Equipment in a variety of industries involving heavy usage and/or abrasive materials usually experiences rapid surface wear. This wear can come from friction between two pieces of equipment that are sliding against or impacting each other or regular exposure to harsh chemicals, heat or materials that the equipment processes like rocks or sand during mining operations.
Wear Tech Simply Defined
Wear technology is any super strong, abrasion-resistant material used to manufacture parts that slow down wear and extend the life of heavy equipment. AR materials also reduce worn equipment accidents and maintenance and production delays. Typically, wear technology is made of materials like quenched steel and metal alloys, engineered ceramics and trowelable ultra-hard mineral compounds that have an incredibly hard micro-structure that is resistant to easy abrasion and breakdown. These materials handle repeated use in harsh conditions far longer than standard materials.
Wear technology is used on a wide selection of heavy equipment that handles carrying, conveying, cutting, milling, stamping, processing, punching and much more. Common industries that use wear technology include:
– Agricultural – Cement
– Construction
– Food Processing
– Fossil Fuel
– Manufacturing
– Mining
– Power Generation
– Pulp and Paper
– Steel
Wear Tech Services
Wear technologies are usually positioned atop parts or made into parts. Equipment parts that are commonly coated with AR plate or other AR substances include ball bearings, blades, chippers, choppers, chutes, funnels, pipes, rings, scrapers and shafts. Some AR materials are designed to handle regular contact with coarse particles and some can handle extremely fine ones. Beyond abrasion resistance, many wear technologies are also designed to reduce friction, increase flow, enhance part strength and provide a high level of energy absorption during vibrations and impacts.
Most wear technology suppliers, like The A.J. Weller Corporation at ajweller.com, offer more than AR products and coatings. They offer one-stop-shop solutions, such as:
– Engineering Advice
– Custom Design Services
– Parts and/or Equipment Manufacturing
The best companies also supply their customers with environmentally-friendly abrasion-resistant materials. These materials are either created using processes that do not harm the environment, or they make slight-to-zero impact on the environment during use. The term environmentally-friendly is also used to describe AR materials that can be recycled into other products. All wear technology under this category is usually marked “Green” or “Recyclable.”
If you use heavy equipment in your business, it’s time to check your records for the total time and money you’ve lost in the past to rapid parts and equipment degradation. If you’re regularly facing repair emergencies and associated production delays, stop the losses today by investing in wear technology designed for your production needs.