FORCE Technology assists the shipping company TORM in communicating with sub-supplier of cylinder liners.

The shipping company TORM experienced repeated problems with cylinder liners in some of their tanker engines and requested a thorough investigation into the problem.

The ship-engines showed extraordinarily high wear in the 2 tons heavy 2.5 metre high cylinder liners and worn and broken piston rings. “We had experienced extraordinarily high wear on our units, and I therefore had an idea that the cylinder liner material might pose a problem”, says Steen Ludvigsen, Superintendent with TORM. 

“To prove this I needed to verify the material-composition”. And he continues:”Naturally, there is a considerable financial aspect in replacing cylinder liners and a wish not to pay for the total replacement ourselves”.

Examination became evidence

To begin with FORCE Technology examined cylinder liners from two tanker vessels. It turned out that the microstructure in the material was a contributing factor to the fast wearing out of the cylinder liners. “With their experience in this field, FORCE Technology turned out to be a good sparring-partner”, recounts Steen Ludvigsen. 

“After the initial conversations with FORCE Technology, the supplier of the cylinder liners was ready to partake in the process. The supplier knew FORCE Technology on beforehand as a reliable supplier of this kind of examination and appreciated FORCE Technology as a company that would conduct a trustworthy analysis”, concludes Steen Ludvigsen.