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Failure Analysis of Slurry Pump Impeller Fractured at Collahuasi Mine

  • E. Ramos-Moore and A. Rosenkranz
Published/Copyright: October 29, 2016
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Practical Metallography
From the journal Practical Metallography Volume 53 Issue 11

Abstract

This work presents the analysis of a fractured impeller used in slurry pumps at the Collahuasi copper mine in Chile. Although the impeller must run more than 1 800 h, it was fractured under working conditions before having reached 1 500 h, generating a catastrophic failure of the pumping system. The microstructure of the impeller material was analyzed by optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and microhardness. The composition of the impeller material was studied by energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman spectroscopy. It was found that the impeller material corresponds to cast iron with high content of chromium, typically called white cast iron, which usually exhibits high wear and corrosion resistance. After analyzing the overall failure, we conclude that the fracture was mainly produced by the existence of high-impact materials in the slurry pulp, which produced an imbalance of the impeller rotation.

Kurzfassung

In diesem Beitrag wird die Analyse eines gebrochenen Laufrads dargestellt, das in Schlammpumpen in der Collahuasi-Kupfermine in Chile verwendet wurde. Obwohl das Laufrad eine Laufzeit von über 1 800 h hat, ist es unter Arbeitsbedingungen gebrochen, bevor es 1 500 h erreicht hat, was zu einem katastrophalen Ausfall des Pumpensystems geführt hat. Die Mikrostruktur des Laufradmaterials wurde anhand von optischer Mikroskopie, Rasterelektronenmikroskopie (REM) und Mikrohärte analysiert. Die Zusammensetzung des Laufradmaterials wurde mithilfe von energiedispersiver Röntgenspektroskopie (EDS), Röntgendiffraktion (XRD) und Raman-Spektroskopie untersucht. Es wurde festgestellt, dass das Laufradmaterial einer Gusseisenart mit hohem Chromgehalt entspricht, typischerweise Hartguss genannt. Dieser zeigt für gewöhnlich hohe Verschleiß- und Korrosionsbeständigkeit. Nach der Analyse des Gesamtausfalls lässt sich schlussfolgern, dass der Bruch hauptsächlich durch die Präsenz von hoch schlagzähigen Materialien in der Schlammpumpe verursacht wurde, was zu einem Ungleichgewicht bei der Laufradrotation geführt hat.

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Published Online: 2016-10-29
Published in Print: 2016-11-15

© 2016, Carl Hanser Verlag, München

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Contents/Inhalt
  2. Contents
  3. Editorial
  4. Editorial
  5. Technical Contributions/Fachbeiträge
  6. Metallographic Preparation of Hard Coatings for EBSD Analysis
  7. The Appearance of Pitting on Thermally Grown Aluminum Oxide caused by Surface Segregation of Fe Impurities from the Bulk
  8. SEM and EBSD Characterization of Bi-Layered Functionally Graded Hard Metal Composites
  9. Failure Analysis of Slurry Pump Impeller Fractured at Collahuasi Mine
  10. Meeting Diary/Veranstaltungskalender
  11. Meeting Diary
https://doi.org/10.3139/147.110430

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Contents/Inhalt
  2. Contents
  3. Editorial
  4. Editorial
  5. Technical Contributions/Fachbeiträge
  6. Metallographic Preparation of Hard Coatings for EBSD Analysis
  7. The Appearance of Pitting on Thermally Grown Aluminum Oxide caused by Surface Segregation of Fe Impurities from the Bulk
  8. SEM and EBSD Characterization of Bi-Layered Functionally Graded Hard Metal Composites
  9. Failure Analysis of Slurry Pump Impeller Fractured at Collahuasi Mine
  10. Meeting Diary/Veranstaltungskalender
  11. Meeting Diary
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