Laser cladding to prolong piston life

The company, which offers maintenance and repair services for components from multiple manufacturers, has developed a robotised laser cladding process. This minimises welding, causes less thermal shock to the base material than other repair techniques and replaces the old chromium layer’s galvanic application.

The new coating extends the piston head’s lifespan and time between overhauls (TBO) compared to conventional chromium layers, said Ole Pyndt Hansen, director, QuantiServ.

“We have field-tested the new technology on container vessels, and after 15,000 running hours, the results are very promising, showing excellent running behaviour and very low piston wear rates,” he said. “Based on these tests, we predict that reconditioning the piston by using the new laser cladding process can almost double its lifespan.”

The technology was developed at QuantiServ’s Reconditioning knowledge centre in Kruiningen, Netherlands and will be made available for customers in selected QuantiServ remanufacturing workshops globally this year.