"Space-Age" Surface Enhancement Coatings Fight Environmental Attacks On Oil & Gas Equipment

Design engineers, operating engineers, and equipment maintenance specialists in the oil and gas industry are increasingly turning to high-tech surface enhancement coatings that allow oil and gas operating equipment and their component parts to withstand the rigors of the environments to which they are exposed. Unprotected or inadequately protected metal components used in oil and gas exploration, completion and production operations can quickly become pitted, brittle, degraded and worn. This can lead to failure of expensive, critical equipment and serious interruptions of production and/or product flow. Offshore drilling rigs and the equipment they house, for example, are not just exposed to salt water, they are often immersed in it.

The harsh environments and corrosive product streams in the oil and gas business present extremes not unlike what metals undergo in space missions. General Magnaplate Corporation originally developed its coatings for the space industry; they are employed on every U.S. aerospace vehicle. These "space-age" coatings have come down to earth to help metal parts survive in the harsh conditions of the oil/gas business - one among the many critical metal performance challenges the coatings have met.