In a high-impact industry, compromising on quality products can have costly consequences.
SSAB provides some of the best steels possible to help machinery stand up to the task.
Quarrying operations often require a significant amount of machinery due to the daily high-impact environment.
Machinery must operate continuously while under constant stress during operation.
If a business opts to compromise on quality products, the outcomes can be expensive and possibly dangerous for workers. While managing operating costs is essential, it is also crucial to ensure that machinery is designed for long-term productivity.
This is where SSAB’s steel service centres can support quarries to build machinery with some of the best steel solutions available, so it stands up in tough applications and delivers the job required. In quarrying, where corrosive elements that attack steel and decrease machinery service life can be present, tailoring equipment to the application is a significant factor.
SSAB offers a diverse selection of steels that its team can utilise to design an improved solution for a quarry’s machinery, enhancing its service life.
The Hardox HiAce steel grade is a recent development from SSAB designed as a solution to corrosive wear often seen in heavy industries like quarrying.
“This wear steel has a nominal hardness of 450 HBW, the same as the well-established grade Hardox 450. Under non-corrosive wear conditions, they both provide the same high service life. The distinction lies in how the steels perform when exposed to acidic, low-pH environments,” SSAB regional sales manager for Western Australia Graham McClelland said.
“If corrosion is present, Hardox HiAce can increase service life by two to three times compared to a 450 HBW steel, depending on the abrasive materials and the acidic conditions.”
The Hardox HiAce’s ability to combat corrosive wear has made it a natural choice for customers working in corrosive environments from quarries to mine sites.
In one case, a customer engaged SSAB to see how it could extend the service life of its reclaimer buckets for wheel excavators. The customer was a larger producer with global customers and needed a solution which could help its buckets remain productive for longer.
SSAB suggested designing and manufacturing new reclaimer buckets using the Hardox HiAce steel grade to strengthen key areas. The HiAce was used for the bucket’s floor and sides exposed to corrosive materials.
The new reclaimer buckets’ initial results have been promising. Based on their operating conditions, the producer expects to get twice the service life compared to its previous buckets.
“Corrosive wear is caused by oxidation of the steel’s surface. The oxidation process reduces the hardness of the surface, resulting in an accelerated wear rate
“This leads to higher repair costs and a shorter service life than expected – which, of course, can negatively impact productivity and profitability.”
SSAB believes customers in many Australian heavy industries, including quarrying, can benefit from investing in the correct steel grades for their applications,” McClelland said.
The cost of corrosion and abrasion can often be understated in these industries. Businesses will often see the impact of these factors on their bottom line, with higher repair costs, shorter service lives, and greater maintenance costs.
“In quarrying, there are a lot of areas with abrasive and corrosive wear,” McClelland said.
“Especially in Australia, where the conditions lend themselves to harsh operating environments. The corrosion rate is increased with temperature and humidity, so in a country such as Australia, there is a high risk for corrosion problems.
“The worst-case scenario is that Hardox HiAce will perform exactly the same as Hardox 450. When there is no corrosion, and the only problem is wear, the Hardox HiAce is a flexible and low-risk material for quarrying.”
For more information, visit ssab.com
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