At 550 HBW and with a toughness close to Hardox® 500

The challenge

Before Hardox was used, the liner plates of the hoppers quickly wore out during the company’s heavy daily operations. Frequently changing the plates increased workload and downtime, since the process took two weeks to complete and caused maintenance difficulties.

“The abrasion on the ore-extraction system has troubled us for a long time,” says Huang Chuanlu, equipment manager for Dexing’s railway transportation section.

The solution

Dexing decided to apply Hardox 550 and Hardox 600 on the sides and bottoms of its 18 ore-extraction machines, with dramatic results.

“The service life of the liner plate can be extended two or even three times,” Huang says. “This reduces the maintenance frequency and reaches our target of changing the plate once every two years. The engine load is also reduced as the thinner Hardox wear plate makes the hopper much lighter.”

“Relying on Hardox, the downtime of the system has shrunk by half and production has increased. This guarantees sustainable operations and remarkably improves our turnover. We will continue to work with SSAB to change the remaining systems as well.”

Customer benefits

• Machine service life extended 2-3 times
• Thinner plate meant reduced engine load
• Downtime cut in half
• Production and profits increased