Mill Shaft Exposed to
Extreme Environment
Motivation
Untimely failure of the
three-roller mill shaft in sugar cane industry is cause of reduced efficiency. This
also has a cascading effect as sugar factories run as a seasonal industry.
What is the issue during sugar
cane crushing?
Three-roller mill is
used to crush sugar cane for juice extraction and is inevitable equipment in
sugar manufacturing process globally. Failure due to wear on the top surface of
roller shaft in sugar cane mill is a major cause of concern. Initiation of
cracks and wear on the surface of the shaft lead to the crack propagation.
Consequently, the shaft fails due low cycle fatigue. Untimely failure of the shaft can
drastically reduce the productivity and hence the profitability due to extended
downtime and unusually high maintenance costs. This
failure also affects the reliability of the system. In most cases service life
of the roller shaft is reduced by half due this type of failures.
During operation of the
mill, the interface is often contaminated with sugar cane juice and dried waste
called bagasse. Therefore, it very important to study the most fundamental
aspects of wear and friction characteristics of sugar mill roller shaft
materials in different sliding media which are present during service
conditions. This translational research project our understanding and the
science of the initiation of cracks at multi-scales (nanometer and micrometer
length scales).
The service conditions
of the roller shaft were simulated in the laboratory. We have investigated that
coefficient
of friction (COF) was reduced but the surface damage was severe when
the contaminations were present at the sliding interface of shaft materials.
The complex tribochemistry between the sugar cane juice, bagasse, lubricant,
and sliding materials caused the initiation of cracks on the surface. This
understanding further helped to propose the potential remedy to reduce the
surface crack initiation.
If you have any such issues, we are glad to discuss with you. Please contact Always Avant to discuss further.