Material Strength Analysis on Track Shoe Excavator Using Abrasive Wear Testing Using Pin-on-Disk Method

Abstract

Undercarriage excavator costs a lot for the maintenance and repair of the overall cost of excavator maintenance and repair. One part of the undercarriage excavator that mostly requires maintenance is the track shoe. Track shoe is the crawler or outer wheel of excavator that serves as an excavator drive. This part is always in direct contact with the soil resulting wear and tear. This research discussed the comparison of track shoe material from the market products and the material that had already been quenching with the medium of water. The material in use was AISI 1526. The analyzing processes used micrography testing, hardness testing, wear and tear testing and corrosion testing. Examination of the microstructure of the sample was conducted using optical microscope, the hardness sample testing was conducted using rockweld hardness tester, wear and tear testing was conducted using pin-on-disk method, and corrosion testing was conducted using potentiodynamic polarization method. From the analysis results, the hardness value for the market product material was 41 HRC and the heat treatment material was 48.33 HRC. The rate of wear and tear for the market product material was 4.02x10^-5 mm³/mm and the heat treatment material was 3.30x10^-5 mm³/mm. The result of corrosion testing for the market product material was 0.52  and the heat treatment material was 0.38 . From the testing results, the hardness value was inversely proportional to the wear and tear and corrosion value; the harder the material, the less the rate of wear and tear.

Keywords: AISI 1526, track shoe, excavator, micro structure, wear and tear testing, hardness testing, corrosion testing, pin-on-disk, potentiodynamic polarization