Solvay’s Cladding Solution Cuts Blowouts and Saves $200k Annually

When Solvay Advanced Polymers began plastics compounding in its Augusta, GA facility a decade ago, severe abrasion caused unexpected blowouts in the dilute‑phase pneumatic conveyance system. Within two weeks of starting the first compounding line, multiple elbows and pipelines failed.

The plant extrudes, palletises and packages polymers for advanced industrial applications. Its most abrasive product is AMODEL polyphthalamide, a pellet containing up to 50 % glass. These high‑velocity pellets travel at up to 5,000 fpm through straight piping and around elbows—critical points for blowouts.

Undetected blowouts cost the plant more than $200,000 annually in lost product, with each hour of an undetected blowout costing $4,000. The plant also spent an additional $60,000 a year on labor to repair daily blowouts. The cumulative effect was significant yield loss, disrupted process distributions, and increased safety and housekeeping concerns.

Alternative Methods Tested

Ken Bowles, Solvay’s compounding equipment asset coordinator, evaluated numerous fixes. Standard Type 304/316 short‑radius stainless steel pipes lasted only 7–21 days under low pressure (4 psi) conveying. Other trials included long‑radius bend elbows, pocket‑back deflection elbows, ceramic‑lined elbows, glass and glass‑lined elbows, and chrome coatings with tungsten‑carbide flame spray. Solvay also considered switching to a dense‑phase pneumatic system or spiral conveyors with vibratory feeders.

All approaches produced unacceptable outcomes: excessive pellet degradation, product contamination, and the need to remove and clean elbows between product and color changes. Given the large number of elbows, these methods were infeasible.

The Kennametal Conforma Clad Solution

The plant had already used Kennametal Conforma Clad’s popular WPR‑29 cladding to protect extruder barrels. Bowles trialled short‑radius 45° and 90° elbows on four‑, six‑ and eight‑inch conveyance lines. The elbows performed exceptionally, and Bowles quickly realized he had found a permanent wear solution.

He then phased in additional clad components: the most aggressive lines received clad pneumatic conveying lines, followed by less aggressive wear points. The original clad elbows lasted 2–3 years, with some performing after nine years of service.

Encouraged by success, Bowles specified clad pipe for 30‑inch downstream sections, clad diverter valves in 2001, clad extruder transition chutes and pelletizer strand guides, and clad cyclones in 2002. In 2003 he added clad pipe sections to the gravity system and rotated straight sections 90° to increase wear life.

Today Bowles continues to install clad parts and maintains a spare inventory. He says, “Kennametal Conforma Clad was the only walk‑away solution.” He now specifies Kennametal Conforma Clad cladding on all new equipment.

Bowles credits Kennametal engineers’ active role in projects. “We’ve faced a few challenges over the past nine years, but Kennametal Conforma Clad took joint ownership of the projects and we worked together to solve them. They want to understand our wear problems and are accountable. This has made all the difference,” he says.

Convincing top management to invest in cladding was initially difficult. Bowles collected data on labor, parts, and lost‑product savings from reduced blowouts. The company quickly realized that upfront cladding costs would be recouped through yield improvements and product‑loss reductions. The plant now recoups the cladding expense in four to five months.

Former weld repair crew members Mike Clark and Stan Branham now focus on proactive projects instead of reacting to unexpected blowouts. Branham says, “Every time an unprotected pipe blows, we replace it with one from Kennametal Conforma Clad. We paint all of the Kennametal Conforma Clad parts yellow. One day, we’d like to paint the whole line yellow.”

Kennametal Conforma Clad Technology

Kennametal Conforma Clad is a leading provider of severe‑wear solutions for industrial applications involving extreme abrasion, corrosion, and erosion.

Its proprietary infiltration‑brazed tungsten carbide cladding is metallurgically bonded to component surfaces. Kennametal’s cloth delivery system allows densely packed tungsten carbide to be uniformly applied to complex geometries, producing a protective layer that wears at a uniform, predictable rate. The result is a durable cladding that is highly abrasion‑ and corrosion‑resistant.

In addition, Kennametal offers high‑performance components using hot‑isostatic pressing (HIP) technology from Kennametal HTM. HIP‑lined barrels and screw element blanks are two such products offering outstanding wear characteristics for improved product life and process performance. More information on HIP technology and other advanced material solutions from Kennametal HTM can be found at www.kennametal.com.