ABL powers progress with Hardox® 500 Tuf

With an additional 40% wear resistance compared to a 450 HBW steel, ABL’s buckets in Hardox^® 500 Tuf immediately caught the attention of its customers. The potential for extended service life and longer maintenance intervals has direct cost benefits in their operations.

“There is a clear trend among customers to ask for reduced cost of operation through lighter and more effective equipment that uses less fuel. Hardox^® 500 Tuf allows us to meet those requirements. We can reduce weight through thinner plates, giving the customers more capacity while maintaining the high durability they are looking for,” says Anders Björk, ABL CEO.

“It’s business as usual,” says ABL Production Engineer Jimmy Classon. “Upgrading to Hardox^® 500 Tuf has gone smoothly. Welding is my main responsibility and I’m really satisfied with the welding performance. When bending and machining it also performs well. We can use the same tools for Hardox^® 500 Tuf. I can also say that SSAB has managed to improve the steel’s consistency even further when it comes to thickness and yield strength. This is of course particularly important when bending to get repeatable results.”

ABL has recently invested in a high-powered roll bending machine from Swebend with capacity for larger plates of Hardox^® 500 Tuf. This steel needs higher bending force due to its higher yield strength when bending plates of similar thickness as Hardox^® 450. Now ABL can produce continuously curved sweeps for even its biggest buckets.

ABL is a Swedish company dating back to the 1960s, and is renowned for its dedication to product development and equipment performance. ABL has been a member of SSAB’s quality program Hardox^® In My Body since 2012. It gains the dual benefit of receiving technical support from SSAB and giving its customers additional confirmation of design and manufacturing excellence.