Tag Archives: HARDOX

SSAB Hardox® HiAce passes the corrosion test

Environmental, Mining consumables, Mining equipment, Steel and iron ore, Sustainable mining,

SSAB has developed a steel grade with the sole purpose of resisting corrosive wear, with Hardox® HiAce paying dividends at mining operations.

Mining operations demand tough equipment that can withstand extreme impacts, stresses and wear, day in and day out. Compromising on quality — and safety — can be costly, and keeping operating costs under control is a non-negotiable. You’ve got to build your machinery with the best steels possible to not only stand up to the job, but to boost long-term productivity.

This is where Hardox HiAce wear steel comes into play as a significant factor. Mining and processing copper ore creates corrosive agents such as sulphuric acid and iron sulphates, which attack steel and decrease the service life of equipment used for excavating and transporting the ore.

A case in point is the reclaimer buckets for wheel excavators operated by one of the largest copper producers in the world. This company was not satisfied with the service life of its buckets and asked one of SSAB’s steel service centres to come up with a better solution.

Hardox HiAce is a recent steel grade developed by SSAB with the sole purpose of resisting corrosive wear. This wear steel has a nominal hardness of 450 HBW, the same as the 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.

This made Hardox HiAce a natural choice when the company wanted to design and manufacture new reclaimer buckets. Hardox HiAce was used for the bucket’s floor and sides, which are exposed to corrosive materials.

Based on the mining conditions these buckets are operating in, the company 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.

A selection of Hardox HiAce specifications, includes:

  • Typical impact toughness 50 J at -40°C (37 ft lb  at -40°F);
  • Thickness range 3 to 100 mm (0.118 ” to 3.937 “); and
  • Excellent workshop properties.

LKAB selects Hardox 600 for wear steel at iron ore operations

Equipment maintenance, Mine operation news, Mining consumables, Steel and iron ore, , , ,

Looking at a typical mining site, wear steel is used as liners in hoppers, feeders and chutes, as well as for hammers in crushers or in screens for sorting.

Hardox® 600 is, SSAB says, a wear steel that performs well across a surprisingly wide range of abrasive materials, operating requirements and types of equipment, including for iron ore miner LKAB.

Hardox 600 has a nominal hardness of 600 HBW. Despite its hardness, it has a toughness that is rare for such a hard wear steel, according to the company. This gives it outstanding wear resistance, while enabling it to resist impact damage from rocks and other heavy loads. It is also through-hardened, with a minimum core hardness of 90% of the guaranteed minimum surface hardness.

As a major iron ore company, LKAB can’t afford any loss in productivity. Unscheduled downtime can severely impact throughput and, in turn, financial performance. It ships around 30 Mt of iron ore each year from its harbour in Narvik, above the Arctic Circle in Norway.

When LKAB started to experience too many unplanned shutdowns – and unwanted associated costs – it looked for a more durable wear steel for its skips and chutes. That’s why it chose Hardox 600, one of the hardest grades of Hardox steel. Before its decision, LKAB collaborated with SSAB on a performance optimisation project, which ultimately gave it the green light to go ahead with Hardox 600.

Due to the many factors influencing wear life in mining operations, SSAB says it always recommend a thorough assessment by wear specialists. For LKAB, a 600 HBW steel was the best choice. In most wear situations, there is a sweet spot where the wear rate drops significantly if the steel’s hardness is high enough relative to the severity of the abrasive material.

Philippi-Hagenbuch expands rear eject dump body lineup with Volvo A60H units

Equipment maintenance, Mining consumables, Mining equipment, Steel and iron ore, , , , , , , ,

Philippi-Hagenbuch has expanded its rear eject engineering capabilities to include one of the largest articulated haul trucks on the market, the Volvo A60H.

These trucks feature a body volume of 43.9 cu.yd (33.6 cu.m) with a 2:1 heap ratio, making these rear ejects 50% larger than the most common rear eject bodies available, the company said.

In partnership with G.W. Van Keppel, a dealership based in Kansas City, Missouri, Philippi-Hagenbuch shipped its first two rear eject bodies for Volvo A60H trucks to a mine in Oklahoma. Each of these rear ejects features an interior width of 156 in (3.96 m) and a loading height of 148 in and is built exclusively out of high-strength, abrasion-resistant Hardox® 450 steel for exceptional life and to handle the extremes they are put under within mining environments, the company says.

“Philippi-Hagenbuch is committed to detail in design, professionally engineering their products, understanding the applications and using only the best steel,” Taylor Killion, General Sales Manager, G.W. Van Keppel, says. “This makes them a great partner to provide strong and durable haul truck solutions that help our customers maximise their efficiency.

