Wear on the metal floor plates 1

[b_o]

Hi!

Does anyone know what the mechanism for the wear on the metal plates is? There are empty metal carts with cast iron wheels being transported on the metal floor. To me it seems that particles from cast iron wheels get embedded into the floor causing holes and metal abrasions on the plates? Could this damage be explained by that or does it seem that there is maybe corrosion damage also?

 

[Dhurjati Sen]

material of the metal carts?

cast iron type?

DHURJATI SEN
Kolkata, India

 

[MintJulep]

Material of the floor?

Scale or magnification of the pictures?

 

[arunmrao]

How does abrasion of the trolley wheels affect the floor tiles?

For a food processing unit,with operating temperature of 250C,I had used PEEK material for trolley wheels. It is nearly 1 year and the wheels have not worn out or cracked.

Damage due to use of metallic wheels as shown in your pictures may be due to poor housekeeping.

 

[b_o]

@Dhurjati Sen and @MintJulep I am unsure about the metal floor plates material, but they look like some kind of low alloy carbon steel. Carts wheels are something like this Link

I took a photo with a phone as closely as the camera allowed me. I will add a picture with a measuring tape tomorrow.

@arunmrao I was thinking that it could be wear debris from the wheels. The debris gets embedded into the floor plates and then pushed further by the trolley moving there everyday, making this long groves.

 

[mrfailure]

I know you said the carts were empty, but what were the carts carrying when full? Also, why a metal floor (this seems unusual to me)?

 

[IRstuff]

Where are all these "particles" coming from if not from the loads of the carts? This reminds one of a joke about a sergeant and a private in a battle of wits. The sergeant suspects the private of stealing something, and every day, the sergeant searches the wheelbarrow of dirt that the private is wheeling around, but finds nothing. Many years later, they meet, and the former sergeant asks the former private, "OK, I know you were stealing something in those wheelbarrows of dirt, so what was it? The former private answers, "I was stealing the wheelbarrows."

So, if this is some sort of industrial operation, how is it that only empty carts are traveling on this stretch of floor? Where do they go when they're full?

TTFN (ta ta for now)
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKorP55Aqvg

faq731-376 forum1529 Entire Forum list

http://www.eng-tips.com/forumlist.cfm

 

[b_o]

The carts are filled with organic powder. They are empty here, because this area is just before they are filled. On other areas full carts are being driven around and my theory is that less damage is noticed there because the metal plates get "polished" by full carts (1000 kg) moving around the whole day. But I am not sure if this holds water.

 

[hendersdc]

Your first photo shows a lot of particles imbedded in the floor (circled in the image below). The one at the end of the long groove appears to be a ball bearing. I would suggest digging out some of the other ones and figuring out what material they are. I also find it amazing you are causing this kind of damage to a steel floor, in the pictures it looks much more like a plastic.

 

[IRstuff]

because the metal plates get "polished" by full carts (1000 kg)

That does not compute. The same crap on full carts should be dug in deeper; you should see even more damage.

TTFN (ta ta for now)
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKorP55Aqvg

faq731-376 forum1529 Entire Forum list

http://www.eng-tips.com/forumlist.cfm

 

[b_o]

Thank you!

@hendersdc Hmm I didn't even think about the possibility of bearing being pushed into the floor. This would explain the roundness of that particle. Still don't know how to explain more damage to the floor on the parts where only empty carts move.

@IRstuff I thought so. But I have no idea why that part of the floor would have less damage. I guess the reason could be newer metal plates, but no one really know how old they are.

 

[mrfailure]

Probably not like the carts get a complete thorough cleaning whenever you dump a load. There are still loose particles all over, probably including on the wheels that can abrade the surface. A full cart may cause some wear on the surface it runs on due to the load, causing more loss of material that is greater than the abrasion of the "empty" carts.

 

[b_o]

@mrfailure No they do not get cleaned.

 

[IRstuff]

If the carts are truly empty, then the only other explanation is that the floor is basically the soft butter of metal floors. That one long gouge that ends with a ball bearing required someone to push the cart with a non-turning wheel in order for the ball to even move across the floor that much. That means it wasn't pushed into the floor, but plowed across the floor, which means the floor is like butter, or you have 900-lb gorillas pushing those carts and the wheel bearings need to be greased.

TTFN (ta ta for now)
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKorP55Aqvg

faq731-376 forum1529 Entire Forum list

http://www.eng-tips.com/forumlist.cfm

 

[b_o]

@IRstuff We don't have gorillas working here, I guess it could be that if the machine filling the carts malfunctions or jams they could move a full cart backwards instead of forwards. That could explain the long gouge I guess, but it still doesn't explain the increased damage here where a full cart is an exception compared to the other side where full are driven around all the time.