Are your wear parts hard enough?

The simple answer is: It depends. But that doesn’t give you much guidance when you are deciding which wear-resistant steel to choose that will optimize productivity and longevity for the wear parts in your equipment.

To start, you should evaluate the abrasive materials you’re working with. Common materials include crushed granite, copper ore, iron ore, limestone and coal, ranked based on their relative hardness. Next, you’ll want to determine the desired maintenance interval to minimize downtime for the entire operation.

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 a wear steel that performs well across a surprisingly wide range of abrasive materials, operating requirements and types of equipment.

What makes Hardox® 600 special?

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. 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.

To optimize the use of Hardox® 600, customers can always consult one of SSAB’s local technical development managers, or a Hardox® Wearparts center producing wear parts, whether for the original installation or for repair and replacement work.

Hardox® 600 works hard for Swedish mining operator LKAB

As a major iron ore and mineral mining company, LKAB can’t afford any loss in productivity. Unscheduled downtime can severely impact throughput and, in turn, financial performance. They ship around 30 million tons of iron ore each year from their harbor in Narvik, above the Arctic Circle in Norway.

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

Know your wear

Due to the many factors influencing wear life in mining operations, we 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.

Finding this sweet spot requires extensive experience. So, get the advice you need by visiting us at Minexpo 2024, booth #12419, and speak directly with our technical specialists.

Upgrade to Hardox® 600 from a 500 HBW AR steel and gain up to a 50% longer equipment service life. If you are replacing a 400 HBW AR steel, service life can be up to 4 times longer. 

Cutting edges, lips, and surfaces in Hardox® 600 steel resist the wear caused by scooping and moving large volumes of material.

Liners in Hardox® 600 are a good alternative to conventional AR steel or Hardox® steel with lower hardness, manganese steel castings or ceramics.

The insides of ball or SAG mills are exposed to extreme wear. Hardox® 600 extends service life to maximize maintenance intervals.

Swedish mining company LKAB upgraded liners in its ore processing equipment to Hardox® 600 and gained a much anticipated increase in service life.

For further information, please contact:
Jacqueline Gay, Regional Marketing Manager North America, SSAB Special Steels
jacqueline.gay@ssab.com, phone: +1 251 206 9126

Ursula Egenhofer, Brand Manager Hardox® wear plate, SSAB Special Steels
ursula.egenhofer@ssab.com, phone: +1 412 680 0080

SSAB is a Nordic and US-based steel company that builds a stronger, lighter and more sustainable world through value added steel products and services. Working with our partners, SSAB has developed SSAB Fossil-free™ steel and plans to reinvent the value chain from the mine to the end customer, largely eliminating carbon dioxide emissions from our own operations. SSAB Zero™, a largely carbon emission-free steel based on recycled steel, further strengthens SSAB’s leadership position and our comprehensive, sustainable offering independent of the raw material. SSAB has employees in over 50 countries and production facilities in Sweden, Finland and the US. SSAB is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm and has a secondary listing on Nasdaq Helsinki. Join us on our journey! www.ssab.com, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X and YouTube.