Specialist steel profiling for heavy wear applications requires unique production and heat treatment methodologies to encourage high material strength and hardness without compromising the product’s formability. Established methods harden ferrous alloys by heating them to a temperature specific to their chemical composition and rapidly cooling them in a liquid bath or inert gas. This hardness can then be minutely reduced through tempering to improve the ductility of the material, causing a proportional drop in strength. While these methods have been used in metallurgy for centuries, they continue to represent challenges for manufacturers of abrasion resistant screening solutions.
Finnish steel specialist Miilux has developed an outstanding technique for manufacturing unique abrasion resistant steels that can be formed into curved, perforated steel sheets and tubular steel mesh without a significant loss of mechanical strength. While conventional screening solutions are traditionally hardened and formed, the Miilux method involves profiling soft, heated steel before the hardening step occurs. This improves the yield strength of the screening product and provides end-to-end hardness for the most demanding applications.
These properties make Miilux screening solutions ideal for use in hard-wearing applications such as the mining and earth-moving sector. This article will explore the applications of Miilux steel screening solutions in more detail:
Miilux Screening Solution Products
Miilux steel screening solutions are most commonly used in the mining industry to improve the capacities of heavy-wear and earth-moving machinery.
Highly-formed Miilux plates are routinely used to fabricate curved steel panels to protect drilling and earth-moving equipment from abrasive media. These plates are available in thicknesses of 5 – 120 mm and feature tensile strengths of up to 2,000 Newtons per square millimetre (N/mm2). The superior wear resistant qualities of Miilux steel grades provides unparalleled protection from geological abrasion across the full length and width of the component, enabling manufacturers to support the most vulnerable mechanical points of key drilling and mining equipment.
Miilux screening steels can also be used to fabricate pleats or grouser bars to improve the traction between continuous vehicle tracks and the earth, particularly in mining applications. Disturbed soil, geological granules, and powder particles can be problematic for equipment bearing heavy loads, complicating the matter of transporting material from pits or quarries. Pleated grouser bars augment tracks with increased surface areas and improved grip to ensure the safety of equipment operators and increase the speed of critical mining processes.
Miilux screening plates and grouser bars are available in several distinct steel grades that display improved abrasion resistance over HB400, HB450, HB500, and HB600 grade steels.
Screening Solutions from Masteel
Masteel is an industry-leading supplier of abrasion resistant steels for heavy wear applications. We offer a broad range of high-yield strength steels and custom Miilux screening solutions suitable for mining applications in some of the most demanding conditions on earth.
Find out more about the properties and advantages of Miilux steel grades, or contact us if you would like any more information about manufacturing screening solutions with custom steel grades.