Choosing the right wear protection for ground engaging tools through customized solutions

Ground Engaging Tools (GETs) are often compromised because they wear by gouging, high-stress abrasion and/or impact, which causes them to lose functionality and ultimately fail. Hardfacing applied by welding or cladding protects GETs; however, there are considerations when choosing the right hardfacing solution to maximize production and minimize cost. Oerlikon Metco is the market maker for revolutionary new hardfacing materials developed using the company’s proprietary Scoperta™ Rapid Alloy Computational Design Process. The big data approach enables the design of unique alloys tuned to both performance in specific environments and to application by specific processes. Thus, hardfacing solutions that simultaneously address aspects such as crack sensitivity, abrasion, impact, weldability and application cost can be developed. “These new material technologies provide significant improvement in operational performance and are the future of maintaining sustainability,” states, Adolfo Castells, Applications Segment Manager, Hardfacing. For GETs, Oerlikon Metco has now developed a family of solutions that can address very specific operating conditions, thereby improving performance and GET lifespan significantly over traditional hardfacing solutions. In some cases, the lifespan improvement can be as much as 30% - 200%. Furthermore, these solutions are already field-proven by GET operators — particularly large GETs used in surface mining operations. Products are available for application by arc welding, laser cladding or PTA.