Product page for corrosion resistant steel Hardox HiAce. A dump truck is dumping acidic, corrosive waste against a fiery red sky.
Product page for corrosion resistant steel Hardox HiAce. A dump truck is dumping acidic, corrosive waste against a fiery red sky.

Hardox® HiAce

Meet the new ace in corrosion-resistant wear steel for acidic and humid environments. Hardox® HiAce, the latest addition to the Hardox® wear plate range, is an ace at fighting both abrasive wear and corrosion. It features the same excellent mechanical properties as Hardox® 450, with a Brinell hardness of 425–475 HBW, with the addition of 2.7 times longer service life, when corrosion is present.

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A true wear fighter in acidic corrosive environments

Hardox® HiAce is a true wear fighter, especially in acidic and corrosive environments that threaten to eat away at your equipment. This corrosion-resistant steel plate helps to meet the challenges of corrosive wear environments found in municipal and industrial waste management, waste-to-energy plants, and in mining and process industries.

Hardox® HiAce has the necessary hardness to provide a long service life, in combination with the toughness it takes to perform as a structural steel. It also works in freezing temperatures thanks to its high impact toughness with a minimum Charpy impact test value of 27 J at -20°C (20 ft-lb at -4°F).

Composite image of industrial equipment that uses Hardox® HiAce steel – Wood, paper and pulp, recycling, mining, quarrying, waste collection.

Protect your bottom line with Hardox® HiAce

Corrosive wear can take a real toll on equipment operating in acidic and low pH environments. In the long run this leads to more maintenance, higher repair costs and a shorter service life – overall, lower productivity and profitability.

If the steel in your containers, truck or tipper bodies and other equipment comes under attack from acids, humidity, sulfur, chlorides, wood chips, household waste and other aggressive substances, service life can be a lot shorter than expected. Hardox® HiAce can counter such attacks thanks to its special steel composition.

A truck about to dump a load of corrosive waste from its bucket.
A yellow container made in high-strength steel Hardox® wear plate, with the Hardox® In My Body logo on it.

When it’s hot and humid, Hardox® HiAce in waste containers comes to the rescue

Waste containers made by Wong Fong Engineering in Singapore now stand up to corrosion and wear from acidic loads thanks to Hardox® HiAce.

Looking into the chute at a recyclcing plant, with the chute walls made in Hardox® HiAce corrosion resistant steel.

Hardox® HiAce provides 3 times longer service life in non-ferrous recycling facility

“Hardox® HiAce allowed us to replace stainless steel and cut maintenance needs by 70%,” says site manager Kent Brännlund at Stena Recycling in Sweden.

The floor of a loading bay in a biomass plant, which is made using Hardox® HiAce corrosion resistant metal.

Hardox® HiAce withstands biomass with 60% moisture

“Since we changed to Hardox® HiAce flooring and conveyor two years ago, we haven’t noticed any wear so far,” says site manager Rolf Ebbvick at Trosa’s heating plant in Sweden.

Logs travelling down a chain conveyor at a paper and pulp mill, with Hardox® HiAce in the steel plates.

Hardox® HiAce for pulp and paper mills, and wood processing

Hardox® HiAce improves performance and safety at Billerud in Sweden, replacing S355 steel which couldn’t cope with the wet and corrosive environment in the mill’s chain conveyors.

Mining trailers on the road, made by Australian Bruce Rock Engineering, with trailer bodies made in Hardox® HiAce steel to fight corrosion.

Hardox® HiAce fights tough corrosion in Australian mining trailers

Ore containing salt and a tropical climate create a perfect storm for corrosive wear. Bruce Rock Engineering upgraded its mining trailers to Hardox® HiAce and made its customers happier.

A garbage truck with a fiery red body and the Hardox® HiAce steel branding.

Hardox® HiAce slows down wear in garbage trucks

Municipal waste in garbage truck bodies creates a low pH environment which accelerates wear. “In these environments, our tests show that the service life with Hardox® HiAce is up to 2.7 times higher, compared to a 450 HBW steel. When we tested the floor plate of a garbage truck after 1.5 years, the low wear rate indicates that service life can reach 20 years instead of the normal 7 years,” says Jonas Allebert, wear technology specialist at SSAB.

