1

“A CASE STUDY ON FAILURE OF

BULL HEAD HAMMER FOR LAST THREE MONTH”
PRESENTED BY –
SONIA PRIYADARSHINI
MT (T),CPS
Engg Shops&Foundry

GUIDED BY-
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Project completion fetches any individual, a fair amount of happiness,

which cannot be expressed in words. I feel in the same way after the successful
completion of my project. It happened only because of some esteemed co-
operation from some people.
With a great sense of pleasure & previlage i m happy to express my deep sense of
gratitude to my project guide Mr. V. CHITTI BABU, DCM (CPS) ES&F, whose
support and encouragemant have been a constant push up to undertake this
project.
In this regard I am deeply indebted to Sri .P .Subba Rao D.G.M. Engineering
shops &Foundry , Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, who has given valuable information
and suggestions in completing my project work.
I would also like to express my sincere thanks to all who helped
directly and indirectly for successful completion of this project.

Sonia Priyadarshini
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CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that this project report entitled “A case study

on failure of BULL HEAD HAMMER at Sinter Plant” is a bonafied

work done by Mrs. SONIA PRIYADARSHINI an MT(T) ,CPS ES&F , under my
guidance and supervision .

V.CHITTIBABU
Dy.Chief Manager
(Engg Shops&Foundry)
VisakhapatnamSteel plant
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A Case study on
“Failure of Bull head hammers for the last three months”.

INTRODUCTION
Engineering Shops and Foundry Department caters to the needs of ferrous
and nonferrous spares of different departments. ES&F manufactures as well as
repairs the job as required by Customer departments. ES&F has various sections
like CENTRAL MACHINE SHOP, STRUCTURAL SHOP, FORGE SHOP, FOUNDRY
SHOP, and UTILITY EQUIPEMENT REPAIR SHOP. Central planning section is the
main planning section of Engg shops and foundry and it works as a bridge
between Customer departments and shops of ES&F. Central Machine Shop(CMS)
is having facilities for turning boring, milling, thread cutting and various
machining operations. Heat treatment furnaces, equipments for assembly &
dismantling are also available in CMS. Forge shop as name indicates, forging is
the main function of this shop. It produces shafts couplings, flanges, Drill rods for
BF, bull head hammers for SP, V-hooks for SMS etc. In Structural shop, fabrication
and repair of structural jobs are done. UERS is responsible for repair and
manufacturing of small spares, impellers, valves etc. In Foundry, casting of cast
iron, cast steel and non-ferrous materials of different shape and size as required
by the customer.
Out of the spares supplying by ES&F, Bull head hammer is one of the
important spares, which is used in Hammer crusher of Sinter Plant for crushing of
Dolomite and Limestone. These hammers are made in Forge shop and Central
machine shop. In forge shop, raw material is forged to the required shape, stress
relieved/annealed and send to CMS for further operations like drilling and heat
treatment .The raw material for bull head hammer is being procured from M/s
VSNL, BHADRAWATI, and the material specification is 50CrMO4. Average life of
bull-head hammer is 60 hrs, but for the last three months its average life has
drastically come down to 30hrs. I am going to study on failure of bull-head
hammers and the reasons for decrease of life. In my project, I am also trying to
suggest what modifications may be possible regarding raw material, processes
so that life of the Bull head hammer may be enhanced as well as breaking/fracture
can be minimized which will ultimately effect saving of raw material , production
cost and equipment availability.
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Engineering shops & foundry

Engineering shops & Foundry is set up to meet the requirements of Ferrous &
non-ferrous spares of different departments. Engineering shops & Foundry is
divided into Central Machine Shop, Steel Structural Shop, Forge shop, Foundry
and Utility equipment repair shop.

DESCRIPTION OF SHOP FACILITIES

CENTR AL M ACHINE SHOP

INPUTS:- Iron & Steel castings, forgings, rolled sections, repair and rectification
parts, non ferrous castings,fabrication structure.

