Engineered Materials for Mining and Extraction

Equipment maintenance and repair costs the oil sands industry over a billion dollars a year, and much of that maintenance is related to material wear and failure.

We develop advanced materials that mitigate the wear and tear associated with processes such as hydrotransport or surface mining, by offering:

• Wear resistant materials designed specifically for oil sands applications
• Improved component life and operational efficiency
• Lower operating costs for oil sands operators

We design, characterize and select of wear and corrosion-resistant materials and overlays for oil sands applications through a number of programs and services:

• Wear and Corrosion of tungsten carbide metal matrix composite (WC-MMC) Overlays Deposited by PTA-Welding joint industry project
• Polymeric liner material joint industry project
• Design of novel MMCs for wear and corrosion applications
• Testing and service contract R&D

Our unique facilities help us offer

• Plasma transferred arc (PTA) welding facility to design equipment and optimize welding parameters
• Slurry flow loop for wear materials study and to develop new liner materials (opening April 2008)
• Metallurgical analysis lab
• Laboroatory-scale wear testing

We work with:

• Oil sand operators
• Material suppliers
• Applicators
• Component manufacturers