Operator climbing into a truck owned by recycling company Stena Recycling, with truck body made in corrosion-fighting metal Hardox® HiAce.

Hardox® HiAce also works against pitting corrosion

The combination of low pH levels, chemicals (such as chloride), temperature or minimal maintenance can also cause aggressive damage to equipment called pitting corrosion. Pitting is the corrosion of a metal surface localized to a small area and takes the form of small holes, or pits, in the metal material. But don’t be fooled by size: a single pit in a critical part of a piece of equipment can cause outsized damage. Although pitting corrosion does not cause much loss of material on the surface, it can damage the metal’s deep structures. It’s also hard to detect and predict. Hardox® HiAce has been shown to resist both general corrosion and pitting corrosion.

Huge grabbers at a recycling plant and paper mill made in high-strength corrosion-fighting steel Hardox® HiAce.

Why Hardox® HiAce fights corrosive wear

In conditions with low pH levels, different wear mechanisms kick in and harder steels won’t necessarily provide a longer equipment service life. Hardox® HiAce corrosion-resistant steel performs the same as 450 HBW steel in a typical abrasive wear environment. At lower pH levels it can extend service life up to 3 times compared with a conventional 450 HBW steel, which is typically used in many applications.

Typical applications for Hardox® HiAce steel

Hardox® HiAce has the toughness it takes to perform as a structural material in garbage trucks, recycling containers, tipper and dump bodies, and other heavy-duty equipment. It also works in freezing temperatures down to -20°C (-4°F).

Industries and applications that can benefit from products made with Hardox® HiAce include:

  • Municipal and industrial waste management: garbage trucks, containers and wear surfaces exposed to acid in waste and recycling facilities, as well as equipment operating in landfills
  • Recycling
  • Waste-to-energy plants and biomass facilities
  • Paper and pulp mills and wood processing
  • Agricultural applications and forestry
  • Process industries
  • Mining and quarrying
View into a waste chute opening up into the sky, with the logo for Hardox® HiAce steel on the chute’s chain guides.

Workshop-friendly properties: bending, cutting and welding

You can process Hardox® HiAce using the same kind of machinery as for other Hardox® grades. The bendability is the same as for Hardox® 450. Welding is also similar, with greater plate thicknesses requiring the use of stainless welding consumables. CO2 laser-cutting tests indicate that Hardox® HiAce cuts beautifully. As all Hardox® grades, Hardox® HiAce comes with guarantees for thickness, flatness and bending properties, ensuring predictable behavior in the workshop.

General Product Description

Hardox® HiAce is an ace at fighting both abrasive wear and corrosion.

It features the same excellent properties as Hardox® 450, with a nominal hardness of 450 HBW.

Hardox® HiAce is a true wear fighter, especially in acidic corrosive environments that threaten to eat away at your equipment. This corrosion-resistant steel plate helps to meet the challenges of corrosive wear environments found in municipal and industrial waste management: garbage trucks, containers and wear surfaces exposed to acid in waste and recycling facilities, as well as equipment operating in landfills; recycling, waste-to-energy plants and biomass facilities, paper and pulp mills, mining and quarrying, agricultural applications and forestry as well as process industries.


Dimension Range

Hardox® HiAce plate is available in thicknesses of 0.157" - 3.937", and Hardox® HiAce sheet in thicknesses of 0.118 - 0.157". Hardox® HiAce plate is available in widths up to 78.74" and lengths up to 575.98". Hardox® HiAce sheet is available in widths up to 62.992" and lengths up to 629.920". More detailed information on dimensions is provided in the dimension program.

Picture illustrating the dimension range of Hardox.

Mechanical Properties

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    Product Thickness
    (inmm)
    Hardness 1)
    (HBW)
    Typical yield strength
    (ksiMPa), not guaranteed
    Hardox® HiAce sheet 0.118 - 0.1573.0 - 4.0 425 - 475 1811250 - 1205
    Hardox® HiAce plate 0.157 - 3.9374.0 - 100.0 425 - 475 1811250
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      1) Brinell hardness, HBW, according to EN ISO 6506-1, on a milled surface 0.019 – 0.118" below surface. At least one test specimen per heat and 40 tonnes. The nominal thickness of supplied plates will not deviate more than +/- 0.590" from the thickness of the test specimen used for hardness testing. For sheet the Brinell hardness test is according to EN ISO 6506-1 on each heat treatment individual/coil. Hardness is measured on a milled surface 0.012 - 0.079" below surface.