Products and Services:- Shafts, Pinions, Gears, Crane Wheels, Rollers,

Machining of various fabrication jobs done in SSS, Repair & reconditioning
of various assembly jobs like L&T Column, TK stands, pulleys, revisioning
of gear boxes.. For preparing them for machining, metal cutting saws,
facing and centering machines, hacksaws, and gas cutting facilities are
provided. The machining section has over 100 major machine including
lathes, milling, boring, and planning slotting shaping, grinding and other
machines. The assembly section undertakes medium repair and general
overhauling of mechanical equipment. Horizontal and vertical presses,
washing tanks, oil berths etc. are provided. The tool room has facilities for
manufacture of special tools, jigs and fixtures, re-grinding of tools and
cutter and brazing of tipped tools. The heat treatment section is provided
with annealing, normalizing, heat tempering furnaces, carbonizing furnaces,
heat treatment furnace with protective gas atmospheres, high frequency
hardening machine, quenching tanks oil cooling arrangements, welding
generator and transformers for normal welding, sub-merged arc welding
machine etc. Facilities for surface grinding, pipe bending and threading are
provided.
FORGE SHOP
Inputs: Ingots from foundry, blooms from SMS, billets, rods from mills etc.
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Products: Raw material for shafts, couplings, gears, pinions, flanges bull head
hammers for sinter plant hammer crusher, drill rods for blast furnace, v-hooks for
SMS, straightening of pallet middle frames of sinter plant.
The shop is designed for production of shafts, coupling:- flanges etc.
and also of forged shapes such as crusher hammer heads, special bolts, nuts,
etc.The repair and testing of chains are also carried out. The annual production
from the shop is about 2,400 tons based On 300 working days per year and two
shifts per day. These inputs consisting of ingots, billets, blooms and flats of
various sizes.
In heavy forging section, open die forgings of long shafts, gear blanks,
couplings etc. is made with the help of 2-ton bridge type pneumatic hammers.
Each hammer will be provided with twin chamber heating furnaces. Floor type
manipulator and Jib Crane are provided for handling heavy jobs. In general
forging section, 1 ton, 500 Kg, and 200 Kg hammers with separate heating
furnaces are provided. A 2 ton drop stamp hammer with a heating furnace
trimming press etc. is provided for stamping. For cutting them to size, a cold saw,
a billet shear and gas cutting facilities are provided. For stress relieving, a bogie
type-annealing furnace is provided.

STRUSTURAL SHOP
Inputs:- Sheets of various sizes, plates, angles, channels, beams for fabrication
of jobs.
Production & services: All types of fabrication jobs, repair of slag pots of
SMS, Mfg. And repair of tundishes for SMS, Mfg. Of scrap boxes for SMS, for
sinter plant, hot metal ladle for SMS, 500 metres launder for SMS, mfg. Of KAMAG
body for FMD, repairing of buckets for LMMM, WRM.The annual production of
fabricated structures are about 4,500 tones and the input consisting of sheets,
plates, channels, angles, beams etc. are, about 5,100 T .
For marking, cutting to size, forming and bending, guillotine shear,
circular saw plate bender, gas cutting unit etc. are provided. For welding
transformer, automatic and semi-automatic machines and submerged arc welding
machines are provided. Painting is carried out partly with help pf spray guns and
partly by hand. Wire brush, spray guns etc. are provided. A maintenance section
 7

equipped with lathe, shaper, drill etc. are provided for running repair of shop
equipment.

FOUNDRY
Inputs: Pings, MS scrap, ferro alloys, graphite electrodes, sodium silicate, silica
sand CO2 gas, moulding additives etc.
Products: Steel, cast iron & non ferrous castings, Emergency containers,
tundish covers, bull gear for SMS, hot metal runners, ladle paw for blast furnace,
coke roll liners, sprockets, pallets for sinter plant, raw supports, bowl for RMHP,
guide troughs for WRM, face of scrap bucket for MMSM, slag pot segments for
SSS repair, ingots for forge shop, non ferrous castings like bushes (below 20 kg)
etc.
Iron castings up to a weight of 5 tons will be produced. A main frequency
coreless induced furnace with two 2-ton capacity crucibles and a 5T capacity
main frequency coreless induction furnace for melting iron are provided. There is
a centralized sand preparation unit. A drier and a bin is be provided for green
sand. Belt conveyors transport green sand, prepared mix and burnt sand.
Moulds and cores are drier in 3 ovens lip pour ladles with capacity between 50 kg
and 10 tons is provided for handling hot metal. Two swing frame grinders and two
pedestal grinders are provided for finishing of iron castings.
Steel castings up to maximum piece weight of 10 T and Steel Ingots up
to 1.3 tons for forging are produced. An 8 Ton direct arc furnace and a two-ton
medium frequency electric induction furnace is installed for melting of steel scrap
and pig iron. Each of the two sand mixers is having 1.5-ton batch. A bogie hearth
furnace for annealing/ normalizing of plain carbon steel castings and fixed hearth
furnace for heat treatment of manganese steel castings with quenching facility is
provided. The woodwork shop manufactures patterns for foundries. The principal
equipment for pattern making will be band saws, disc grinding, wood working
lather, adequate facilities are provided for saw grinding, painting, timber and
pattern storage etc.

