Environmental benefits of Keronite

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Environmental benefits of Keronite
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Benefits of Keronite

• In addition to the many performance benefits
  of Keronite coatings, there are a number of
  environmental advantages
• Keronite enables the use of lighter alloys where
  this was not previously possible. This leads to
  a reduction in fuel consumption and the
  associated emissions.
• By reducing friction, Keronite surfaces improve
  engine efficiency.
• Keronite coated alloys can be recycled and can be
  used to replace materials that can present
  problems at the end-of-life.
• Keronite gives greater durability and offers the
  possibility of repairing rather than replacing
  worn parts.
• Keronite improves efficiency by sealing porous
  castings.
• The Keronite process uses no heavy metals, no
  acids and generates no hazardous waste.

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Automotive weight savings
An important environmental benefit of Keronite
lies in the weight saving potential of light
alloys for which the technology can be a critical
enabling factor. This is because the wear and
corrosion protection provided by Keronite surface
treatment allows Keronite treated aluminium parts
to replace steel parts, while still satisfying
tribological and corrosion performance
targets. Similarly, Keronite-treated magnesium
parts can be substituted for parts which would
traditionally only be made from aluminium.
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Automotive weight savings
By enabling the replacement of automotive parts
which require performance traditionally only
achieved by steel with aluminium (66 weight) or
magnesium parts (78 weight), Keronite delivers
significant weight savings in automotive
applications. Similarly, the replacement of
aluminium parts with magnesium offers a
considerable weight saving (36).
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Automotive weight savings
Specific examples of automotive weight savings

• Wing mirrors 4 kg (Zn?Mg, and removal of steel
  door support)
• Chassis parts (e.g. Front End Carrier Al ?Mg)
  3kg
• Magnesium door inners 5 kg
• Magnesium gear housing 3 kg
• Magnesium roof rail 2kg
• Magnesium pistons replacing Al pistons on
  motorcycles

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Automotive weight savings
Overall weight savings achievable using magnesium
According to US government sources, a 10 weight
saving will yield a 7 reduction in fuel
consumption. The total emission of CO2 produced
by the U.S transport sector in 2004 was 1944
million tons. An estimated weight saving of 100
kg for a car (220 lbs) will lead to an increased
fuel efficiency of about 4. Weight reduction
through the use of Keronite coated magnesium
could reduce CO2 emissions of the U.S transport
sector by 80 million tons/year.
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Possible material replacement
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Other weight saving

• All areas of transportation can achieve
  improved performance and/or reduce fuel
  consumption by reducing mass through material
  substitution enabled by Keronite.
• Example
• The desire to reduce weight on the Airbus
  A380 could be assisted by material changes to
  various components.

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Engine efficiency

• Keronite may also enable increased engine
  efficiency through reduced friction and design
  changes within the powertrain.
• Part of this comes through reduced friction.
  Keronite reduces the friction coefficient of
  aluminium to as little as µ0.04.
• Examples
• aluminium cylinder liners and piston skirts.
  Cylinder friction is the key source of friction
  loss in the engine, accounting for a large
  proportion of overall fuel consumption. Customer
  tests have demonstrated that Keronite on
  aluminium can give lower friction coefficient
  than a cast-iron or Nicasil liner.

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Recycling

• Tests conducted by an independent body for a
  leading automotive manufacturer indicate that
  Keronite presents no problems when it comes to
  recycling at the end of life. As the process
  transforms the surface of the substrate rather
  than adding anything to it, there are no signs of
  fuming or oxidation during the re-melting process
  and does not add heavy metals or other
  undesirable elements to the melt.
• Example
• Automotive manufacturers using engine blocks
  which contain a high of silicon (17) are keen
  to move to lower silicon alloys. This lowers
  cost because the machining is cheaper and high-Si
  alloys can give a high reject rate due to their
  brittleness. However, the lower Si block must
  have its bores protected with a liner or a
  coating made from Fe, Cr, FE-Si or Nicasil, all
  of which must be removed in order to recycle the
  Al. Using Keronite on aluminium lowers the
  reject rate and the associated energy used for
  re-melting.

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Durability

• The increased hardness and wear resistance of
  Keronite surfaces imparts greater durability.
  This can be seen on automotive engine parts, but
  also in many other engineering applications.
• Pistons
• Keronite coated engine parts have increased
  durability which allows engines to be designed or
  tuned for greater combustion efficiency. An
  example is the piston landing area above the top
  ring groove. Keronite has been shown to give up
  to ten time less wear on the top groove than
  conventional hard anodised coatings. This allows
  designers to move the top groove closer to the
  piston crown. In turn, this reduces crevice
  volume and can therefore lower the unburnt
  hydrocarbons emitted by the engine.

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Re-use is better than recycling

• Tooling, machinery and other mechanical parts
  that are subject to wear must be replaced or
  repaired. A feature of the Keronite coating
  process is that once the coating is worn or
  damaged, the parts, provided they are clean, can
  be re-immersed into the Keronite tank and the
  worn area will be re-coated preferentially,
  allowing the part to be re-used and removing the
  energy required to recycle the Al by melting.
• Textile machinery parts
• Ceramic and steel textile machinery
  components are being replaced with reparable and
  longer-life aluminium ones coated with Keronite.
  Unlike the steel and ceramic parts, once the
  Keronite parts are worn, the coating can be
  re-applied to the damaged area if required, and
  the part put back into service.

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Sealing of porous castings

• Keronite is used to seal porous magnesium
  castings for improved performance and a
  significant reduction in the reject rate.
• Intake manifolds
• Need to be airtight for optimum performance.
  Keronite is effective in sealing the pores of
  poor quality castings.
• Compressed air hand tools
• Also need to be airtight in order to
  function properly. For one customer, Keronite
  reduced the reject rate and the associated
  re-melting from 30 down to only 5.

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Chemistry

• Unlike conventional coating technologies
  such as anodising or electroplating, the
  electrolyte solutions used for the Keronite
  process contain no chrome or other heavy metals,
  no ammonia, no acids, and the process generates
  no hazardous waste.
• A number of competing processes use trivalent
  and hexavalent chrome. Hexavalent chrome is a
  suspected carcinogen and can only be processed in
  a closed loop system. The surface treatment
  industry is actively seeking alternatives to
  chrome-based systems as they are being outlawed
  by EU and other legislation.
• Nickel emissions from metal parts in prolonged
  contact with the skin can cause allergic
  reactions. Again the industry is seeking
  alternatives to nickel plating.