MECHANICAL SEALS FOR WATER INJECTION PUMPS - NEW HARD FACE MATERIAL

Oil field reactivation by high pressure water reinjection is becoming very frequent and there is a strong demand for pumps capable of operating in these applications. Critical to the operation of such pumps are the mechanical face seals. Their major cause of failure is the destructive wear of the faces due to abrasion. Very hard face materials have aroused increasing interest during the last few years, since they are capable of withstanding the abrasion. This paper is primarily concerned with the development of a face seal equipped with a new hard face material, SiC-S. It discusses the operating conditions of the water injection pumps and the subsurface water characteristics, and reviews the physical and frictional characteristics of the hard face materials.