UTILITY EQUIPMENT REPAIR SHOP

Inputs: sheets, plates, channels, angles, beams, billets, rounds for forge shop for
mfg. Shafts, steel and iron castings.
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Products & services:- Mfg. Of impellers to various departments, repair of GCP

Id fan, repair of steam exhausters for SMS, supply of cones & ducts of various
sizes, in house manufacturing of MBC impeller for CCCD, buildup & machining of
various components, reclamation jobs like valve repairs, conveyor idlers, PCM
rollers etc.
Repair of ventilation, air conditioning and water supply equipment is
also carried out here. There is a machining section having 15 major machines like
lathes, milling, slotting, shaping and grinding machines, Sheet bending machines,
Guillotine shear & semi-folding machine are provided in fabrication section. 250
kg pneumatic hammer with necessary facilities and a welding section for semi
automatic, automatic and shielded are welding machines are provided in
plumbing section. There is a separate equipment repair section.
CENTRAL PLANNING SECTION (CPS):
Central planning section of Engineering Shops & Foundry plays an
important role in coordinating various departments and the shops of ESF for
supply of spares, castings, fabricated structures and repaired .
 Scrutiny of annual jobs, monthly jobs projected by customer dept
.
 Preparation of monthly plan based on annual, monthly and MBC projection
 Preparation of material procurement plan based on the annual requirement
 Issue of B/D, MBC and Normal work orders to section based on Work
Requisitions from Customer Depts.
 Inspection of semi/ finished jobs of 5 sections
 Daily monitoring of jobs progress and preparation of daily production
report
 Weekly reviewing B/D jobs
 Monthly monitoring of MBC jobs
 Preparation of monthly progress
 Preparation of feed back report and sending to customers every month
 Computerization of details of inter-shop and dispatch to depts.
 Drawings control as per the ISO guidelines
 Looking after Excise formalities of ESF
 Attending MOU meetings of customer depts.
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FLOW CHART OF WORK ORDER

and
JOB PROCESSING

SSS
C C
U U
C FDY C S
S
T T
P M O
O
FS M
M S S E
E
R
R CMS - UERS
CENTRAL MACHINE SHOP

SSS - STEEL STRUCTURAL SHOP

FS - FORGE SHOP

FDY - FOUNDRY

UERS- UTILITY EQUIPMENT REPAIR SHOP

CPS - CENTRAL PLANNING SECTION

SINTER PLANT - An over view

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Sinter plant of VSP has the capacity to produce 5.256 MT of sinter

per annum, which will cater for 80 % of Iron bearing feed to Blast furnace. Two
Sintering machines of Dwight Lloyd type having 312 M2 total grate area are
provided for this purpose. Sinter machine is designed to operate at the rate of
1.2 T/hr/M2 for 330 days in a year. Sinter plant is having flux crushing plant in
addition to other units for making sinter.

Flux Crushing Plant:

Flux crushing plant consists of four reversible Hammer crushers to crush

Limestone and Dolomite to 0 – 3 mm. Limestone of 6 to 40 mm size and Dolomite
of 6 to 80 mm size are received from raw material handling plant. Crushers are fed
with the help of vibro feeders. The crushed material is conveyed to screening
plant by a conveyor.

HAMMER CRUSHER

HAMMERS

COUPLING

BEARING
BEARING

FIVE ROWS OF NINE HAMMERS EACH ARE THERE.

TOTAL 45 NOS. OF HAMMERS ARE THERE IN ONE CRUSHER.

