Weir Minerals rubber technology has long been a hallmark of its offering to the mining and minerals processing industry. The Warman® MCR® slurry pump is a case in point; often utilised in applications where competitors use metal-lined pumps, Weir Minerals continues to push the boundaries of what rubber is capable of in mill circuit applications.
Weir Minerals has the ability to formulate, mix and develop proprietary rubber compounds with the properties required to achieve a high level of wear resistance in mill circuit applications, in which there’s a broad particle-size distribution, and particles are often hard and angular.
R&D is an important focus for Weir Minerals and has been integral to its ability to remain at the forefront of innovation in the mining and minerals processing industry. Investing in R&D is central to its strategy and at the heart of its commitment to innovative engineering.
Weir Minerals works closely with its customers to understand their specific challenges and problems and it develops solutions to improve their operations. It’s an on-going process, born out of a commitment to make mining more sustainable, efficient and safer.
The Warman® MCR® slurry pump, as a case in point, is underpinned by years of R&D, conducted by dedicated teams of engineers, scientists and product experts – this is what it requires to create a market-leading product.
R55® rubber – Weir Minerals’ standard for rubber wear lining
The Warman® MCR® pump utilises a unique rubber compound known as R55® rubber; its physical properties give it a high resistance to tearing and cuts, which means it’s capable of performing well in applications where competitors generally use metal liners. R55® is the standard rubber utilised to line Warman® MCR® slurry pumps.
The key to formulating a rubber with high tear and cut resistance lies, in part, in the reinforcement particles that are added. These filler particles have varying properties, but, generally speaking, there’s a correlation between how well the particles are dispersed and the relative wear resistance of the final product.
Armachrome® highly wear-resistant overlay material
Weir Minerals is increasing utilising Armachrome® - a highly wear-resistant overlay material– in mill circuit applications. It’s one of the most wear-resistant materials commercially available and can be added to pump throatbushes, volute liners and, most recently, impellers.
Armachrome® wear parts provide enhanced, extended wear life and localised wear performance. For example, if there is only the need to improve wear performance around the eye, rather than applying Armachrome® material to the whole throatbush, Weir Minerals has the capabilities to locate the higher wearing material only in the target section experiencing high wear.
Armachrome® wear parts is a bespoke Weir Minerals solution and extensive field results have been extremely positive. For instance, in oil sands operations, wear resistance has been significantly improved relative to white iron. Similarly, in Warman® MC pumps, the field results have been equally as promising.
As Weir Minerals continues to strive to make mining smarter, efficient and sustainable, R&D investment will play a crucial role in the development of advanced wear materials that help to achieve these objectives. Increasingly, customers are turning to Weir Minerals to help them reduce their carbon footprint because they know it has market-leading materials technology that extend wear life and improve efficiency.
Click here to discuss how Weir Minerals’ materials technology optimises Warman® MCR® slurry pumps.
