Boron hardenable steel for tillage equipment
Cost-effective, durable, and tough, Boron grades significantly reduce steel hardening costs for moldboard plows, disc harrows, and cultivators — while increasing hardness and toughness. They are compelling replacements for carburized, triple-layered cladding, B27/B30, and high alloy tool steels for tillage implements.
Possibilities of using boron steel for tillage equipment
A cleaner alternative to carburizing
Boron steel for tillage applications is engineered to harden through, so you skip the case-hardening process entirely. Carburizing ties up a furnace for 12 to 24 hours, involves hazardous chemicals, and carries a real energy and carbon cost. Boron steel needs a single quench. Toughness comes out higher than carburized surfaces, and the risk of quench cracks drops substantially.
Tougher and easier to work than triple-layer cladding
Triple-layer cladding is faster than carburizing, but the trade-off shows up in low toughness and a hardened layer that's tough to drill or cut in the workshop. Boron steel for tillage keeps the hardness manufacturers need without that processing penalty, and a single engineered steel costs less than a multi-layer cladding process. Shops handle it on standard equipment.
Through-thickness hardness without the high-alloy tool steel price
High-alloy tool steels do offer through-thickness hardness, which matters for tillage parts that wear down past their surface layer. Boron steel delivers that same through-hardness at a better price point, with improved toughness against stone and rock impacts and far fewer quench cracks. No special workshop procedures required. You get the hardness profile without the premium or the processing headache.
Suitable applications for boron steel
Boron steel for tillage suits any implement that has to cut, turn, or break soil while surviving repeated stone impacts. The five applications below are where manufacturers get the strongest return.
Mouldboard plough
Disc harrows
Subsoilers
Cultivators
Disc plough
Two boron steels perfect for tillage
Next generation SSAB M53 for moldboard plows
Economical, ≈59 HRC through-hardness, good toughness, excellent workshop properties. Tillage implements such as moldboards operate in high-wear environments, especially after the harvest. The wearing becomes even more aggressive if there is frost and crop residue. Moldboard plow manufacturers, therefore, search for high hardness steels to reduce wear, plus good toughness to resistant impacts against stones and small rocks.
Read more
SSAB Boron 45 for longer-lasting disc harrows and cultivators
Compared to conventional B27/B30 steel, SSAB Boron 45 delivers 4 to 5 HRC higher hardness that goes all the way through its thickness. It can be used with a variety of common heat treatment processes, including press hardening and hot forming – without quench cracks.
Read moreBoron steel expertise and trial material for your tillage equipment
Contact us with any questions about your moldboard plow, disc harrow, or cultivator application. Our boron steel experts can help you choose the right grade, make your hardening production more economical, and extend the service life of your tillage equipment. We can also send a trial sample so you can test the material in your own workshop before committing to a full order.
Next generation hardenable boron steel for agricultural implements: cost-effective, durable & sustainable
Agricultural/tillage implements — such as mouldboard ploughs, disc harrows, and cultivators — face extreme wear conditions. This webinar will show you how you can reduce material costs and increase implement service life by using the next generation hardenable SSAB Boron (press hardening) steel.
Go to webinar
SSAB Boron steel – optimized steel for quench hardening
SSAB Boron steel stands for a new and wider range of advanced steel grades for quench and press hardening. It will improve overall productivity, yield and end product quality. It’s the right choice for trouble-free and cost-efficient performance in heat-treatment processes.
Read more