SCHEMATIC REPRESENTATION OF HAMMER CRUSHER AT VSP

DETAILS OF BULL HEAD HAMMER

PURPOSE OF BULL HEAD HAMMER:
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Out of the spares supplying by ES&F, Bull head hammer is one of the important
spares, which is used in Hammer crusher of Sinter Plant for crushing of Dolomite and

NECK
AREA

120 mm

100 mm 100 mm

SCHEMATIC DIAGRAM OF BULL HEAD HAMMER

Limestone. These hammers are made in Forge shop and Central machine shop.
In Forge shop, raw material is forged to the required shape, stress
relieved/annealed and send to CMS for further operations like drilling and heat
treatment .The raw material for bull head hammer is being procured from M/s
VSNL, BHADRAWATI, and the material specification is 50CrMO4. Average life of
Bull-head hammer is 60 hrs,
Technical specifications OF BULL HEAD HAMMERS as per drawing:

1. Hammer is to made by stamping .

2. Hammer should be weighed and weights. Punched on bullhead hammers.
3. Surface defects like laps and cracks are not allowed.
4. The compensation hole is to be drilled if the weight exceeds 17.6 kg
5. Hammers are to be heat treated up to 380- 500 BHN.

Qualities required by BHH are

1. Hardness
2. Toughness
3. Wear resistance
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4. Ultimate tensile strength

HARDNESS- It is a fundamental property which is closely related to

strength. it is defined as resistance to abrasion / penetration. It also
includes resistance to cutting & scratching. Its unit is N/mm 2 .hardness
of bull head hammer should be 380 to 500 BHN range. it should not be
less it should be increased.

TOUGHNESS – It is defined as amount of energy required for fracture.

The toughness of a material its ability to withstand both plastic & elastic
deformation. So it is a desiarable quality of bull head hammer.

WEAR RESISTANCE - Bull head hammer should have sufficiently wear

resistance.if it is not there then it will be worn out faster ,leading to the
low life of BULL HEAD hammer.

UTS( ULTIMATE TENSILE STREGTH)- The strength of material is its

capacity to withstand destruction under the action of external load. The
stronger the material the greater the load it can withstand.it therefore
determines the ability of a material to withstand stress without
failure.The maximum stress that any material will withstand before
destruction is called its ultimate strength. This is the desired quality of
BHH as it is under continuous stress while crushing of limestone and
dolamite in hammer crusher.

THE ABOVE QUALITIES CAN BE ACHIEVED BY THE FOLLOWING HEAT

TREATMENT PROCESSES.

HEAT TREATMENT - It is defined as an operation or combination of operations

involving the heating and cooling of metal or alloys in the solid state to produce
certain desired properties. All heat treatment processes may be considered to
consist s of three main stages.
1. The heating of the metal to to predetermined temp.
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2. The soaking of metal at that temp until the structure becomes uniform
throughout the mass.
3. The cooling of the metal at some predetermined rate to cause the
formation of desired structure within metal / alloy for desired purpose.
ANNEALING - The purpose of annealing is to soften the steel so that it may be
more easily machined and to relieve the internal stresses which may have been
caused by working the metals or by unequal contraction in casting .The process
of annealing involves heating the metals slowly to the required temp , then
holding at that temp for long enough to enable the internal changes to take place
and finally cooling slowly . Annealing reduces the hardness , increases ductility
and usually reduces its strength.
HARDENING- Hardening is a heat treatment process .It is made to devlop high
hardness to resist wear as well as to improve strength, elasticity, ductility and
toughness to the material.Hardening process consists of heating the steel to a
temperature above critical point, holding at this temp for considerable period and
finally quenching in water, oil or molten salt bath.
TEMPERING - When a steel specimen has been fully hardened, it is very hard and
brittle and has high residual stresses . The steel is unstable and tends to contract
on aging . The internal stress can be relieved by an additional heating process.
This heating process is called tempering. After specimen has been fully
hardened by quenching from above critical temp, it is reheated to some temp
below the critical temp for a certain period of time and then allowed to cool in still
air . the temp to which it is reheated depends upon the composition and the
degree of hardness or toughness desired. Tempering reduces the elastic limit and
ultimate strength lightly but they are still higher than they were before drawing.
Hardening with subsequent tempering serves the following purposes for bullhead
hammer. It develops high hardness to resist wear and to enable it to cut another
metals. It also improves strength, elasticity, and ductility.
Tempering is a term historically associated with the heat treatment of
martensite in steels. It describes how the microstructure and mechanical
properties change as the metastable sample is held isothermally at a temperature
where austenite cannot form. The changes during the tempering of martensite can
be categorised in to stages. During the first stage, excess carbon in solid solution
 14

