Abstract: A ball for a ball valve, wherein the ball comprises a substrate of metal having surface modified portions to act as seating surfaces for a seat of the ball valve; and a seat ring for a ball valve, wherein the seat ring comprises a substrate of metal having a surface modified portion to act as a seating surface for a ball of the ball valve.

Abstract: A bi-layer protective coating for a metal component, the bi-layer protective coating comprising a bond coating that is metallurgically fused to a substrate of the metal component, wherein the bond coating comprises one or more rare metals and a top coating that is mechanically bonded to the bond coating, wherein the top coating comprises one or more metal oxides, or one or more metal carbides.

Abstract: The present invention relates generally to the field of computers and in particular to methods and systems for processing tax refunds. Existing VAT refund systems are either expensive or overly cumbersome with paperwork. The present invention provides a solution to these problems by providing a tax claim system comprising a payment card system 1 suitable for accepting payment card transactions at a point of sale, the payment card system comprising a display for displaying information to a payment card system terminal user. The tax claim system further includes at least one data capture device for receiving card details from a payment cardholder and an indication receiving element for receiving an indication that a tax refund claim is required for a transaction. The system further provides a claim generation module for generating a tax refund claim in response to a received indication that a tax refund claim is required for a transaction and communicating this generated claim to an associated printer device.