CASE STUDIES - SERVICE LIFE INCREASES OF 47% TO 300%

ICS Wear Group has repeatedly proven its expertise in design, fabrication, and improving the service life of industrial components. The following are three of our many examples - click on each for more details:

• Application of ICS-200 Ceramic Epoxy, which increases component service life by upwards of 60%;
• Development of Sizer Replacement Tips, which increased component service life by 300%; and
• Design and fabrication of high performance conveyance elbows, which increased component service life by 47%.

ICS-200 Ceramic Epoxy - Increased service life: 60% (or more)

ICS-200 Ceramic Epoxy was used with Protec repair compounds to extend the service life of the abrasive duty pumps at a mineral sands operation in western Canada. One challenge faced by this operation was holing through to re-enforcements, typically on the elastomer impellers and parts, which led to catastrophic parts failures with chunking out of material.

ICS Wear Group drew on the company's thorough understanding of slurry wear mechanics to find a solution which more than doubled component service life. The addition of ICS-200 Ceramic Epoxy dramatically improved the service life of both OEM and after-market parts. No change was made to maintenance cycles. The only change was use of ICS-200 Ceramic Epoxy.

Details of case study

Objectives

• Aim to remove impeller and throatbush at 20 week cycle prior to catastrophic failure.
• Rebuild worn areas of impeller and matching components using ICS-200 Ceramic Epoxy reinforced rebuild material.
• Replace into duty with goal to run for same maintenance cycle.
• Repeat cycle as many times as possible for greater cost effectiveness.

Outcomes

The ceramic epoxy repair was successful and allowed the impeller to achieved the desired service life over a 20 week maintenance cycle.

• Newly worn locations rebuilt with ICS-200 Ceramic Epoxy.
• Cycle will be repeated indefinitely until the impeller is deemed unfit for service - results to date indicate 60%-plus increase in service life.

Benefits

• Reduced waste and environmental impact through equipment recycling.
• Reduced cost as impeller will be used through multiple cycles.
• Results and benefits can be applied across plant for additional savings.

Cost Implications

Historically it was not cost effective to consider parts rebuilt with repair compounds as no available product was able to match and/or exceed the strength of the parent material. The ICS-200 Ceramic Epoxy range of products provides a solution with SiC and Aramid fibre infused epoxy based repair compounds.

Now you can expect to achieve wear equal or better than that of the parent material by repairing with ICS-200 Ceramic Epoxy during your first repair cycle. The patented composition of ICS-200 mimics the microstructures of hard wearing carbides and does so in a matrix that can be easily applied and cured in less than an hour.

Our ICS-200 Epoxy includes Aramid fibre reinforced with a matrix of SiC particles which can be customized to be specific to the duty requirements and particle size distribution of the original material. With ICS-200, cut, gouge and tear mechanics of wear are significantly retarded. The high concentration of SiC particles and Aramid fibres knit the material together, protecting the component against the impact of abrasive solids.

When used in high wear zones of liners, pipes, screens, mills etc., ICS-200 can significantly reduce the abrasion wear on your machinery. As creators of the epoxy, we can also customize ICS-200 to match specific use requirements.

Cost Analysis of ICS-200 wear protection

As shown below, use of ICS-200 ceramic epoxy can save you thousands of dollars. The example below is based on appoximate costs covering the service life of two 10/8 size slurry pumps, one of which has main components protected with ICS-200 and one which is not protected.

Our line of ceramic wear epoxy outperforms competing products like Belzona, Devcon, and Nordbak at a 3 to 1 ratio under similar conditions. ICS-200 gives you the option of either:

• Protecting your pre-existing castings or
• Re-building such items as pump casings, impellers, moils, truck liners, grizzly roll bars, and all crusher and mill liners.

This product is consumer friendly coming complete with MSDS sheets, but most importantly, with applied heat, will cure in less than one hour.

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Sizer Replacement Tips - Increased service life of 300%

ICS Wear Group achieved an amazing increase of 300 per cent in component life by re-designing these Sizer tips for a NWT mine.
The new tips featured a reinforced shaft design and use of a new alloy. Initial performance reports indicate an increase in wear life of 300%.

Customer’s original tip, designed by the original equipment manufacturer.

New tip redesigned from the OEM by our team of professional engineers. Wear life has increased by 300%.

In another tip re-design, ICS Wear Group increased the wear life of the tip by 200% through a proprietory induction-hardening
process. This process increased the strength of the tip to withstand the cold and high-impacts of the work environment.

Customer’s original tip, provided by the original equipment manufacturer.

ICS-redesigned tip with induction hardening

Close-up of induction hardening, which increased the strength of tip in cold, high impact applications. Wear life has increased by 200%.

Custom Designed Elbow - Increased service life of 47%

Shown below is a custom designed elbow, which we created to replace an original equipment part that failed. We redesigned the elbow, modified the wall thickness, and changed the alloy. The result was a component which fit perfectly into the original assembly but lasted 47 per cent longer than the original component.

ICS used this sample from the client to check the composition, critical wall thick- ness, and hardness of the original component.	The two halves of the pattern created by ICS to fabricate a new, stronger elbow component. ICS also changed the alloy, which added to the component's service life, and modified the thickness of the walls.		The new elbows are ready to ship. Initial results show a 47% increase in service life.

Find out how ICS Wear Group can create a solution for your industry.