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Multotec Ceramic Impact Panels
are custom made for specific applications. |
Multotec Ceramic Impact Panels Prove Cost Effectiveness
Multotec Wear Linings first
introduced impact resistant ceramics for use on
headgear chutes in the gold mining industry in 1987.
Since then the success achieved with ceramic impact
panels in hard rock mining applications has
emphasised the technological advances being achieved
by Multotec in the field of engineered wear
resistant solutions.
The major wear resistant advantages being offered by
these locally manufactured composite impact panels
have taken wear engineering to new heights. The
ceramic impact panel comprises engineered ceramic
tiles embedded in a resilient bed.
Composite wear panels are custom made for specific
application requirements to ensure an optimum wear
solution, and although there are restrictions on
optimal panel sizes, the panels can be made up in
almost any shape. |
These first Multotec Ceramic Impact Panels
to be manufactured used a composite of dense alumina ceramic
impact resistant tiles. These panels replaced the hard
manganese steel liners which were being used in the skip
discharge chutes at a shaft of one of the largest gold mines
in the world.
Installed more than two decades ago in October 1987, these
innovative wear resistant panels lasted for seven years,
compared to the three to five months previously achieved by
steel liners.
Much development has since been done to improve the system.
In some instances, the polyurethane has been substituted
with epoxy as well as other impact absorbing products,
always customised to suit the application.
The size and shape of the ceramic tiles have also been
modified to enhance the impact resistance. The shape of the
block or tile itself is just as important as the high
alumina ceramic formulation used. The tiles, while shaped to
provide the maximum working area for resistance against
abrasion and impact, are engineered to obtain a mechanical
attachment to the polyurethane and to prevent shearing of
the polyurethane bed.
After providing wear resistant solutions in the gold
industry, the focus was shifted towards the platinum market
in the late 1990s. Today many of the Anglo Platinum shafts
use these ceramic/epoxy composite liners on headgear chutes
and loading boxes.
Multotec Ceramic Impact Panels, in hard rock applications,
have achieved a lifespan of five years compared to the six
months generally achieved by steel liners in the same
application. The figures speak for themselves – for an
investment of just 1.5 times the price of a steel liner,
Multotec Ceramic Impact Panels achieve at least ten times
the lifespan.
More About Multotec Wear Linings
Multotec Wear Linings, a member of the Multotec Group of
companies, produces a range of wear resistant high alumina
ceramic products and other products to provide cost
effective engineered wear solutions.
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