Status of Stellite 6 friction testing

Abstract

Listen

Translate article

For the past several years, researchers at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory, under the sponsorship of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research, have been investigating the performance of motor-operated valves subjected to design basis flow and pressure loads. Part of this research addresses the friction that occurs at the interface between the valve disc and the valve body seats during operation of a gate valve. In most gate valves, these surfaces are hardfaced with Stellite 6, a cobalt-based alloy. Analytical methods exist for predicting the thrust needed to operate these valves at specific pressure conditions. To produce accurate valve thrust predictions, the analyst must have a reasonably accurate, though conservative, estimate of the coefficient of friction at the disc-to-seat interface. One of the questions that remains to be answered is whether, and to what extent, aging of the disc and seat surfaces effects the disc-to-seat coefficient of friction. Specifically, does the environment in a nuclear plants piping system cause the accumulation of an oxide film on these surfaces that increases the coefficient of friction; and if so, how great is the increase? This paper presents results of specimen tests addressing this issue, with emphasis on the following: (1) the characteristics and thickness of the oxide film that develops on Stellite 6 as it ages; (2) the change in the friction coefficient of Stellite 6 as it ages, including the question of whether the friction coefficient eventually reaches a plateau; and (3) the effect in-service cycling has on the characteristics and thickness of the oxide film and on the friction coefficient.