Tool Steel for Heavy Engineering: Solutions for Mining and Construction Equipment

Selecting the right Tool Steel is a vital aspect in manufacturing, mining, and construction equipment. Mining environments are especially challenging because they can cause frequent tool failure due to impact or by a gradual process of surface erosion. In effect, you will have to focus on finding the grade that can balance impact toughness with adequate abrasion resistance.

The Fundamental Choice: Hardness or Toughness

A common way to select the right product is to take the ‘Goldilocks’ test, which is based on the factor that will destroy your tool faster, and making adequate arrangements for that. In other words, you will have to evaluate the mining conditions to find which stress factor is paramount, whether it is the impact effect or the abrasion effect.

For example, if the tool is designed to hit hard objects repeatedly (primary crashers and jackhammers), you need to prioritise the material toughness. On the other hand, if the tool has to deal with heavy abrasion from sand, gravel, and ore (conveyor parts, chute liners), you will have to prioritise the material hardness.  

Here is a Brief Decision Checklist

1. Is the substrate slippery or sharp?
2. Can it sustain prolonged operations without getting too hot?
3. How hard is the surface relative to the tool HRC value?
4. Budget vs. Uptime because higher-grade steels can be more expensive upfront, but these can effectively delay maintenance shutdowns, leading to longer uptimes.

Check Out These Practical Scenarios

1. The Punch is Shattered: A mining company initially selects D2 to make a heavy-duty punch. However, due to the brittle nature of D2, it shatters on impact, leading to a rethinking of the material selection. The company eventually selects S7, which is approximately 5-6 times tougher.
2. Abrasion in the Crusher: A crusher used for granite faces significant stress due to both abrasion and impact. The company goes for manganese steel, which leads to the hardening of the face of the jaw in real-time, preventing the abrasive effects from wearing it down.
3. The Liner Wearing Out: A chute liner made with a mild steel grade wears down every two weeks because of the abrasion from fine sand. The company replaces the mild steel with Hardox 600 or AR500. This steel has a higher Brinell Hardness of 500-600 HBW, and can effectively quadruple the service life of the liner.

Chart Suggesting the Best Options According to Mining Applications

Reputation of Quality

You should discuss your priorities with a reputed Tool Steel supplier like Kushal Metal to be able to decide the most suitable option for your mining needs. The above examples should provide you with the necessary context for making the right choice.