Methods of mining machine components reconditioning and hardening by means of concentrated energy fluxes

Abstract

Introduction. The value of resources is becoming increasingly important to mining proprietors, since the maintenance of mining equipment is quite expensive. Increased scope and cost of repairs are largely determined by the quality of mining machines and equipment operation in production environment, as well as by their reliability and maintainability. The costs of preventive maintenance are over the limit by 40–50%, in most instances, due to equipment shutdowns caused by subsystem failures. Components with hidden defects as well as the methods of components reconditioning that do not ensure long-term operation cause a significant overrun of costs for breakdown maintenance. The quality of mining equipment maintenance is in direct relationship with the effective methods of components reconditioning, including the methods of components hardening both during their manufacture at machinebuilding plants and during their repairs at repair works that carry out complex, mainly major repairs of mining equipment. Adherence to the flow process of reconditioning/hardening of the component surface in contact with another component is of great importance. Therefore, to preserve fixed assets, in particular, mining and transport equipment, it is essential to find that reconditioning methods which allow to preserve consumer properties and operability of equipment for a sufficiently long time. Subject matter. The article provides an overview of methods of mining machine components reconditioning/hardening involving concentrated energy fluxes. In the authors’ opinion, these are the most effective methods to increase the resource and reliability of mining machine components by 2–3 times. The choice of components reconditioning/hardening method depends entirely on the service centre capacities, necessary technological equipment availability, personnel qualifications and, most importantly, economic feasibility of using a particular method of reconditioning/hardening. Research objective is to consider the most effective methods of mining machine components reconditioning/hardening. Methods of research include the interpretation of a number of experiments conducted at mining enterprises to obtain comparative characteristics of the most effective methods of mining machine components reconditioning/hardening. Research results. The most effective methods of components reconditioning/hardening are identified and recommended practices are provided. Conclusions. It has been established that the application of a particular components reconditioning/hardening method should be based on the data from tribological maps, as well as necessary equipment availability and economic feasibility.