“We were confident in PHIL’s experience and ability to take on this project and produce a custom solution that would meet this client’s objectives.”

Philippi-Hagenbuch says it has custom-engineered hundreds of rear eject bodies for a variety of makes and models of off-highway haul trucks to increase productivity, safety and stability for many operations. With Philippi-Hagenbuch rear eject bodies, operators can effectively and safely discharge material without having to stop and raise the truck bed, even when the truck is out of position, driving up a hill or under overhead barriers with low clearance. Operators control the ejector blade to push material out of the body while the tailgate mechanically lowers. Rear ejects effectively dump even the stickiest material, further improving hauling efficiency by reducing carryback, according to the company.

Josh Swank, Philippi-Hagenbuch Vice President of Sales and Marketing, said: “We have complete trust in our engineering and manufacturing capabilities, which gives us confidence to take on projects that other companies may shy away from. In the past, we have engineered even larger rear eject bodies and trailers, so we are no strangers to projects of this size. The PHIL team works closely with each client to understand their application and specific needs, while simultaneously working with the dealer to achieve their priorities and the OEM to interface our equipment with their haul truck seamlessly.

“For this new entry to the haul truck market, we have created a new standardised solution for the Volvo A60H that can be easily implemented for other clients in varying industries.”

The A60H is the largest Volvo articulated hauler with a 33.6 cu.m body volume and 55,000 kg payload capacity.

Philippi-Hagenbuch recently updated its rear eject technology to include a newly engineered single, three-stage, double acting hydraulic cylinder that is robust enough to keep its rear ejects operating in extreme cold or in equatorial warm-weather locations, the company says. This cylinder was specifically designed for horizontal movement so it will not buckle or bind when it is fully extended while operating in a variety of dynamic environments.

Schlam offers iron ore miners higher payload potential, longer service life with Hercules EXO

Environmental, Mining consumables, Mining equipment, Mining safety, Steel and iron ore, , , , ,

Western Australia-based mining product and services supplier, Schlam, has launched the Hercules EXO, a next-generation mining dump body that, it says, offers iron ore miners both a higher payload potential and longer service life.

The Hercules EXO is a 240-t-class iron ore specific dump body that is 20% lighter than the company’s existing Hercules dump body. The decreased weight gives miners a greater payload potential, while a complete redesign and new material selection have resulted in a 100% increase in service life, according to the company.

Schlam CEO, Matt Thomas, says miners will no longer have to compromise between payload and longer service life with the arrival of the Hercules EXO.

“The Hercules EXO is an ultra-lightweight body that maximises payload without sacrificing body life or requiring the addition of wear packages,” he said. “It is the culmination of 20 years of continuous improvement and innovation wrapped into one high performance dump body.”

Schlam’s engineering department completely redesigned the previous Hercules to reduce weight in all non-wearing components.

“The team looked at the structural componentry individually to reduce weight so we can maximise steel thickness in the wearing areas, where it really matters,” Thomas said. “Using hybrid steel thickness, combined with Hardox® 500 Tuf steel from Swedish steelmaker SSAB in the wearing areas, means that the EXO has a service life more than double other lightweight options.”

The extra service life has three added benefits: cost, safety and the environment, Schlam says.

Compared with heavy-duty products on the market that use liner packages, the payload potential of the Hercules EXO is far more significant, according to the company. It also does not require the labour-intensive wear plate replacement events needed to achieve target body life.

“When you factor in stored energy, working at heights, craneage, welding and more, liner replacement is high-risk work,” Thomas said. “The Hercules EXO removes these risks making it a safer option for miners.”

The EXO project was completed in close consultation with Schlam’s customers, who revealed carbon impact is increasingly coming to the forefront of their concerns, the company said.

“It’s no secret that steel production creates a lot of carbon,” Thomas said. “However, having a dump body that uses less steel in the original manufacturing process and only needs to be replaced every eight years rather than every four has a massive net benefit on carbon production.”

Schlam’s Barracuda buckets receive SSAB Hardox seal of approval

Equipment maintenance, Mining equipment, Mining industry recognition, Mining services, , , , , , , ,

Schlam says it has been certified as a Hardox® In My Body member for its Barracuda range of excavator, shovel and wheel loader buckets.

The Barracuda range of buckets is custom made for the customer’s ground conditions, commodities, material properties and OEM earthmoving fleet, Schlam says.

From high production lightweight buckets through to armoured buckets, each attachment is tailor-made to get the best out of the client’s fleet of load and haul equipment, according to the company.

