Abrasive wear study of selected white cast irons as liner materials for the mining industry

Abstract

The abrasive wear behaviour of three white cast irons, designated as 10Cr-3.5Ni, 15Cr-3Mo and 16.5Cr-1.5Mo irons (where the compositions are in weight per cent), was studied in a field test as liners installed in a transfer of an iron ore operation and in three laboratory wear tests (pin-on-drum, dry-sand-rubber-wheel (DSRW) and paddle testers) to determine the relevance of the laboratory wear tests to the field liner test. The results from the wear tests and wear mechanism study showed that under the test conditions the DSRW test most closely predicts the relative wear rate of the white irons in the field liner test. However, a perfect match of both the wear mechanism and the rank of the wear rate for the iron from the laboratory wear test to the field liner test was not achieved, owing to the complexity of the field liner wear condition. The wear mechanisms were elucidated by microscopic examination of the worn surfaces for both field-tested liners and laboratory-tested specimens, and by subsurface examination of paddle-tested specimens, together with the microstructural study of the irons. The predominant wear mechanisms depend upon both the wear conditions and the microstructural properties of the irons. It was found that the wear resistance of the white irons for the low stress abrasion is controlled by the matrix, and that for the high stress abrasion and impact abrasion is mainly determined by the bulk hardness of the irons.