segregates to defects or forms clusters within the solid solution. It then

precipitates, either as cementite in low-carbon steels, or as transition iron-
carbides in high-carbon alloys. The carbon concentration that remains in solid
solution may be quite large if the precipitate is a transition carbide. Further
annealing leads to stage 2, in which almost all of the excess carbon is
precipitated, and the carbides all convert into more stable cementite. Any retained
austenite may decompose during this stage. Continued tempering then leads to
the coarsening of carbides, extensive recovery of the dislocation structure, and
finally to the recrystallisation of the ferrite plates into equiaxed grains.

BASIS FOR SELECTING 50 CR MO4 AS RAW MATERIAL FOR

BULL HEAD HAMMER

COMPOSITION OF 50CRM04:

C: 0.46-0.54, Si: 0.15-0.4, Mn :0.5-.8, P: 0.03 max, S: 0.03 max,

Cr :0 .9-0.12, Mo 0.25-0.3, hot rolled, spherodoised annealed

CHROMIUM(Cr) – The addition of chromium results in the formation of various

carbides of chromium which are very hard , yet the resulting steel is more ductile
that a steel of same hardness produced by a small increase in carbon content.
Chromium also refines the grain structure so that these two combine effect
results in both increased toughness and hardness . The addition of Cr
increases the critical range of temperature and raises strength at the high
temperature. Alloy of chromium resists abrasion and wear.
MOLIBDENUM ( Mo) – It acts very much like Cr but is more powerful in action. It
also increases depth of hardness after heat treatment. Mo finds its greatest use
when combined with the alloying element
 like Cr , Ni, or both. Mo increases critical range of temp. Except for carbon it
has the greatest hardening effect and results in the retention of a great deal of
toughness.
SILICON- It is added to all steels as deoxidizing agent. When added to very low
carbon steels it produces a brittle and a high magnetic permeability. The principal
use of silicon is with other alloying element, such as manganese, chromium, and
vanadium to stabilize carbides.
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MANGANESE- It is added to all low and the manganese content is high over one
percent, then it is classified as a manganese alloy. it lowers the critical range of
temperature.
SPHERODOISED ANNEALING – The machinability of high carbon tool steel is at
its best condition when the structure is composed of grained or globular pearlite.
An alloy steels, including those of the carbide class, as well as ball bearing steels
should have a structure of globular pearlite in the deliverable state. The process
of producing a structure of globular pearlite is known as spheredoising or
spherodoised annealing.

MANUFACTURING PROCESS OF BHH

Raw material is procured from VISL. material is 50 CR MO 4.Raw material size is
6000x100x 100mm.
Process involved in forge shop-
1. length is reduced to 3 m by gas cutting.
2. Heat treatment is done in bogie type hearth furnace in order to reduce
hardness from range of (236 to 246 ) to 170 BHN.
3. Shearing of billet.size of the billet is reduced to 100x100x217mm.
4. Heating is done in fixed hearth type furnace for forging operation. Heating
is done up to 1250.c. for 5 hrs. at the rate of 200.c / hr heating is done then
half an hour soaking is done.
5. With the help of manipulator and open die hammer , manual forging is
done. Only 90 mm size is forged. Shank portion width is made to 36 mm.
And total length is made to 360 mm. shank portion length is kept as per
drawing equal to 193.5 mm. for checking the size during the process
template is used. After this process the BHN of BHH is approx 350 bhn.
6. Annealing is done after forging in order to reduce hardness from 350 to 220
.so that drilling may take place successfully. Room temp loading is done for
annealing, it is heated up to 500.c at the rate of 150.c /hr then half an hr
soaking again heating at the same rate up to 850 .c then one hr soaking.
Then furnace cooling is done for 38 hrs. due to this annealing hardness
come down to 210-220 BHN.
7. Inspection is done with respect to shape and size of BHH.
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8. BHH is sent to Central Machine shop after inspection. They are sent in
batch as Batch size is 400 jobs per batch.

