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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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).
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.
Waste containers made by Wong Fong Engineering in Singapore now stand up to corrosion and wear from acidic loads thanks to Hardox® HiAce.
“Hardox® HiAce allowed us to cut maintenance needs by 70%,” says site manager Kent Brännlund at Stena Recycling in Sweden.
“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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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:
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.
1) Brinell hardness, HBW, according to EN ISO 6506-1, on a milled surface 0.5 – 3 mm below surface for plate. At least one test specimen per heat and 40 tons.
The nominal material thickness will not deviate more than ± 15 mm from that of the test specimen.
Hardox® wear plate is through-hardened. Minimum core hardness is 90 % of the guaranteed minimum surface hardness.
1) Impact testing is performed on thicknesses ≥ 6 mm. For thicknesses between 6 - 11.9 mm, subsize Charpy V-specimens are used. The specified toughness is then proportional to the cross-sectional area of the test specimen, compared to a full-size specimen (10 x 10 mm). Impact testing according to ISO EN 148. Average of three tests.
2) Single value minimum 70% of specified average.
The steel is grain refined. *) Intentional alloying elements.
Tolerances according to Hardox® Thickness Guarantees.
Hardox® Guarantees meet the requirements of EN 10029 Class A, but offer more narrow tolerances.
According to SSAB’s dimension program.
Tolerances according to SSAB´s mill edge standards or tolerances that conform to EN 10029.
Tolerances according to EN 10029.
Tolerances according to Hardox® Flatness Guarantees Class D, which are more restrictive than EN 10029.
According to EN 10163-2 Class A, Subclass 1.
The delivery condition is Q or QT (Quenched or Quenched and Tempered). Hardox® HiAce is delivered with sheared or thermally cut edges.
Welding, bending and machining
Recommendations can be found in SSABs brochures at www.hardox.com or consult Tech Support.
Bendability according to Hardox® Bending Guarantees Class F.
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 250ºC .
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.