      Impact Properties

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        Thickness
        (inmm)
        Transverse test, guaranteed impact energy,
        Charpy V 0.393 x 0.393" test specimen 1)
        0.118 - 3.9373.0 - 39.9 20 ft-lbs / -4 °F 2)27 J / -20 °C 2)
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        Comparison

          Thickness
          (inmm)
          0.118 - 3.9373.0 - 39.9
          Transverse test, guaranteed impact energy,
          Charpy V 0.393 x 0.393" test specimen 1)
          20 ft-lbs / -4 °F 2)27 J / -20 °C 2)

          1) Impact testing is performed on thicknesses ≥ 0.236" for plate and on thicknesses ≥ 0.118" for sheet . For thicknesses between 0.118 - 0.468", sub-size Charpy V-specimens are used. The specified minimum value is proportional to the cross- sectional area of the test specimen, compared to a full-size specimen (0.393 x 0.393"). Impact testing according to ISO EN 148 per heat and thickness group. Average of three tests.

          2) Single value minimum 70% of specified average.

          Chemical Composition (heat analysis)

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            Product type C *)
            (max %)
            Si *)
            (max %)
            Mn*)
            (max %)
            P
            (max %)
            S
            (max %)
            Cr*)
            (max %)
            Ni*)
            (max %)
            Mo*)
            (max %)
            B*)
            (max %)
            Sheet 0.18 0.40 0.50 0.025 0.004 4.30 0.20 0.20 0.002
            Plate 0.26 0.70 1.60 0.025 0.010 5.10 1.50 0.60 0.005
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              The steel is grain refined. *) Intentional alloying elements.

              Carbon Equivalent CET(CEV)

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                Product type Sheet Plate
                Thickness (inmm) 0.118 - 0.1573.0 - 4.0 0.157 - 3.9374.0 - 100.0
                Max CET(CEV) 0.41 (1.03) 0.42 (1.08)
                Typ CET(CEV) 0.38 (0.99) 0.39 (1.01)
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                  Tolerances

                  More details are given in SSAB’s brochure Hardox® Guarantees.

                  Thickness

                  Tolerances according to Hardox® Thickness Guarantee.
                  Hardox® Guarantees meet the requirements of EN 10029 Class A for plate, but offer more narrow tolerances. For sheets the guarantees meets the requirements of 1/2 EN 10051.

                  Length and Width

                  According to SSAB’s dimension program. For plate, the tolerances are according to SSAB´s mill edge standard or tolerances that conform to EN 10029. For sheet the tolerances conform to EN 10051, tighter tolerances available on request.

                  Shape

                  Tolerances according to EN 10029 for plate and according to EN 10051 for sheet.

                  Flatness

                  For plate the tolerances are according to Hardox® Flatness Guarantees Class C, which are more restrictive than EN 10029. For sheets the tolerances are according to Hardox® flatness guarantees Class A, which are more restrictive than EN 10051.

                  Surface Properties

                  According to EN 10163-2 Class A, Subclass 1.

                  Delivery Conditions

                  The delivery condition is Quenched or Quenched and Tempered. Plates are delivered with sheared or thermally cut edges and thicknesses over 3.150" are delivered with mill edge as standard. Sheets are delivered with an as-rolled surface and mill edge as standard.

                  Delivery requirements can be found in SSAB’s brochure Hardox® Guarantees or www.ssab.com.

                  Fabrication and Other Recommendations

                  Welding, bending and machining

                  Recommendations can be found in SSABs brochures at www.hardox.com or consult Tech Support.

                  Bendability for plate are according to Hardox® Bending Guarantees Class F. For sheet, the bendability are according to Hardox® Bending Guarantees Class B.

                  Hardox® wear plate is not intended for further heat treatment. It has obtained its mechanical properties by quenching and when necessary by means of subsequent tempering. The properties of the delivery condition cannot be retained after exposure to temperatures in excess of 482ºF .

                  Appropriate health and safety precautions must be taken when welding, cutting, grinding or otherwise working on this product. Grinding, especially of primer coated plates, may produce dust with a high particle concentration.