The Mining Industry Demands Quality Forged Parts

We live with metals. Everywhere we turn we see metals. Perhaps we wonder at times where these metals come from. Well, originally, they came out of the ground, on occasion quite deep in the ground, as ores. In other words they were mined. Mining is not a simple process.? It takes large, powerful equipment with boring heads, shovels, blades, or buckets with control arms and shafts made of special alloys, many of which are forged.

Corrosion abrasion, also known as abrasive corrosion, corrosion wear, or slurry erosion, is a significant problem in the mining industry. It is a combined process where both corrosion and abrasion occur simultaneously, often leading to more severe damage to metal parts than either process alone. Thus the need for strong, resistant steels to stand up to these conditions, and for fine-grained forgings, made from closely controlled feedstock, to ensure the required mechanical properties, wear resistance, and corrosion resistance.?

Mining equipment is in constant need of repair, maintenance, replacement parts, or upgrades. Metal surfaces coming in contact with rock or earth include buckets on backhoes, excavators, cable shovels, continuous miners, dippers, and bulldozer blades.? Other equipment includes draglines, dredging machines, hard rock mining machines, drillers, earthmovers, and loaders.? Depending on the mining operation, equipment may include tunnel boring machines, micro-tunneling, power shovels, steam shovels, trenchers, and various loaders.

Road or rail tunnel boring uses metal parts that are exposed to severe abrasion. Some tunnel boring equipment uses rings on the cutting face, while others use bits. The surface condition of metal parts and internal properties are critical in meeting the abrasion conditions of the work site geology.

For the many applications in the mining industry, All Metals & Forge Group supplies forgings for rings, gear blanks, step shafts, hybrid shovels, and crushers. AMFG has the know-how to meet the exacting requirements of the mining industry with forgings made from carbon steel and alloy steel. The company delivers parts to OEMS and aftermarket companies to suit their production schedules or repair demands.