Established in 1898, privately owned Scottish engineering company MacTaggart Scott & Co Ltd (MTS) has a long history of innovation at its factory in Loanhead (near Edinburgh).

Its product range includes hydraulic power units for submarines; these generally use the company’s Quiet Radial Piston pump (QRP), which can run for more than 60,000hr and withstand significant sea-water contamination.

MTS (www.mactag.com) decided to explore whether recent developments in alternative materials or processes could reduce manufacturing costs, while offering enhanced levels of performance and reliability that could extend the pump’s application to the oil and gas sector.

Specifically, MTS wanted to look at alternative materials for the pump’s tyre and slipper pads; it asked the Oil & Gas Innovation Centre (OGIC) in Aberdeen to find a research partner to review the current materials and evaluate possible alternatives.

The OGIC agreed to part-fund the project and put MTS in contact with the Advanced Materials Research Laboratory (AMRL) at the University of Strathclyde, which had successfully worked on R&D projects with MTS in the past.

The AMRL project team, led by Alex Galloway, identified potential alternative materials and subjected them to wear tests and metallurgical analysis.

While none of the alternative material combinations out-performed the benchmark material combination in the current QRP, several of them were within reach of the benchmark results and would offer high wear-resistance.

They would also be cheaper and more widely available, and they would not require processes that currently add to the production time and cost.

Armed with this information, MTS was able to select a number of new material combinations for extended materials testing and evaluation.

MTS development manager Lee Baines said: “The Advanced Materials Research Lab is an excellent resource; the team has
repeatedly proven its value and has been easy to approach and engage with.

“Its technical capabilities and materials insight have added significant value to several projects.”