The erosion-prone sections of the tubes in a circulating fluidized bed boiler are provided with a locally thickened sidewall without forming discontinuities on the outer surface of the tubes. This can be accomplished, for example, by replacing the erosion prone portion of the tube with a section having a smaller inside diameter, but the same outside diameter, or by replacing the erosion prone portion of the tube with a section having a thicker sidewall, but the same inside diameter, and smoothing over the outside discontinuity with an alloy coating. A useful alloy coating is also disclosed which can be used for this and other applications.

A method of coating a component includes attaching the component to a support that is configured to hold a plurality of components and placing a base of the support in a holder that is attached to rotatable member of a fixture, wherein an axis of the holder is parallel to an axis of rotation of the rotatable member. The method also includes transporting the fixture into a coating chamber wherein a direction of an exit stream of a coater in oriented perpendicularly to the axis of rotation, exposing the fixture and the component to a reverse transfer arc cleaning/pre-heating procedure, and exposing the fixture and the component to a coating procedure during which a coating is directed at the component in a direction perpendicular to the axis of rotation while the rotatable member is rotating. The method further includes transporting the fixture and removing the component from the support fixture.

A method of coating a component includes attaching the component to a support that is configured to hold a plurality of components and placing a base of the support in a holder that is attached to rotatable member of a fixture, wherein an axis of the holder is parallel to an axis of rotation of the rotatable member. The method also includes transporting the fixture into a coating chamber wherein a direction of an exit stream of a coater in oriented perpendicularly to the axis of rotation, exposing the fixture and the component to a reverse transfer arc cleaning/pre-heating procedure, and exposing the fixture and the component to a coating procedure during which a coating is directed at the component in a direction perpendicular to the axis of rotation while the rotatable member is rotating. The method further includes transporting the fixture and removing the component from the support fixture.

A machine component including a base body produced from a base material is provided. The base body is equipped in a partial region of the surface thereof with a plating made of an application material having a greater hardness and/or viscosity as compared to the base material. The plating is foamed by a number of plating elements that are applied to the base body in the longitudinal direction thereof in a tilted manner relative to the main flow direction of a hot gas flowing through the base body.