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BackFAQ

Q. - What does A.R.M* stand for??

A.R.M* is an abbreviation of the company name Abrasion Resistant Materials Pty Ltd. ( ACN : 070 411 522 ). We understand that other organisations also use the letters "ARM" as a short hand abbreviation for various terms and products and hence we identify what A.R.M* stands for when communicating with our customers and in our advertising material.

Q.- Is ARM a trademark?

Yes – and we do have a trademark registered incorporating these letters.

DANA Filter Corporation in OHIO in the USA also has had the letters ARM as a registered trademark since 1969. Therefore we only use the letters A.R.M* as an abbreviation of our company name.

Q - How long has A.R.M* been delivering cost reductions to the mining and sugar industry?

 A.R.M* has been in operation since March 1996. In that period we have grown to become one of the largest Tungsten Carbide hardfacing manufacturers in Australia.

In March 2011 , we recently commissioned a purpose built new state of the art 1000 sq/m factory in Brisbane – at a cost of over 2.0 Million dollars – so that we can continue to service the mining industry into the future.

 Q. - Who owns Abrasion Resistant Materials Pty Ltd. (A.R.M*.)?

 A.R.M* is a Proprietary Limited family owned company which is operated by Mr.Timothy S. Falkenhagen as Managing Director.

 Q. - How was the business A.R.M* started?

Mr. Tim Falkenhagen had spent some 17 years fixing earthmoving equipment all over Australia in a range of positions including : onsite maintenance fitter, maintenance manager and also as a technical consultant for a major equipment supplier.

 "During that period I came across this type of welding technology. After extensive research, including travel to various factories overseas, I analysed this process to the point that I thought that it could be manufactured a lot better than it was being done at that time.

At A.R.M* we have proven many times to be successful where others have failed.

Take, for example, sugar mill rollers. In over 70 years of having this type of welding technology available, no one had worked out how apply this process directly onto gray cast iron sugar mill rolls.

We have successfully developed different welding methods and now have some of these Patented"

How many people work at A.R.M*?

We currently have (12) permanent staff and use casual staff in high demand periods. Our licensee also has (8) permanent staff and also utilises casual staff as required.

Q. - Can anyone purchase an A.R.M* Technology License?

 No. These are only available under specific patent license agreements. We have (1) licensee who has been in operation now for 18 x years (namely N.Q. Hardfacing) and they very successfully service the Far North and Western Queensland.

Q. - Does A.R.M* have any Patents granted involving Mig Carbide hardfacing?

Yes , we have many patents granted on various items including : Grader blades / Dozer Blades / Bucket adaptors / Heel wear packages for buckets and Sugar Mill rollers – to name a few.

Q. - What does the term "MIG Carbide" mean?

Mig Carbide is a welding industry generic term used to describe the process of applying Tungsten Carbide Chips onto various items like : Bulldozer Blades, Dragline Buckets, Grader Blades, Sugar Mill Rolls, Wheel Loader Buckets, Excavator Buckets etc.

 This is done by creating a molten puddle on the part and depositing Tungsten Carbide chips into the puddle so that when it cools, the Tungsten Carbide is frozen within the puddle.

Q. - How long has Mig Carbide been around?

The first recognised people to develop this process into a “commercial product” was the Stoody Brothers. Mr. Marion Woods worked for The Stoody welding company in the U.S.A. and later developed commercially available welding systems in the 1950’s and 60’s which facilitated the wide spread application of this process and since then other companies. With the invention of the computer chip, we have been able to take this technology to a new level of sophistication, including the manufacture of our own welding systems.

Q. - How Many different ways can you apply Mig Carbide?

Probably over 100 different options exist which would provide a wide range of performance outcomes.

Q. - How does A.R.M* specifically apply their Tungsten Carbide hardfacing?

 That is definitely a secret.

Q. - What’s the difference between A.R.M* Hardfacing and other similar products that are available?

 A number of very important differences exist. One being the depth of penetration of the parent metal that we achieve with the molten puddle, another is the density of Tungsten Carbide that we are able to deposit into the puddle before it solidifies.

