Study of steel hardness effect on the abrasive wear resistance

In the course of developing the territories of the shelf of the Northern seas, the Far East and Siberia, the problem of cold-breaking materials was particularly acute. More than half of the territory of the Russian Federation is located North of the January isotherm, which has a temperature of - 20 °C. In such areas, the performance of equipment, especially in winter, falls sharply. Breakdowns of tractor and bulldozer parts in winter, compared to summer, occur more often up to 6 times, and excavator parts - up to 7 times. At the same time, it was revealed that the most dangerous period of starting machines after stops. To prevent major breakdowns at temperatures less than - 35 °C, excavators, drilling rigs, and construction vehicles are stopped. And this is despite the fact that in accordance with the operating regulations, they must be operated throughout the year. The performance of mining equipment is greatly affected by wear. Unsatisfactory resistance of cast parts at low temperatures leads to large downtime and large economic losses. The relationship between hardness and resistance to abrasive wear is considered. Abrasive with different particle sizes was used for the tests. It is shown that there is no linear relationship between hardness and resistance to abrasive wear, that in conditions of low abrasive rocks it is enough to have average hardness values of the order of 47-50 HRS, and when working in highly abrasive rocks it is necessary to strive to obtain high hardness values of about 50-55 HRS.