Shermco Industries and Caterpillar have signed a five-year agreement to expand advanced wear coatings services for large metal parts in the North American industrial sector.
According to Caterpillar, its line of advanced wear coatings extends the service life and performance of Caterpillar machine components – whether new or remanufactured. Now it is making the product available to other equipment manufacturers, as well as to users of large industrial equipment.
By working with Caterpillar, Shermco says its will further strengthen its position in the industrial market in extending a part's lifecycle well beyond its expected original life.
According to Shermco, the product can help prolong wind turbine main shafts. Utilizing state-of-the-art laser cladding technology, the product enables the damage due to main bearing failures to be repaired in an environmentally responsible manner compared to the current chrome plating process, Shermco says.
In addition, the laser process, which creates a full metallurgical bond with the shaft substrate, can be used to repair damage to the coupling area in shrink disk designs, where previously the shaft would be scrapped, the company notes, adding that additional gearbox component projects are in development using laser cladding as well as other advanced metal coating technologies.
