Patent ID: 8763988

Claim:
A butterfly valve comprising: a housing including a bore for passage of a fluid; a rotatable shaft passing through the bore, the shaft having a control end and a thrust reacting end; a disc mounted to the shaft within the bore for controlling the flow of a fluid passing through the bore; a thrust load reacting section including a thrust plug fixed to the thrust reacting shaft end and a thrust plate fixed to the housing, the thrust plate having a well for retaining the thrust plug and the thrust reacting shaft end; and a wear interface with a first contact region on the thrust plug having a first contact surface and a second contact region at the base of the well having a second contact surface, the first and second contact regions in frictional contact at a first portion of the first contact surface and a second portion of a second contact surface; wherein the first contact surface is substantially spherical; wherein the first contact region includes tungsten carbide in a cobalt binder; and wherein the second contact region includes a hardface coating layer including a plurality of chromium-containing particles in a nickel alloy matrix.