THE ASSESSMENT OF THE INFLUENCE OF THE MATERIALUSED ON THE WEAR AND TEAR OF FORKLIFTS AND THEIROPERATIONAL SAFETY

The degree of wear of forklift forks is not always the effect of long operations or difficult operating conditions.The key parameter influencing the premature elimination of a vehicle from use is selecting an unsuitablematerial to make forks. Metallographic research allowed us to test the material structure and estimate whichmaterials would allow us to extend the exploitation time of the forklift forks and, consequently, increasethe operation safety level by excluding the inappropriate technical condition of a vehicle. The conductedresearch showed that the application of the properly selected heat treatment of steel allowed to obtain materialcharacterised by high hardness and the lowest abrasion resistance, and simultaneously it accounted for thelowest fork wear level. Extending the standard macroscopic wear tests by microscopic tests may constitute anintroduction to the research on standardising the material used to construct forklift forks.