The cement industry actually refers to those factories that produce cement. These types of factories can be found in most countries around the world, as cement is an important material for building houses and concrete structures such as bridges. This also means that it is a very interesting industry for us as a global supplier of welding consumables for surface protection and more specifically for wear protection.
In the production of cement, depending on the design and construction of the plant, it passes vertical or horizontal mills that grind the material into the very fine powder we know as cement.
This is very a very abrasive substance, and the handling of it, along with 24/7 operation, makes the cement industry to one of the most challenging environments for production machinery in terms of wear. Severe wear results in significant losses in production efficiency, as well as to a reduction of quality and machine life. It also increases in maintenance costs for production equipment.
This means that the surfaces of the vertical and horizontal mills must be protected in order to increase the wear resistance during operation and to extend the service life of the production equipment.
A very efficient solution to increase the wear resistance and thus extend the life of the production equipment is the application of wear resistant or hardfacing weld overlays. The main welding processes for applying wear protection weld overlays are stick electrodes (SMAW) or cored wires (FCAW). Submerged Arc Welding (SAW) would also be an option, but only for larger surfaces and only in flat positions.
Welding with stick electrodes is very flexible and can be carried out in all positions and under all circumstances; this is very practical for repairs without having to dismantle the entire mill. For overhauls and total refurbishments of the mills in question, where large or major areas have to be rebuilt, welding with hardfacing cored wires provides an advantage in the deposition rate and the welding time required, which determines the total mill downtime. The latter therefore offers a very solid and economical solution.
As part of the production process, the material also passes through a large cylindrical oven, called the kiln, in which the material is fired to finally produce the cement. Due to the high temperature in the kiln and the furnace, fatigue cracks can occur, which may lead to larger cracks and even rupture of the wall of the kiln. This type of problem can also be corrected by welding, usually with stick electrodes with a special composition (nickel-based alloy) to ensure strength, elongation and crack resistance when the kiln put back into operation.
UTP provides a complete package of high-quality wear protection welding consumables for maintenance and repair, resulting in the optimization of the productivity of cement plants.
