Advanced wear protection for mines and quarries

News Editor

Increase plant lifetime and reduce costs with Welding Alloys’ preventative maintenance solutions

Thanks to Welding Alloys' engineered wear protection solutions, operators can be proactive, not reactive with their equipment maintenance and maximise the lifetime of machinery. Every process that involves impact and abrasion in a quarry is subject to severe wear. Pushing equipment to the limit can be detrimental to payload and production, and unplanned downtime can be detrimental to your bottom line.

The Welding Alloys Group offers many solutions to combat different wear phenomena that occurs on mobile equipment. The wide range of products and service solutions offer up to 12 times the life of conventional quenched and tempered steel solution, which means a reduction in the cost per ton loaded/hauled overtime. The range also comprises a lightweight wear protection solution, which increases payload capacity due to reduced liner weight, resulting in greater profitability per load.

It is a common misconception that it is cheaper to purchase a new part and discard the old part at the end of its service life. As this option doesn't prolong overall service life and eventually the same issue will reoccur, replacement of the plant is more costly than investing in a Welding Alloys wear protection solution. The company’s solutions for these applications have been developed in its WA Integra workshops. To avoid distortion and weakening of the base metal, a dedicated welding procedure has been developed and the welding is fully automated using WA Machines. The automated welding equipment ensures full reproducibility of the deposit quality. A buffer layer is applied prior to applying the Hardface product on this difficult to weld steel.

The Hardface wire used in this application is characterised by its high resistance to abrasion where impact is low. Abrasion-resistance is achieved with one layer only. Therefore, the product is perfectly suited to this application in which it is very important to have a flat deposit. After proving its effectiveness for several years, this application was applied to other parts such as blades for bulldozers, graders or levelers, buckets for dredges, reclaimers, stackers: scoops for conveyors, and several other applications in mineral handling, mines, quarries, pits, civil engineering, cement, coal operated power stations, and more.

Welding Alloys offer all of its customers a free wear audit, so if an operator is unsure how much life their part has left, they can contact the team for some expert advice. 

Further information on the company's preventative maintenance solutions for the quarry industry can be found on its website.