Why to Use Ceramic Plunger and Ceramic Cylinder for Petroleum Machinery

A ceramic plunger is commonly used in petroleum machinery. It consists of a plunger body with a connecting end, a metal core body on the inside, and a ceramic material shell on the outside. A sealing layer is present at the contact surface between the core and shell, and a plugging head is attached to the end of the plunger body.

This technical scheme provides superior wear resistance to the plunger due to the ceramic coating on the metal core body. In fact, the wear resistance of a ceramic plunger can exceed that of a metal plunger by 5-10 times. Furthermore, the ceramic material's corrosion resistance addresses the corrosion problem of the plunger, thereby significantly prolonging its service life. As a result, a plunger pump equipped with a ceramic plunger can operate normally in harsh working environments.

The plunger body also features a plugging head, which enhances its strength and creates a more compact combination between the two.

High pressure plays a critical role in oil drilling equipment. Its main function is to pressurize and transport mud underground, cool and lubricate the drill bit, and convey rock chippings. The efficiency of these tasks significantly impacts the drilling progress.

The cylinder's service life directly affects the use efficiency and replacement frequency. Frequent replacements not only consume a lot of manpower and financial resources, but also indirectly increase the cost of transportation and storage pump accessories and reduces drilling efficiency. At present, many metal cylinder liners (including single metal and double metal cylinder liners) have problems, such as unsatisfactory service life and needing frequent replacement.

Zirconia / alumina ceramic material has excellent properties such as high hardness, high strength, wear resistance and corrosion resistance. It has solved a series of problems posed by the metal cylinder liner. The ceramic cylinder has the following advantages:

  1. Long service life. Under the same conditions, the service life of the cylinder is more than 8 times that of metal.
  2. The machining accuracy is high.
  3. The worse the drilling conditions are, the more obvious the advantages of the ceramic cylinder liner are.
  4. Greatly reduce the cost of transportation and reduce the labor intensity of workers.
  5. Ceramic materials do not rust.

IEQ maintains an active stock of commonly used sizes of ceramic plungers. Need something custom? Reach out to us today.

This article was originally published to ACM.