FRACTURE-RESISTANT SELF-LUBRICATING WEAR SURFACES
First Claim
1. An apparatus, comprising:
- a machine component;
a surface of the machine component subject to wear; and
a metallic nanostructure on the surface to resist the wear and to provide a hardness, a lubrication, and a thermal conductivity to the surface.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
Fracture-resistant and self-lubricating wear surfaces are provided. In an implementation, a machine surface that is subject to wear is coated with or is constructed of a metallic nanostructure to resist the wear and to provide fracture-resistant hardness, built-in lubrication, and thermal conductivity for heat-sinking friction. The metallic nanostructured surface may be used, for example, on a face seal, bushing, bearing, thrust member, or hydraulic flow passage of an electric submersible pump. In an implementation, the metallic nanostructured surface is a nanocrystalline alloy including nanograin twins of a body-centered cubic (BCC), face-centered cubic (FCC), or hexagonal closest packed (HCP) metal. The nanostructured alloy may include atoms of copper, silver, gold, iron, nickel, palladium, platinum, rhodium, beryllium, magnesium, titanium, zirconium, or cobalt, and may provide more hardness and lubricity than diamond-like carbon coatings or carbides.
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Citations
30 Claims
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1. An apparatus, comprising:
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a machine component; a surface of the machine component subject to wear; and a metallic nanostructure on the surface to resist the wear and to provide a hardness, a lubrication, and a thermal conductivity to the surface. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A system, comprising:
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an electric submersible pump; a component of the electric submersible pump subject to wear; and a metallic nanostructured surface of the component for resisting the wear by providing a hardness, a lubrication, and a thermal conductivity to the component. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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30. A method, comprising:
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determining at least one wear surface of an electric submersible pump; and creating a metallic nanostructured layer on the surface including nanograins and nanograin twins of a metal for providing a hardness, a lubrication, and a thermal conductivity to the wear surface.
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Specification