3 Things You Should Know about Wear Plates

1. What are Wear-Resistant Steel Plates?

Wear-resistant steel plates, also named abrasion-resistant plates (AR Plates), are used to reduce wear and tear on equipment surface caused by intense rolling abrasion and impact. The strength of these wear-resistant steel plates is enhanced by heat treatment such as quenching and tempering, or by adding some alloying elements, the original characteristics of the steel plates are intensified.

2. Where are Wear-Resistant Steel Plates Used?

Thanks to their excellent hardness and toughness properties, these wear-resistant steel plates can be found in various industries and applications where abrasion, wear, tear and impact requirements are particularly critical.

ㆍExcavators, Crushers and Bulldozers

ㆍMining and earth-moving machinery

ㆍLiners and structural elements for buckets

ㆍDump Truck bodies

ㆍCrushing and pulverizing equipment

ㆍConveyor belts

ㆍFan blades

ㆍScrap presses

ㆍPaving moulds

Unlike many other steel products, these wear steel plates doesn't have a standard provision, nor required specific chemical composition. The fact is that each mill has its own alloy composition of wear plates, resulting in different mechanical performance. But being agreed to all, the hardness which is measured in Brinell units is the most crucial factor in judging the quality of a wear plate.

3.  What Factors will Affect the Quality of Wear-Resistant Steel Plates?

Factor 1: Heat Treatment & Alloy Content

Wear-resistant steel plates are well defined regarding their hardness. There are mainly 2 ways to increase the hardness and toughness of the wear plates:

i. Heat Treatment (QT)

For some specific working environments, such as earthmoving and mining, quenched and tempered steels by the process of heat treatment are an economical choice. However, these types of wear plates, while cost-effective, are not as durable as alloy wear plates.

ii. Adding Alloy Content

For alloy wear plates, there are 3 basic alloying elements: carbon, silicon, manganese, and of course, other alloying elements can also improve different mechanical performances of wear-resistant steel plates:

ㆍCarbon: The increase of carbon content in steel will increase its yield point and tensile strength but reduce its ductility and impact. Meanwhile, too much carbon content could reduce the weldability of the steel, so adjusting the carbon content balance in the wear plate is  a very important operation that can't be ignored.

ㆍSilicon: Silicon can significantly increase the elastic limit, yield point and tensile strength of steel, but like carbon, the weldability of steel would decrease by adding too much amount of silicon.

ㆍManganese: Manganese is a good deoxidizer, and desulphurization in the steelmaking process, so that the wear plate has greater strength and hardness, also improves the hardenability of steel and the hot processing performance.

Factor 2: The Smoothness of the Surface

When considering the lifespan of the wear-resistant steel plates, especially in applications like the truck bodies, conveyor belts, and fan blades, the smoothness of the surface is a very critical factor. A smooth surface can ensure uniform wear as well as bending radius, which can provide a precise bending accuracy.

Factor 3: Hardness Variations within the Plate

The core hardness value affects the lifetime of the wear parts, for example, as wear occurs and new material is exposed, if the core hardness value of the steel plate is higher, the wear rate will be minimized compared to the steel plate with a low core hardness value, and the service life of the parts will also be prolonged.

Wear Plate Manufacturer - Jinhua

If you are looking for a Wear Plate supplier to provide you with Wear Plate and wear resistant products, then you have come to the right place. Even though Wear Plate is now very mature, Jinhua can always strive to make Wear Plate products even better. In addition to the best solutions and good service, we can also offer competitive prices for Wear Plate. Jinhua will help you to choose the right and best wear products, use Jinhua to develop overlay mechanical Wear Plate and wear products and help you to import them to your plant from China. Contact us now!