1. Coal Mine – CQMS Dragline Ground Engaging Tools (GETs) Wear Life
increased by 300%
Product Dragline Teeth
Location NSW, Australia
CHALLENGE
The dragline bucket teeth were wearing at such a high rate that changeovers were required before
every scheduled fortnightly shutdown. The teeth were lasting on average on 9 days. This meant that
additional time and resources were required to complete unscheduled changeovers.
The maintenance manager stated that he needed to extend the wear life to 2 weeks so that
changeover rates could be reduced to save maintenance time and money. He thought this was
unlikely due to abrasive nature of the pit.
CLIENT’S APPROACH
The client had undertaken the following actions:
 Researched other OEM teeth solutions
 Trialled other hardfacing suppliers with no improvement
After being unable to extend life of teeth beyond 9 days chose to trial PTAW as a last resort.

2. PLASMA HARDFACING’S APPROACH
Before starting any work we discussed with the maintenance manager the type of wear issues the
mine was facing and visited the store room to see where the major wear points were. We also
established current costs and wear life requirements needed to justify spend. We also educated the
customer about the PTA process and what sets it apart from other offerings in the market.
Before starting the trial the customer said,
“If you can get it (teeth) to last 14 days I will be very impressed, but I
don’t think it can happen.”
We knew that reaching the 14 day mark and beyond was attainable and told the customer,
“We believe we can make it last 2-3 times longer than what you are
currently getting, let us prove it to you”.
STAGE 1 – PTA WEAR TRIAL #1
We trialled the first wear design on 2 teeth using a standard wear design used by the OEM and
requested by the customer. The design was based on existing OEM hardfacing designs with a
standard pattern as per below:
Before After - PTA Wear trial design 1
The customer was happy with the results but wanted even greater results and stated,
“if you can get that mark you may as well try and achieve 28 days!”
On the back of the excellent initial trial we were given a set of teeth (6) to hardface and set the task
to hit the 28 days mark. We knew to achieve this we needed more coverage on the GET and a better
welding design pattern.

3. STAGE 1 – PTA WEAR TRIAL #2
The key was to add more PTA coverage to the tooth for added protection. The second design had
around 30% more hardfacing applied which we knew would give just enough extra protection to
extend the lifecycle and reach the goal of 28 days.
Wear design 2 Teeth at 14 days – still with good PTA coverage
RESULTS
The customer was amazed with the final results we achieved and made hardfacing standard on his
dragline bucket. He also wanted to roll out hardfacing on the dragline adaptors. This was not
possible due to the machine being parked up from New Year but he was a huge advocate of the
technology as he put it:
“The results you guys achieved were fantastic and I would have used
you guys for hardfacing the adaptors as well…”
Total Hours of Dragline teeth before changeover Total Days of Dragline teeth before changeover
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
Clean PTA
Trial
#1
PTA
Trial
#2
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
Clean PTA
Trial #1
PTA
Trial #2

4. COST SAVINGS BREAKDOWN
Savings breakdown is based on 20 hours production per day and 48 weeks per annum.
PROCUREMENT SAVINGS
CMQS
tooth
Unit price Cost/set Hours/BCM Changeovers
per annum
Total cost
per annum
Clean skins $1000 $6000 180/400,000 37 $222,000
With PTA $1900 $11,400 600/850,000 11 $125,400
Savings - - 420/450,000 26 $96,600
DOWNTIME SAVINGS
CMQS
tooth
Downtime
costs/hour
Hours/
changeover
Unscheduled
changeovers
Total hours Total cost
per annum
Clean skins $15,000 3 18 54 $810,000
With PTA $15,000 3 0 0 $0
Savings - - 18 54 $810,000
OVERALL SAVINGS
CMQS
tooth
CMQS tooth Total cost
per annum
Procurement $ 96,600 $ 96,600
Downtime $810,000 $810,000
Total Savings - $906,600
SUMMARY OF RESULTS
PLASMA HARDFACING achieved the following results:
 Tooth life extended from 9 to 28 days
 Reduced unscheduled changeouts by 18 per annum.
 Projected procurement savings of $96,600 per annum
 Downtime savings of approximately $810,000 per annum
 Lowered OHS risks by reducing number of changeouts required
 Exceeded customer’s expectations
CUSTOMER BENEFITS
 Delivers bottom line savings of $906,600 per annum
 Potential to lower OSH incident rates on machine
 Frees up 54 hours of maintenance staff per annum

5. FUTURE OPPORTUNITIES
PTA hardfacing is able to be applied to a number of other wear components on a mine site. There
are a number of other applications where significant cost savings and efficiencies can be attained.
Some additional opportunities exist in the following areas:
 PTA other dragline parts: adaptors, wing shrouds, dragline ropes and chains
 PTA on other equipment: excavators, dozers, CHPP etc.
 PTA welding onsite – dragline bucket and lip shrouds to extend life
 Improve PTA powder wear properties to further extend life
 Refine wear design patterns
 Design own range of customised powders to suit unique wear conditions at mine
KEY LEARNINGS FROM TRIAL
 Validation that PTA can deliver exceptional savings
 Onsite visits allow for information gathering that assists improvements in wear patterns
 Setting KPI at very start of wear trial adds laser focus to trial purpose
 A collaborative approach to trial gets the best results
 Completed wear trials opens up doors as “runs on the board” is vital for mining companies
 Good communication throughout process is key to maximise results and efficiencies
 $/hr is a good way to express cost savings to mine
 Branding is important (this was added to our teeth later)
CONTACT US:
Head office Mackay Office
A: 4/16B Landy Street A: 43-45 Enterprise Street
Northgate QLD Mackay QLD 4740
P: 07 3630 4840 P: 0498 469 158
W: www.plasmahardfacing.com.au
E: info@plasmahardfacing.com.au