The impact of particle abrasion wear on equipment used in coal processing can be significant. Ever-persistent abrasion and wear takes a major toll on centrifuges, pulverisers, conveyors, chutes, augers, and other equipment. It can ultimately cause unexpected, costly downtime or greatly reduced equipment life.

For a major coal mine in Queensland, high abrasion from coarse coal in the dewatering centrifuge – used to extract excess water before stockpiling– meant the mine had to partially dismantle the centrifuge and remove the four chutes every 12 to 15 weeks to re-coat the internal surfaces of the chutes with a wearing compound. The frequent re-coating required a minimum of 72 hours of labour time, over a 12-month period. 

In consultation with their supplier, CBC, the coal mine decided to try the LOCTITE® PC 9313 Nordbak Hi-Impact Wearing Compound, to help extend the re-coating intervals. CBC Key Account Executive Rod Baker and Henkel Australia (LOCTITE) Application Engineer Trevor Hoelzl helped introduce the mine to the benefits of the LOCTITE product. 

Trevor says the mine was initially hesitant to switch to a new wear-resistant compound. 

“The LOCTITE PC 9313 Hi-Impact Wearing Compound is perfect for applications where both impact and abrasion wear are a problem. In order to evaluate the product, the mine decided to trial PC 9313 side by side with another competitor product in the coarse particle circuit – where the mine was experiencing some of their worst particle abrasion issues,” says Trevor.

The trial, which involved applying a 12-millimetre thick coating of LOCTITE PC 9313 to one of the feed chutes and a 12-millimetre thick coating on another feed chute with the competitor compound, proved the superiority of the LOCTITE product, according to Trevor.

“When the chutes’ condition was assessed after 16 weeks, the chute coated with LOCTITE’s PC 9313 compound had only worn by about 1 to 2 millimetres, whereas the competitor product in the other chute had been almost completely worn away. The customer was very happy with the performance of the LOCTITE PC 9313 and they put the chute through a further 16 weeks of service before requiring any re-coating. So, their re-coating interval extended to 32 weeks from the previous 12-15 weeks.”

The mine, a long-term customer of CBC’s branch in Brisbane, has been using LOCTITE wearing compounds and products from the LOCTITE brushable ceramic range to resolve abrasive wear problems in areas such as coal and rejects chutes, vibrating screens, centrifuges, water and slurry pumps, pipework and other circulating water systems. Rod says the CBC team regularly checks on the mine to make sure they have access to the latest industrial products for smooth running of their operations.

In one such call, the mine had indicated that they needed a faster curing version of LOCTITE PC 9313 high impact wearing compound for quick re-coating purposes when the specific equipment could not remain shut down for longer than a few hours.

CBC and LOCTITE’s solutions for this scenario was the LOCTITE PC 9593 Fast Cure, High Impact Wearing Compound.

“The mine was looking for a fast-curing version of LOCTITE PC 9313 for occasions when the available shutdown time was short. LOCTITE PC 9593 was the perfect solution for them. It offers the same level of impact and abrasion wear resistance as the PC 9313 but has a three-hour functional cure time compared to six hours for the PC 9313,” says Trevor. 

Trevor’s recommendation to mines or other industries with high abrasive wear issues is to keep both LOCTITE PC 9313 and LOCTITE PC 9593 products handy to use alternately as per their available cure times. 

“The LOCTITE PC 9593 was developed in response to customer requests for a faster curing version of LOCTITE PC 9313, and having both, the LOCTITE PC 9313 and LOCTITE PC 9593 products on site, now gives the maintenance team options when faced with a shortage of available shutdown time,” he concludes.  

LOCTITE® PC 9593 Features and Benefits:

• Fast cure (Three hours cure time at 25°C)

• Easy to mix and use

• Non-sag paste 

• Non-shrinking

• Resists sliding and impact abrasion wear

• Can be re-applied to itself repeatedly without removal of the original coating.

• Contains ceramic beads, ceramic powder and fibres to form a hard matrix.

• Suitable for rebuilding and protecting chutes, pumps, elbows, cyclones and other mineral handling or processing equipment in dry service temperatures of -30°C to +120°C and a wet service temperature to +90˚C.