Investigating the Failure of Exhaust Impeller Fan Blades of Indurating Machines in Iron Ore Pelletizing Plant: Effective Solutions for Improvements

In essence, when steel industry in concerned, facing the destructive parameters is inevitable, specifically in pelletizing plant, where the indurating machine is severely damaged. A similar fortune is considerable for the impeller fan blades of the exhaust systems in such arrangements in industry. Austempering heat treatment is a cheap and easy process to improve the service life of the items by enhancing the mechanical properties and, of course, wear resistance. This work is part of a broader program concerning optimizing process conditions and applying possible improvements to enhance the service life for each individual item in the steel industry. In this research, it was focused on impeller fan blades, where a new chemistry was employed to casting operation by the addition of specified amounts of nickel, molybdenum and copper to chemical composition of the ductile cast iron GGG60. The produced samples were subjected to austempering process at a predicted time and temperature in a salt bath. A range of techniques were employed to study the mechanical properties and assess the wear behavior of the samples. The findings showed that the acicular ferrite was formed by the austempering process, leading to the enhancement of wear resistance and consequently improving the performance of the impeller blades. This improvement was also verified by simulation employing ABAQUS and SolidWorks software. The latter was to confirm the actual performance of the impeller fan blade, whereas the alloy sufferred from reduction in elongation during austempering process.