Keronite plasma electrolytic oxidation (PEO) technology has been used in the automotive and aerospace industries for years. It is one of the newest crossover technologies that has made its way into the oil and gas industry.

The Keronite PEO process converts the surface of aluminum alloys into an extremely hard, dense, highly adherent and uniform aluminum oxide ceramic layer. The Keronite ceramic layer is produced by means of a plasma discharge in a low concentration alkaline electrolyte that is environmentally friendly.

The transformed surface offers extremely good corrosion and abrasive wear resistance including resistance to sliding wear, fretting and cold welding.

Applications

As new oil reservoirs are found in remote areas and deeper waters, advanced technologies are required to ensure efficient and reliable subsea production systems, and lighter materials are being sought to improve handling capabilities. Likewise, the efficiency of existing fields needs to be improved and downtime reduced to compensate for falling production rates. This too is calling for equipment that is easier to manufacture, handle, and maintain.

This explains why the use of aluminum in the oil and gas, subsea, and marine industries is on the rise. Applications can include mud heaters and funnels, drill pipe, casing, tubing, risers, pumps, and valves for oil and gas, pressure housings for seismic and geophysical data logging tools in subsea, subsea camera housing, expendable drill nozzles and winches in the marine industry. Keronite is an enabling technology that can lighten the weight of components and assemblies in a challenging environment. This technology has been used on a wide range of components, enabling the use of lightweight aluminum components to operate in applications where stainless steel components would normally be used, resulting in cost and weight savings.

An aluminum pressure vessel used to protect expensive seismic instruments was treated with a Keronite system and was tested for three months in an accelerated salt fog environment followed by three months in shallow seawater in Southampton. At the end, the housing showed no sign of corrosion damage or any surface fouling. Keronite on winches for racing yachts proves to outperform hard anodized coatings. The parts are constantly under stress in races and Keronite provides the corrosion resistance required for long lasting performance.

A world renowned electrical goods manufacturer produces purpose made die cast aluminum heat exchangers with a cast in heating coil. These are used to heat down hole mud solutions to prevent thickening and freezing in extreme conditions. The mud heater is coated with a Keronite duplex system to ensure in service wear resistance from the abrasive artificial mud slurry.

A mud funnel is a lightweight aluminum part of the down hole mud system used to lubricate the drill tool and to flush rock chips and debris from the drill face. The funnel is coated with a Keronite system to ensure longevity and good resistance against the extreme wear conditions.