Metal Babbitt como forma de reaproveitamento em mancais de turbinas hidrelétricas

Abstract

The present work focused on studying the evaluation of the reuse of Babbitt metal, an alloy created by Isaac Babbitt in the 19th century, which exhibits anti-friction haracteristics. The metal under study is heavily used in coatings for sliding bearings, and this research focuses on applying the coating to bearings in hydroelectric power plants. The maintenance of this type of bearing typically involves replacing the old coating with a new one, resulting in the discarded metal, leading to resource and financial waste. To study the recycled Babbitt metal alloy, compression and microhardness tests were performed, along with metallographic analysis. The obtained results were compared with values from ASTM B23 standards and previous studies on Babbitt metal. After comparisons and result analyses, it was found that the recycled metal showed higher compression stress values, as well as higher microhardness results compared to the ones specified in ASTM B23. Furthermore, the metallographic analysis revealed a deficiency of SbSn precipitates, along with a much finer structure compared to the new metal, which supports the higher compression and microhardness results.