Breaking of Steels and Irons 1

[MikeEng42]

I'm looking to implement a crude process to break up stainless steels. The inputs will be segmented rings measuring up to 24" wide at the OD, 20" at the ID, 16" ID to OD, and 2" thick (think 66" dia. doughnut cut into 10 segments, yum ). The incoming material ranges from 17-4PH (Rc ~35) to high chrome white irons with ~ 30%v carbides (Rc ~60). My desired output would be chunks with the largest dimension smaller than 10" and a sum of all the dimensions smaller than 14" (doesn't need to be consistent).

I highly doubt I could get enough capital approved to install 2 separate processes for the different styles of materials. So my question is: what process would you recommend trying that could handling breaking up both styles of materials?

 

[EdStainless]

A real big shear.
The only problem is that for softer materials you actually shear them.
And for hard materials you fracture them.
These two actions require different blade profiles (small gap to cut vs bend/break).

You could try to fracture everything, but less brittle stuff will just bend.

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Plymouth Tube

 

[amorrison]

Can you find out is these metals have a temperature point where they become brittle and weak.
Maybe a block of solid CO2 is all you need. Hammer at will.

 

[EdStainless]

Good thought. As long as none of them are austenitic stainless grades you could cool to -60 and treat them all as brittle.
Liquid nitrogen is cheap and easy to handle.

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Plymouth Tube

 

[MikeEng42]

We don't do anything in the 300SS range; its all 17-4PH, 440, or white irons.

Just to be clear, we're talking about a shear press? How big is really big? Or what size would be necessary to shear (or fracture) parts up to 2" thick?

 

[EdStainless]

If you are doing it cold think more like a bend test with a sharp ram.
Most of this stuff will shatter when cold, but at that size it is still going to take a lot of force.

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Plymouth Tube

 

[SnTMan]

Plasma cutter?

 

[MikeEng42]

The surface of the parts has deep grooves, and could potentially break the arc. Also I'm looking at processing these automatically, with minimal human interaction. I'm looking at processing up to 40,000 in one 8 hr shift. Each piece is approx. 60 lbs. (processing around 700 pieces/shift).

I think the ram/forge/shear could work well, and have minimal human interaction (very key part, no one likes to add people doing non-value added work).

Thanks!

 

[MikeEng42]

Another question, does anyone know of a company that makes shear/ram/forge style machinery?

Or does anyone know the approximate cost of a machine that could break what I described above? Now I have to see how cost prohibitive this idea would be.

Because I'm looking for something that can crudely break up steel, my budget for the project is rather small (<$75,000).

 

[dgallup]

Prison labor? Don't laugh, our ex plant manager started a company whose business plan included paying convicts next to nothing for highly unskilled labor.

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The Help for this program was created in Windows Help format, which depends on a feature that isn't included in this version of Windows.

 

[arunmrao]

17/4Ph,440 and high chrome, are these scrap generated from paper industry? Scrap Shredder machines using Manganese steel hammers are common. Are you segregating the scrap or offering them as a mix? Also in what ratio are the scraps available?

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"It's better to die standing than live your whole life on the knees" by Peter Mayle in his book A Good Year

 

[MikeEng42]

We consume the scrap. The processing is to alleviate material handling issues in loading our furnaces.

Does anyone know of a scrap shredding company or a company with a large shear/ram in the Milwaukee area? I'd like to try breaking these plates.

 

[EdStainless]

Who is your scrap dealer now? Someone local?
Miller?

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Plymouth Tube

 

[DiegoLGraves]

Mike, for information contact one of the local forge shops like Milwaukee Forge, or one of the scrap metal shops near them, like Pelman (near Ladish.)

 

[chicopee]

As crude as an Oxy acetylene torch? Watch out for the fumes though, so proper respiratory protection will be required.