UTP HARDFACING & WEAR PROTECTION

OPC Industrial & Mining provides engineered hardfacing solutions built around UTP Maintenance from voestalpine Böhler Welding—consumables proven globally for their advanced metallurgy, predictable wear performance, and consistent bead quality.

Tailor-Made Protectivity™ ensures an optimal balance of protection and productivity with innovative, customer-centric solutions tailored to individual requirements.

We support:

• Underground and surface mining

• Crushing and milling operations

• OEM rebuilders

• Mobile equipment repair shops

• Fixed-plant maintenance groups

Our application ensures you select the right alloy for the wear mode, the appropriate deposition method, and the appropriate service life for your specific operating environment.

Applications in Mining & Heavy Industry

Hardfacing restores worn components or enhances new parts to withstand abrasion, erosion, and impact. UTP Maintenance alloys are used on:

• Loader buckets, lips, and G.E.T. components

• Crushers, chutes, hoppers, and liners

• Backfill and slurry transport components

• Wear plates, elbows, and material-handling equipment

• Shafts, rollers, and rotating components that are exposed to wear

• Any steel or alloy surface exposed to mechanical abrasion (Additional industries: Agriculture & Food, Cement, Earth Moving, Energy & Power, Glass, Mining, Oil & Gas, Pulp & Paper, Pumps/Valves/Fittings, Railway Systems, Recycling & Waste Management, Shipyards, Steel Works, Sugar & Ethanol, Tool Construction.)

Typical Hardfacing Problems

Common challenges in mining and heavy industry include:

• Excessive downtime from rapid component wear in abrasive environments

• Cracking in overlays due to improper alloy selection or high impact

• Dilution issues leading to inconsistent hardness in multi-layer builds

• Difficulty welding on heat-sensitive bases without distortion

• Short service life in high-velocity erosion or mixed wear modes

UTP alloys address these with tailored carbide content, crack resistance, and deposition control—now enhanced with 2025 Cr-reduced formulas for fume safety.

Understanding Wear Modes

Correct alloy selection begins with understanding the primary wear mechanism:

• Abrasive wear – sliding or gouging contact with rock or sharp mineral content

• Impact wear – repeated mechanical shock or high-energy particle strikes

• Erosive wear – high-velocity slurry or air-stream particle attack

• Metal-on-metal wear – friction or galling between contacting components

• Thermal wear – heat cycles causing softening or surface breakdown

Each mode requires specific carbides, hardness profiles, and dilution control – which UTP alloys are engineered to provide.

To see more of the UTP Hardfacing & Wear Protection product range, click here → View All UTP Hardfacing & Wear Protection.

Tungsten Carbide Options

Tungsten carbide hardfacing offers exceptional resistance to abrasion and high-energy erosion. These systems are applied where service life must be maximized:

• High-pressure slurry environments

• Edges, lips, and high-contact points

• Severe mineral abrasion with fine particles

UTP offers multiple tungsten carbide wire and rod systems, such as WEARcore XD NiW46 (gas-shielded flux-cored wire with 42% W, matrix hardness 44 HRC) for corrosive environments.

Our Hardfacing Selection Process

Choosing the right alloy requires understanding the wear mechanism, the base material, the required hardness, the overlay thickness, the dilution limits, the heat input constraints, the position restrictions, and the expected service life. We look over your application and recommend the best UTP alloy.