CORROSION AND WEAR PROPERTIES OF MATERIALS USED FOR MINCED MEAT PRODUCTION

Abstract

ABSTRACT The risk of material degradation is present in minced‐meat processing equipment. Corrosion, wear and tribocorrosion properties of commonly used steel materials for such processing equipment are therefore studied in detail. Corrosiveness of minced meat has been evaluated by potentiodynamic measurements. Combined sliding wear and corrosion conditions have been simulated in laboratory using a block‐on‐ring setup allowing for electrochemical measurements. Detailed information concerning the mechanism of possible material degradation is provided by these results, together with microstructural analysis and thermodynamic considerations. Areas of precaution are stated and new material solutions are suggested. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONSThe presented results show the importance of investigating both corrosion and wear properties of materials used for processing food under tribocorrosive conditions. In meat mincing, the processing materials need to be wear resistant and at the same time corrosion resistant because of possible aggressiveness of the food product and cleaning procedures. The use of laboratory setups has made it possible to investigate a steel containing vanadium‐nitride and carbide phases in respect of both corrosion and wear properties