Engineered Components
Greene Tweed’s line of engineered, high-performance thermoplastic composite wear parts is designed to ensure that rotating equipment, e.g., pumps in settings such as refineries, chemical plants, and power generation plants, function safely and efficiently for sustained periods of time.
Greene Tweed offers a full suite of wear and abrasion-resistant solutions developed over decades in partnership with original equipment manufacturers and with input from our customers. Our extensive portfolio enables us to cover any pump designs, including single-stage, multi-stage, vertical, and positive displacement.
Composite wear and abrasion parts are lightweight sacrificial pieces that safeguard the rest of a machine’s components better and longer than metal wear parts for two main reasons: efficiency and reliability. Metal parts in contact with other metal parts are prone to galling and seizing, particularly when lacking lubricant – a frequent occurrence in industrial settings. Composite parts by their very nature are non-galling and non-seizing, eliminating the risk of wear part failure.
Traditional lower-grade, non-metallic, or rubber wear pump parts frequently require replacement as a result of their abrasive operational environments. Pumps need to be overhauled earlier or more frequently because rubber and non-metallic wear parts abrade quickly. Greene Tweed has engineered abrasion-resistant composites that extend overhaul intervals and improve pump reliability.
Upgrading to composite wear parts from metal wear parts in rotating equipment can improve overall equipment reliability, including improving the meantime between repair and minimizing the chance of catastrophic damage to expensive components such as the shaft and impeller. Composite parts also reduce vibration due to tighter clearances and can offer improved efficiency in older equipment. Overall switching from metal wear parts to composite solutions can reduce costs for an equipment’s life cycle.
Composite vs Metal Parts
In centrifugal pumps, wear materials are used as a buffer between rotating and stationary parts, which are traditionally metallic. To avoid galling and potential equipment seizure, dynamic metal clearances are set at a generous minimum as an industry standard. Non-metallic wear parts, such as Greene Tweed composites, enable smaller dynamic clearances, which provide two distinct advantages.
First, the reduced clearance restricts the recirculation of process media, thereby improving system efficiency. Second, a reduced clearance generates increased fluid pressure around the shaft, resulting in shaft stabilization and less system vibration.
Greene Tweed’s high-performance thermoplastic composites offer wear resistance and abrasion resistance in a variety of materials, temperature ranges, and operating pressures to meet different application requirements. American Petroleum Institute Standard 610, 11th Edition, includes PEEK-based composites as a viable alternative to metallic wear materials and acknowledges the significant benefits of these advanced materials.
Greene Tweed’s WR® (wear-resistant) line offers excellent wear and friction properties, along with superior non-galling and non-seizing performance and exceptional chemical resistance. The AR® (abrasion-resistant) line offers superior abrasion resistance, enabling longer product life and reduced downtime for pumps handling media-containing solids.
Additional information can be found on our Energy, ONX®, Semiconductor, Arlon® PEEK, and PEEK vs PEK vs PTFE, pages.