How to Choose Screw Flighting: Key is Evaluating the Application Scenario

Strongly recommended to use wear-resistant flighting:

Material is extremely abrasive (e.g., solid waste containing a large amount of minerals, metals, gravel, glass, slag, cinder, aggregate, etc.).

Equipment needs to operate continuously and reliably (downtime losses are significant).

Material value is high or processing capacity requirements are high (maintaining efficiency is crucial).

Flighting replacement is difficult or costly (e.g., equipment is located underground or in a confined space).

The overall benefits of its extended lifespan are expected to significantly outweigh the increase in initial investment and manufacturing difficulty.

Ordinary flighting can be weighed or selected:

Material abrasiveness is weak or moderate (e.g., pure plastic, certain stages of unsorted municipal solid waste, grain, lightweight biomass).

Equipment utilization requirements are not high, and planned downtime for replacement is allowed.

Budget is very tight, and more attention is paid to one-time purchase costs.

The equipments service life itself is short.

Material Selection Strategy:

Comprehensive Balance Preferred: High-strength wear-resistant steel plate (e.g., Hardox 400/450, NM360/400/450), which achieves a good balance between wear resistance, toughness, machinability, weldability, and cost, and is suitable for most medium-to-high wear conditions.

Extreme Wear Resistance, Sacrificing Toughness: High-chromium cast iron, suitable for applications with almost pure abrasive wear, minimal impact, and easy replacement or short flighting (handle brittleness issues carefully).

Strong Impact Conditions: High-manganese steel (Mn13/Mn18), which becomes harder and harder on the surface under impact, is suitable for conditions where large hard objects frequently appear.

Economic Enhancement: Base steel + wear-resistant overlay welding on key parts, suitable for applications with limited budgets and wear mainly concentrated in specific areas.

Ultimately, choosing wear-resistant screw flighting is a thorough trade-off between the long-term operational economics, reliability of the equipment, and the current investment cost and technical difficulty. It is essential to conduct a comprehensive assessment based on specific material characteristics, operating conditions, operational requirements, and budget.