General Manager of Schlam Payload Solutions, Glenn Brearey, says a poorly designed bucket will slow productivity and performance of the load and haul ecosystem.

“The biggest bucket is not necessarily the best; that’s why a fit-for-purpose solution engineered to suit the conditions is critical to maximising the investment in your dig machine.

“It’s also why we choose Hardox wear plate. Its properties – exceptional strength, hardness and toughness mixed with bendability and weldability – means that we can purpose-build a Barracuda HX for low wearing conditions where weight can be saved using linerless attachments or high wearing conditions with short bucket change-out intervals. Hardox wear plate allows us to be agile to our clients’ needs.”

Manufactured by global steel company SSAB, Hardox wear plate is a leading abrasion-resistant steel.

While the Barracuda has been in Schlam’s growing product catalogue for some time, the acceptance into the Hardox In My Body program means each Barracuda HX with a Hardox In My Body logo will have passed SSAB’s strict quality control with regard to welding quality, manufacturing process and design, and is approved as a premium product by SSAB’s board, Schlam said.

Each logo comes with a unique ID that is traceable and identifies the origin and material used in the bucket. This way, customers know that the product is made from genuine Hardox wear plate and not an inferior imitation.

The addition of the Barracuda line of products into Hardox In My Body program follows its Hercules dump truck bodies also being welcomed into the program earlier in the year.

Schlam adds SSAB Hardox wear plate to Hercules dump truck bodies

Equipment maintenance, Mining equipment, Mining services, Steel and iron ore, , , , , , , , ,

Schlam has teamed up with global steel giant SSAB to offer its Hercules dump truck bodies with Hardox® wear plate. The move follows Schlam being accepted into the Hardox In My Body program.

Glenn Brearey, General Manager of Schlam Payload Solutions, said the company is choosing to use Hardox steel due to its wear resistance, hardness, strength and overall performance, which surpasses the metal found in competitors dump bodies.

“Hardox has used the latest technology to create the world’s leading abrasion-resistant steel, giving our clients extended service life and high productivity in the most challenging mining environments,” Brearey said. “The Hercules is the dump body of choice for many Tier 1 miners around the globe due its lightweight and, therefore, greater payload potential. By using Hardox wear plate in the Hercules HX we’re adding another dimension to our already world-class offering.”

The Hercules HX can withstand heavy impacts without permanent deformation or cracking, ensuring more service life from the truck body investment, resulting in a lower total cost of ownership, the company said.

Every Hercules HX made by Schlam will have a ‘Hardox In My Body’ decal on it to verify it’s been manufactured using Hardox wear plate and not an inferior imitation, Schlam says.

SSAB Marketing Manager – South East Asia & Pacific – Kirs Chua said: “Each application with the sign attached has passed our strict quality control and is approved as a premium product by the SSAB board. Specialists within wear and structural technology carefully analyse each application regarding welding quality, manufacturing process and design.

“Each sign has a unique ID that is traceable and can secure the origin and material.”

Every Hercules HX is custom engineered and built from the ground up based on a mine’s unique operational requirements and is designed to deliver the same outcomes across all commodities, including coal, gold, copper and iron ore, Schlam says

BRE enlists Hardox HiAce for Super Quad iron ore transport

Equipment maintenance, Mining consumables, Mining equipment, Mining services, Steel and iron ore, , , , , , ,

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.

G&G Mining delivers XMOR dump truck bodies to ConsMin’s Woodie Woodie mine

Equipment maintenance, Mine operation news, Mining consumables, Mining equipment, Mining services, Steel and iron ore, , , , , , ,

ConsMin has taken delivery of its first pair of XMOR™ dump truck bodies at the Woodie Woodie manganese operation in Western Australia, G&G Mining reports.

These bodies will be put to work at the mine, one of the state’s most abrasive manganese operations, aboard Cat haul trucks.

G&G Mining said the company had selected the lightest, yet toughest, body design in the market with the most operational benefits for its site.

“XMOR is a combination of design and advanced materials utilising Hardox® 500 Tuf to offer a body that is lighter, stronger and harder wearing,” the company said. “The design offers an increased payload, an extended wear life with no liners, eliminates hang up, has an automatic load centering feature and an anti-spill canopy.”

The customer requested a special blue paint job and decals to its XMOR bodies in support of the ConsMin “Mining Minds Matter, Working Away Not Alone” mental health program, G&G Mining added.

