Industrial wear plates are duplex materials that consist of wear resistance and tough alloy that is overlaid into the shock absorbing chromium steel or mild steel backing plates. These properties render the product ideal for use under extreme working conditions where the costs of downtime outweigh the initial capital and expenditure outlay of replacement. With the need for wear-resistant products and materials in industries, businesses should make use of the industrial wear plate products since they are strong enough to reduce abrasive wear.
Wear plates will also help businesses reduce the direct costs of replacing consumables and the labor for change-outs such as production losses and inventory expenses. Industrial wear plates increase the in-service life of business materials, translating into significant improvements in business profitability. In some businesses, correct materials selection provides prospects for major service life increases. Here are the emerging technology trends with the creation of industrial wear plates.
Laser shock processing
Laser shock processing is an emerging technological trend in industrial wear plate creation. The technique is based on the generation and deformation of shockwaves in the metallic materials which enhance surface properties against crack growth, wear and stress corrosion cracking. The laser shock processing technique has been used in various alloy manufacturing companies, and it has proved to enhance the wear resistance and extended the useful life of industrial machines. The method utilizes computational models to optimize the entire design and production process resulting in high resistance industrial wear plates.
Despite the availability of the laser shock processing technique in certain labs, the practical developments, and production at industrial levels need to reach sufficient levels of technical implementations. It also requires previous efforts to build the skills and knowledge for the processing design. Currently, most industries are focusing on the enhancement of laser shock processing techniques under various irradiation conditions, controlling and monitoring systems. Also, experts are currently working on the design and development of the numerical models that help to provide data of optimal figures of different process parameters.
The use of wear-resistant coatings
For the past few years, wear-resistant coatings have not been explored in depth. However, with the improved helium recovery machines that allow helium carrier gas to be less expensive, applying blended and hard materials containing metallic and hard ceramic materials is becoming both attractive and competitive. Experts will continue to provide future enhancements in various areas which include powder development, nozzle design and optimization for improved creation and coating of industrial wear plates.
Most wear plate manufacturers are using the cold spray process, but it is challenging to obtain the desired volume ratio of hard materials incorporated into the wear-resistance coating materials. The advancements in coated powders, as well as higher particle velocities, allow increased hard material incorporation leading to more top hardness coatings with advanced wearable performance. Although a lot of work has been done to enhance the strength of industrial wear plates, extra efforts are required to define the entire production process in terms of additional opportunities and composition capabilities in applying erosion and wear-resistant coating materials.
Also, future possibilities and enhancements for applications exist in applying chromium-rich materials for corrosion and wear applications. The continued exploration of the hybrid laser and cold spray processing will also show some positive results. Both lubricant and solid-wear resistance particles have substantial impacts in the industrial wear plate coating area.
The uses of industrial wear plates
Industrial wear plates and special steels are used in various industrial applications and for industries such as mines, quarries, steel works, cement plants, and docks. The uses of industrial wear plates are limitless. In most cases, they are used to control and prevent damage to the main machines and increase their operational life.
Examples of components and machines that require wear plates include shredders, crushers, and aluminum and steel mill equipment. Other applications of industrial wear plates include choppers, mining tools, wear blades, chippers, wear rings, bucket scrapers, wear segments and punch press applications.
How industrial wear plates help an industry grow
Industrial wear plates help the industry grow and keep business moving. They reduce friction between machine components minimizing both production and maintenance costs. They also help increase the service life of industrial components which translates into great improvements. This results in more profits for the business. Industrial wear plates keep the enterprise moving by minimizing the direct expenses of the replaceable parts and the labor for the change outs.
Photo credit: The feature image “heavy industry” was done by Ant Rozetsky.
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