Material characterization of tribological effects in HSS hacksaw blade

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to present a direct repurposing activity of consumed high-speed steel (HSS) hacksaw blade into fine-looking handmade knives to increase the awareness about sustainability by evaluating the relationship between the quality of material alloys and heat treatment as well as cultural aspects such as the treatment on the HSS hacksaw blade that will affect the material hardness.

Design/methodology/approach

The quality of HSS hacksaw blade samples was analyzed by using scanning electron microscope/energy dispersive X-Ray spectroscopy (SEM/EDX) through the identification of material element’s properties. Besides, finite element structural analysis was performed by using SolidWorks Simulation to evaluate the material performance by determining the Von Mises stress to find the factor of safety of the knife designs. Then, the effect of tribology implementation toward mechanical properties of the handmade knives was determined by using a Rockwell C hardness test.

Findings

It is found that the material composition of carbon plays a vital role in increasing and improving the hardness and wear resistance of the HSS hacksaw blade. The Von Mises stress obtained is lower than the yield strength of 3,250 MPa by 71.44 per cent with the safety factor of 3.58,which means the design will not be subjected to failure. The mechanical properties of the HSS hacksaw blade such as hardness were determined averagely by 5 per cent of hardness increase.

Originality/value

It has been validated that the tribological effect toward the material characteristic leads to hardness changes which contributed to the enhancement of tool life of the HSS hacksaw blade, thus producing better quality knives.

Citation

Mohd Amran, N.A.b., Ab Karim, M.S.b., Abd Rashid, R.b., Alghani, W. and Derahman, N.A.b. (2017), "Material characterization of tribological effects in HSS hacksaw blade", Industrial Lubrication and Tribology, Vol. 69 No. 3, pp. 355-362. https://doi.org/10.1108/ILT-09-2016-0201