One very obvious difference is that our weld matrix, as a rule, does not have any craze cracking. This is very difficult to achieve and the method of creating this was worked out by accident by Mr. Falkenhagen.

These are just some of the differences one will notice when visually inspecting the different suppliers products. The other thing to keep in mind is that in all of the years (20x so far) that we have been  participating in and conducting wear life trials, A.R.M* Hardfacing has never lost a wear life trial.

Q.- Doesn’t A.R.M* Hardfacing soften the parent metal so that once the Tungsten Carbide is worn away that the parts then wear out faster?

That’s what a lot of competitors would like to have you believe, but in fact we have had various items analysed by ETRS which shows that we only have a Heat Affected Zone (HAZ) of around 1.0 mm just below our hardfacing matrix and even then, the HAZ is the same hardness as the parent metal. This is not necessarily achieved by all manufacturers of Mig Carbide.

Q. - How much does A.R.M* Hardfacing cost?

This can depend on the particular item we are welding and also the particular type of Hardfacing combination that is required. Other things like the type of matrix wire, the size of the part and other things like the preparation time required or perhaps even if there is some special tooling that may needed to complete the job can all have an effect on the price of a hardfacing work.

As a general rule – we normally halve the current cost structure – once all cost inputs are considered.

Q. - How can you purchase A.R.M* products?

We suggest that all purchases of A.R.M* Hardfacing be made direct from the factory in Brisbane.

We do not permit other companies to resell our products.

Q. - What is the biggest wear life difference A.R.M* Hardfacing has achieved?

This is difficult to answer because there are so many examples in terms of big wear life increases when compared to standard wear parts, cutting edges and bucket tips.

Here are some examples.

Dragline Adaptors: where we regularly make these 200kg wear parts last up to 10 times longer than the standard OEM casting and for only around a 60% increase in the initial purchase price of the original part.

Sugar Mill Rolls: where our Patented coating can last over 50 times longer than the traditional Chromium Carbide dot/dash method of arc roughening sugar mill rolls. We have achieved 3.5 Million tonnes crushed without having to perform welding maintenance of the sugar mill rolls during the crushing season.

Iron Ore Bucket adaptors last up to 18 x longer than standard non-hardfaced ones.

Grader Blades - we have had many successes in all sorts of applications with grader blades. From 24M graders in the Pilbara – increasing the life by an average of 4 x times, and then in many coal mines where our patented semi-serrated grader blade often lasts between 2000 and 4000 hours.

Our Wheel Loader bucket cutting edges normally last around 4000 hours.

Q. - How can the various suppliers of MIG Carbide be compared?

This can really only be done with field trials, although some manufacturers products are so different in terms of the quantity and quality of Tungsten Carbide that someone who is experienced in using this product would be able to make some visual assessments of quality.

Q. - Is there an International Standard for MIG Carbide that can be used to compare products on paper?

 No, and there is unlikely to be one developed as most manufacturers keep secret their particular processes, raw materials and techniques. At A.R.M* we have developed a benchmark product that consistently delivers superior performance when manufactured to our particular standards.

Q.- What is the performance guarantee supplied with A.R.M* Hardfacing?

This can be a challenge to explain, as there are always risks on both sides of the equation.

When anyone asks, " How do I know that this product will deliver us cost reductions?" our standard answer is, "If we can’t reduce your costs – then in my experience – it probably can’t be done”, says the managing director Mr. Tim Falkenhagen.

On Dozers, when using our Patented cutting edges in coal mines, we do offer a conditional** 10000 hour service life guarantee. (** available after an initial wear life trial has been completed).

One of the challenges with wear life trials is there are things that we can control and there are other factors that we do not have any influence over.

For example, we can and do control: the base edges / the part shape / the steel quality / hardfacing process / hardfacing patterns / HF alloys and hardfacing raw materials / hardfacing standards.

Examples of factors we cannot control include: the duty cycle / blasting standards / speed of the equipment in operation / the abrasiveness of the overburden or the road base / the weather.

So when offering a wear life guarantee – we have to provide a product option that can work for the specified service life – given all of the “uncontrolled” parameters that we know exist.