Due to their ultra-high hardness, wear resistance, and corrosion resistance, cemented carbide valve balls are primarily used in extreme working conditions where ordinary steel balls cannot withstand the loads, such as in the oil and gas, petrochemical, marine engineering, and coal mine hydraulic systems fields.
Main application scenarios for cemented carbide valve balls:
1. Oil and Gas Extraction: Mud pump valves, wellhead equipment, Christmas tree ball valves, fracturing pump valves, etc., operating under high pressure (tens of thousands of psi), high-frequency impact, containing sand, quartz sand, proppant, and acidic gases containing H2S and CO2. Most deep wells, shale gas, and offshore platforms may use cemented carbide valve balls and cemented carbide valve seats.
2. Petrochemical and Chemical Industry: High-pressure ball valves, regulating valves, check valves, media often containing strong acids, strong alkalis, chlorides, and high temperature and pressure, using YG6 or the more corrosion-resistant YN series cemented carbide valve balls.
3. Subsea Oil Production Trees and Seawater Piping Systems: Subsea ball valves and ROV operating valves, which are constantly immersed in seawater, generally use nickel-based binder YN6 or YN9 cemented carbide valve balls. Cobalt-based cemented carbide valve balls will corrode severely.
4. Coal Mine Hydraulic Systems: Safety valves and directional valves in coal mine hydraulic support columns and jacks generally use YG8 or YG11 cemented carbide valve balls.
5. Ultra-High-Pressure Waterjet Cutting and Cleaning: In 300-400MPa waterjet cutting machines and ultra-high pressure cleaning equipment, the plunger pump valves handle abrasive media. Ordinary steel balls fail after a few hundred hours, while cemented carbide valve balls have a lifespan hundreds of times longer.
6. Semiconductor and Electronics Industries: Ultra-pure gas pipelines, vacuum valves, and special gas valves require zero particle shedding, non-magnetic properties, and corrosion resistance. YN6 non-magnetic nickel-based cemented carbide valve balls are commonly used.
7. High-Pressure Metering Pumps and Precision Instruments: High-precision plunger metering pumps and miniature high-pressure valves for scientific research, requiring cemented carbide valve balls with extremely low leakage and ultra-long service life.
8. High-Pressure Mud Valves for PDC Drill Bits: Drilling mud contains diamond particles, causing severe wear on ball valves; therefore, c cemented arbide materials are more suitable.