Woodie Woodie’s high-grade manganese ore is recognised as the world’s best manganese ore due to its high manganese content, high manganese to iron ratio, low phosphorous and hard, competent nature, according to ConsMin.

Since May 2017, the Consolidated Minerals Group has been privately owned by Ningxia Tianyuan Manganese Industry Co. The group has operating assets in Ghana and Australia and trading companies in Jersey, supplying some 11% of the world’s manganese ore production and around 19% of the demand for Chinese imports of manganese ore.

Multotec makes an impact in the Pilbara with Ceradox screen panel

Equipment maintenance, Mineral processing, Mining consumables, Mining equipment, Mining maintenance, Mining services, Steel and iron ore, , , , , , ,

Multotec has combined Hardox blocks and alumina ceramic tiles to come up with a new high impact screen panel that, it says, cuts plant downtime and boosts mine productivity.

The Ceradox panel boasts more than double the wear life of traditional rubber panels, according to Multotec, with the innovation developed during 2019 in response to a request from an iron ore mining customer in Australia’s Pilbara region.

Three months of testing delivered results that exceeded expectations, according to Multotec Screening Product Manager, Shawn Faba.

“The customer needed a panel with an extended wear life, so that they only needed to conduct replacements during the regular maintenance shutdown every 12 weeks,” Faba said. “Our testing demonstrated that the panels were lasting 24 weeks and longer.”

Through a close collaboration between Multotec South Africa, Multotec Australia and the customer, a solution was developed and proved for a demanding application on scalper screens, it said.

Faba explained: “Designed for the impact area of the scalper screen, the Ceradox panel must withstand the impact of material up to 300 mm in size falling from a discharge height of up to 3 m. It must also resist high levels of abrasion from the ore.”

The resulting design leverages the impact strength of the Hardox blocks and the abrasion resistance of the ceramic tiles, embedded in Multotec’s proprietary rubber formulation, helping absorb the energy of the falling material, according to the company. The panels are manufactured locally at Multotec’s high-volume facilities in Gauteng, South Africa, which include a rubber mixing plant run by experienced specialists.

Faba noted that the 305 mm square Ceradox panels can be manufactured to different thicknesses from 50 mm to 100 mm.

“With our local manufacturing capability, we can achieve short lead times and deliver to anywhere in the world,” he said.

Multotec says it already supplies about 35% of the screening media to the iron ore mines in the Pilbara area.

Baco mining trucks feeling the benefits of SSAB Hardox steels

Equipment maintenance, Mining consumables, Mining equipment, Mining maintenance, Mining services, Steel and iron ore, , , , , , , , ,

The use of SSAB’s Hardox® 500 Tuf wear plate in Argentina-based Industrias Baco’s tipper truck bodies has extended the product lifespan by around 30%, according to the Nordic-based steelmaker.

Industrias Baco, the first company in Argentina to use SSAB’s specialist steel wear plate in tipper truck bodies, was so impressed by these results that 90% of its tipper bodies are now made with Hardox wear plate.

The switch to Hardox steels from traditional steel has been a fundamental part of the company’s increased sales, according to Patricia Meers, Financial Manager at Industrias Baco. “I believe Hardox steel has been a great part of our sales success. SSAB has helped us a great deal with marketing over these past years, and sales of our tippers have increased greatly with the help of Hardox wear plate. Our clients are very satisfied because the Hardox material is much more hard-wearing and versatile.”

Industrias Baco is mainly focused on producing heavy duty tippers for the mining industry.

Sales Coordinator, Nelson Bacolla, said the addition of Hardox 500 Tuf has led to the creation of new truck model with a design that helps improve the unloading process – reducing the unload time and, therefore, increasing productivity and the bottom line.

“It has been very successful,” Bacolla says. “When it comes to the distribution of the load, the truck functions much better with the new bodywork made from the new wear plate. It is the perfect combination.”

Meers witnessed first-hand the positive change that came when the company started to include Hardox material in the tipper bodies about 10 years ago. The company has also been a member of the Hardox In My Body customer program for two years.

“By having the sign on our products, it shows the customer what material we use. Nowadays customers know about Hardox wear plate and are asking for it. They know it means stronger, more lightweight and more hard-wearing tipper trucks that can carry heavier loads,” she said.

Industrias Baco uses Hardox wear plate for three different tipper truck models. They all take advantage of the same conical shape facilitated by the wear plates, accelerating the unloading process. Hardox 500 Tuf wear plate is used in its newest released tipper body model, while Hardox 450 wear plate is used in two tipper body models – one with cutaways on the side and one half-piped version. Hardox wear plate is also used in the sides and floors of the truck bodies.