Bruce Rock Engineering (BRE) says it is integrating SSAB’s new wear steel for corrosive environments such as mining in its new Hardox® HiAce.

Servicing this industry is one of BRE’s star products, the 60 m Super Quad road train with a payload up to 141 t. This vehicle is made up of four trailers pulled by a powerful truck travelling vast distances on dirt roads. Designed for heavy industry and the mining sector, a majority of these vehicles transport iron ore from the mines in the Pilbara region of Western Australia to the nearest port.

Such transportation exposes the trucks’ steel to acid corrosion caused by the environment, BRE says. This increases maintenance cost, and wear and tear.

Hardox HiAce steels are able to prolong the service life by up to three years at lower pH environments, making it cost effective and, consequently, increasing profitability, it says.

Hardox HiAce is used on the entire floor plates and the trailer sides of BRE’s new Super Quad trailers for transporting corrosive loads, with SSAB’s research and wear corrosion tests indicating a conservative estimate of a 20-30% increase in service life compared with Hardox 450.

Brenton Verhoogt, Operations Manager at Bruce Rock Engineering, said: “We did not hesitate for a minute before introducing Hardox HiAce into a Super Quad trailer combination for iron ore transport. When SSAB develops a new product, we know it has been tested thoroughly before being launched. Therefore, we are confident it will perform as Hardox 450, with the added benefit of being corrosion resistant.”

BRE’s relationship with SSAB, the manufacturer of Hardox wear plate, dates back 15 years.