Evaluation of the steel AISI 420 in foundry state for the production of agitator´s impeller

In companies producing nickel with Caron technology, the wear and tear on the impellers of the turbo-rods causes the shortening of the life of these equipment. The objective of the present work is to evaluate, under abrasion conditions of the reduced ore subjected to leaching in the Caron process, the wear resistance of AISI 420 high strength steel, in order to use it as a substitute for steel X27H20 (ASTM 314), of which these impellers are currently manufactured. To determine the abrasion resistance, in the melt state, and to compare the results, samples of AISI 420 steel were subjected to a tempering and tempering heat treatment, then subjected to wear tests, using the gravimetric method, with times of permanence of one hour, previous taking of the weight. The results show that although there is a slight difference between the hardness of the material in the melt state and with heat treatment, the weight loss has very low values, so that it is concluded that the material proposed and evaluated meets the requirements established, and exhibits behavior consistent with the manufacturer's requirements