Increasing the Lifetime of Variable Displacement Vane Pump with Aluminium Body
In this study, anodic oxidation method is applied to a flow-regulating valve and valve seat of the variable displacement vane pump with an aluminium body, which is used commonly in commercial vehicle steering systems. Then the lifetime of the pump is tested in a contaminated hydraulic fluid. After the lifetime tests, surfaces of the coatings are characterized with scanning electron microscope (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). The thickness of the coating after the process is measured between 30 and 40 microns, and the hardness of the coating is between 360 and 440 Hv. This experiment proved that the resistance of the valve seat increased by between 30 and 40% after the coating process.