PROCESS INVOLVED IN CENTRAL MACHINE SHOP-

(a) A hole of 50 mm dia is made in shank portion of BHH as per drawing. If
required another hole is also drilled in order to control the weight of BHH.
(b)Hardening - heat treatment is done in CO gas fired fixed hearth type furnace. it
is twin chamber type. Heat treatment cycle for BHH is-

(1) Heating the hammers up to 600 +0+25 at a constant rate of 150.c /hr.
(2) soaking at 600.c for 30 minute.
(3) Raising the temp from 600.c to 875.c at 100.c/hr.
(4) Soaking at 875+0+25 for 2 hrs.
(5) Quenching in recirculating water up to 100 mm.
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©TEMPERING-

500

400 Soaking (1hr)

300 Air Cooling

Heating 100 OC / Hr
200

100

time
TEMPERING CYCLE FOR BHH

Tempering is done in carburising furnace.

(1) Heating the job up to 350 +0+25at a const rate of 100.c / hr
(2) Soaking of the hardened hammer at that temp for one hr
(3) Hammers are allowed to cool to room temp in air.
Inspection is done by CPS for the purpose of hardness checking.
Inspection procedure:

After completion of tempering BHH are offered for inspection for

checking the hardness in addition to dimensional checking . inspection is
carried out by CPS. Inspection of BH Hammers is done by sampling as it is of
mass productive nature . In case of sampling inspection lot size is chosen to
keep the number of jobs between 50 to 70 and about 20% of jobs are inspected
(next higher integer if 20% of fraction ( Lot is accepted only if the rejection rate
is less than or equal to 2% of the lot size (next lower integer incase of if 2% is
fraction). 100% inspection is done if sampling inspection rejects the lot. On
each job work order number and date of inspection are marked to indicate that
inspection is done. Accepted hammers whose hardness in between 380 to 550
BHN are marked ‘OK’. Hammers which are of low hardness, consisting of
cracks, dimensional inaccuracy like drill hole position, are coming under
Rejected jobs which are marked ‘REJ’ and jobs for rework are marked R/W.
 18

1
PROCESS FLOW DIAGRAM FOR BHH
2
1.TRANSPORTATION

2.SHEARING OF BILLETS
3
3. HEATING FOR FORGING UPTO 1250.C

4
4. FORGING

5. ANNEALING FOR SOFTENING 5

6
6.INSPECTION FOR DIMENTIONAL CHECKING

7.TRANSPORTATION TO CMS
7

8
8.DRILLING OF 50 MM HOLE

9.HARDENING 9

10. TEMPERING 1
0

11. SAMPLING
1
1
12.INSPECTION FOR HARDNESS CHECKING

12
13. TRANSPORTION TO CUSTOMER
13
Problems are being faced by Sinter Plant wrt BHH.

LOW LIFE
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FRACTURE

INCREASE IN DOWN TIME OF CRUSHERS

LOW PRODUCTION

HIGH RAW MATERIAL COST

HIGH PRODUCTION COST

HIGH MAINTENANCE COST

INDUSTRIAL RELATION PROBLEMS

INTER DEPARTMENTAL RELATIONS

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CUSTOMER SATISFACTION

BULL HEAD HAMMER ANALYSIS –

Three bull head hammers have been studied for analysis to

identify the reasons to improve the life of bull head hammers in crushers of
Sinter Plant.
FIRST BULL HEAD HAMMER: This hammer was broken at neck
portion while crushing, was sent for study in QATD(Quality assurance and
technology department) for its micro structure. The following are the
pictures of broken Bull head hammer.
 21

PICTURE 1
 22

PICTURE2
 23

Picture 1, 2 shows radial marks point to the failure origin

PICTURE-3
 24

Picture 3 shows quench cracks at the neck portion

PICTURE-4
 25

PICTURE-4 shows tempered martensitic structure at neck portion,

hardness at this area is 50-53 RC

SECOND BULL HEAD HAMMER :- This hammer has given less life. The following
are the figures of Bull Head hammer whose life was <20 hrs .
 26

The above figure shows the absence of tempered martensite structure due to
improper heat treatment. When this BHH is checked for hardness, it’s hardness is
low, which shows softness of material resulting in low life.
Third BULL HEAD HAMMER - After implementing some suggestions like usage of

Fixture rod without bend for quenching, proper heat treatment and quenching, In
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the first week of march, one set of bull head hammers(45 nos.) has given life of

55 to 60 hrs .Two pieces in the size of 100x100x15 mm were cut from the head

portion of that bull head hammer and sent to QATD for detail analysis regarding

micro structure and hardness .

