineering of valves, so we knew they could deliver positive results.” Heap & Partners has now utilised Hardide-T on many ball valve applications for both oil and gas and nuclear clients.