Micro structure at four points has been studied and it matches with our

requirement ,i.e existence of tempered martensite with hardness 380- 550 range

for BHH. The following are micro structure figures . Its hardness is in the range

450-525 BHN .
 28

the above figure consisting of tempered martensite which is obtained by

decomposition of austenite due to very rapid cooling and then quenching. It is
observed that needle like crystals in angular arrangements indicates the
existence of tempered martensite.
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The following figure shows the hardness indicating at different sections, at

different points which is the result of hardness test conducted in QATD.
 30

Hardness at different points has been done .From the figure it is very clear that

hardness at the side position ,which is directly exposed to water quenching is

more. As going at inside dimentions it is in the decreasing nature. Hardness at the

center of BHH head at three different thickness may also be compared .It is 573

BHN at surface, 451 at the next 15mm thickness and after 30mm it is 388 mm. This

trend shows heat treatment effectiveness slows down for inside positions.But it is

within our requirement.

REASONS AND SUGGESTIONS

(a) As per technical specification given in drawing, hammers may be tried by

stamping

(b) Heat treatment as per proposed cycle is difficult to achieve due to poor

functioning valves, actuators.

(c) Heat transfer rate is difficult to achieve in furnaces since there is no facility of

considering time factor during heat treatment .

to control the heat treatment , pyrometer may be used for checking temp of

different bullhead hammer at different areas of furnace. According to this

measured temp , different burners of heat treatment furnace may be kept on or off

so that uniform temp of each bull head hammer may be achieved as per

proposed heat treatment cycle.

(d) Tempering furnace also has no facility to control the heat transfer rate. Air-

cooling is not being done.

(e) Temperature control of hammers inside furnace is difficult to achieve

uniformly.
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Procurement of a heat treatment furnace, which can be controlled

automatically, will reduce the problems related to heattreatment of bull head

hammers.

(f) Magnetic testing is not done

Quench cracks also come during quenching of bull head hammer..

Magnetic testing may be done in order to avoid any quench cracks.

(g) Toughness testing is also not being done

Toughness is important property in consideration of bull head hammer

failure. If it is less it is more prone to failure. Right now there is no provision

for checking of toughness of bull head hammer. Izod impact test / charpy test

may be done on sample basis .

(f) Improper quenching due to formation of water bubble.

While doing quenching , it is proposed that quenching should be in up to

max 100 mm in head area, but due to boiled water bubble formation length may

goes up to high. So proper checking of stand dimension, proper height should

also be maintained carefully.

(g)proper care during heat treatment can be done, pyrometer may be used for

checking temp of different bullhead hammer at different position. According to

this measured temp different burners of heat treatment furnace may be kept on

or off so that uniform temp of each bull head hammer may be achieved as per

proposed heat treatment cycle.

(h)While doing quenching , it is proposed that quenching should be in up to

max 100 mm in head area, but due to boiled water bubble formation length may
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goes up to high. So proper checking of stand dimension, proper height should

also be maintained carefully.

(i) Due to not proper recirculation of water, in quench area steam layer forms,

which resists further cooling and contact of water. so it is desired that proper

recirculation of water may take place to perform proper quenching.

(j)Range of hardness as per drawing is 380 to 500 BHN.This large range may

lead to variation of properties of each and every bull head hammer. This range

should be minimized in order to get uniform properties of each and every bull

head hammer.

BABLIOGRAPHY

1. Workshop technology by HAZRA CHOUDARY.

2. Machine design by Dr P.C. SHARMA & Dr D.K.AGARWAL.

3. Alloy steel plant product profile & manual By SAIL.

4. Physical metallurgy by Abnur

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5. Material science BY RAGHWAN