it is a grapple
it is a grapple

Hardox® 550

Hardox® 550, with a nominal hardness of 550 HBW, offers a unique combination of excellent abrasion resistance, crack integrity and workshop performance. Hard and tough, it helps to extend the service life of wear parts in heavy-duty and high wear applications.

Get technical advice

Download data sheet

Select Language

Get datasheet by email
Close

Get datasheet by email

On this page

Hardox® 550 steel with high hardness and toughness

Hardox® 550 is specially designed for heavy wear applications and makes a great alternative to 12% manganese steel castings, 500 Brinell wear plate or bimetals. The additional 50 Brinell you gain in hardness, when upgrading from conventional 500 HBW steels, will increase wear life, though not at the expense of crack integrity. Hardox® 550 is typically used for wear parts in industries like mining, quarrying, mineral processing, earthmoving and recycling.

Why Hardox® 550?

  • Makes a great alternative to grades with a lower hardness, conventional 500 Brinell steel plate, manganese steel castings or bimetals
  • Risks of cracking minimized thanks to its high toughness and excellent surface finish
  • Get up to 60% longer service life than with conventional 500 HBW plate, while maintaining crack integrity
  • Longer service intervals lead to lower maintenance costs and higher productivity
  • Shorter delivery time compared to manganese steel castings
  • Get thinner yet higher-performing wear liner packages in truck bodies for lower overall vehicle weight and higher payload
  • Workshop benefits: Comes already through-hardened, is machineable and weldable, exceptionally clean steel with guaranteed properties

Typical applications for Hardox® 550

  • Wear liners, tailgate liners, liners for apron feeders, crushers, squirt plates, transfer chutes, skip bars, grizzly bars and excavation bucket pads, cutting edges, wear bars, lip shrouds in mining, quarrying and earthmoving.
  • Industrial process equipment such as crusher knives, hammers, discs, wedges, shredder rotors, chute liners and hopper liners, ball and SAG mill liners, bolt-on cutting edges, shrouds, vertical and horizontal shaft impactors and gravel washer wear parts.
  • Liner plates and other wear parts and components in cement, concrete, steel and energy plants.
  • Harvester guide bars in forestry.

Shredder knives and hammers in recycling

Shredders knives and hammers in recycling

Shredder knives in 25 mm (0.984”) thick Hardox® 550 were cut with abrasive water jet cutting. When replacing AR500 steel, it typically leads to an increase in service life of 30%.

Jaw crusher cheek plates in quarries and mineral processing

Jaw crusher cheek plates in quarries and mineral processing

Cheek plates for the jaw crusher in a granite quarry are made of Hardox® 550. They replaced 12% Mn steel and increased service life by 70%.

Liners for buckets

Liners for mining buckets

A complete liner package of Hardox® 550 for a bucket in a copper mine increased service life by 25%, compared to an AR500 steel.

Screens

Clinker screens in Hardox® 550 in a cement plant increased service life by 40%, compared to an AR450 steel.

Hardox® WearCalc

The Hardox® WearCalc app is an easy tool to see how much longer service life Hardox® 550 can provide. The chart shows relative wear life with Hardox® WearCalc and magnetite-based iron ore.

Hardox® 550 can give equipment an extra 60% longer service life compared to a 500 HBW AR plate, depending on the application. Not only will the equipment last longer, but the narrow hardness interval of 525-575 HBW gives a consistent wear life, enabling more precise maintenance planning.

Hammer crusher

Why Hardox® 550 outperforms parts in manganese steel

Hardox® 550 is a genuine alternative to wear parts made of manganese steel. Manganese steel rarely reaches 550 HBW. And if it does, it happens only when exposed to extreme impact wear. For sliding wear, it usually stays at a moderate hardness of 400-450 HBW.

Hardox® 550 always performs at typically 550 HBW — no matter the type of wear — so your wear parts will last longer. Unlike cast manganese wear parts, you can machine and weld Hardox® 550, making it easy to produce custom wear parts in standard machines and workshop setups.

stationary cement mixer floor

Upgrading to Hardox® 550 is simple

Users of standard 500 HBW AR plate or Hardox® 500 don’t want to give up toughness or workability for an extra 50 HBW. We developed Hardox® 550 with precisely this in mind. Upgrading to Hardox® 550 is a simple and straightforward process. You get the additional hardness, and the steel is still easy to process in the workshop thanks to its high toughness.

You can do the upgrade with practically no changes to your designs or workshop routines. You can weld and machine this steel using the same machinery as for a 500 HBW steel.

Where to get your Hardox® 550

You can purchase Hardox® 550 wear steel when and where you need it, thanks to local availability on a worldwide scale. The most common Hardox® grades and dimensions can be delivered to you directly from an SSAB mill or from nearby SSAB stocks in less than 48 hours. A worldwide source for wear parts in Hardox® 550 and other Hardox® grades is Hardox® Wearparts, our network of more than 550 wear service centers.

Dimension Range

Hardox® 550 is supplied in plate thickness of 8.0 – 65 mm, up to 2900 mm in width and up to 14630 mm in length. More detailed information on dimensions is provided in the dimension program.

Mechanical Properties

Hide/Show specific columns Edit
Select columns to display
    Product Thickness
    (mmin)
    Hardness 1)
    (HBW)
    Hardox® 550 plate 8.0 - 65.00.315 - 2.559 525 - 575
    Compare parameters

    Select one parameter to compare

    Comparison

      1) Brinell hardness, HBW, according to EN ISO 6506-1, on a milled surface 0.5 – 3 mm below surface for plate. At least one test specimen per heat and 40 tons.

      The nominal material thickness will not deviate more than ± 15 mm from that of the test specimen.

      Impact Properties

      Hide/Show specific columns Edit
      Select columns to display
        Product Longitudinal test, typical impact energy,
        Charpy V 10x10 mm test specimen
        Hardox® 550 plate 30 J / -40 °C22 ft-lbs / -40 °F
        Compare parameters

        Select one parameter to compare

        Comparison

          Product
          Hardox® 550 plate
          Longitudinal test, typical impact energy,
          Charpy V 10x10 mm test specimen
          30 J / -40 °C22 ft-lbs / -40 °F

          Chemical Composition (heat analysis)

          Hide/Show specific columns Edit
          Select columns to display
            C *)
            (max %)
            Si *)
            (max %)
            Mn*)
            (max %)
            P
            (max %)
            S
            (max %)
            Cr*)
            (max %)
            Ni*)
            (max %)
            Mo*)
            (max %)
            B*)
            (max %)
            0.44 0.50 1.30 0.020 0.010 1.40 1.40 0.60 0.004
            Compare parameters

            Select one parameter to compare

            Comparison

              The steel is grain refined. *) Intentional alloying elements.

              Carbon Equivalent CET(CEV)

              Hide/Show specific columns Edit
              Select columns to display
                Product type Plate Plate Plate
                Thickness (mmin) 8.0 - 31.90.315 - 1.256 32.0 - 51.01.260 - 2.008 51.1 - 65.02.012 - 2.559
                Max CET(CEV) 0.49 (0.70) 0.52 (0.75) 0.61 (0.82)
                Typ CET(CEV) 0.46 (0.67) 0.49 (0.72) 0.58 (0.79)
                Compare parameters

                Select one parameter to compare

                Comparison

                  Tolerances

                  More details are given in SSAB’s brochure Hardox® Guarantees.

                  Thickness

                  Tolerances according to Hardox® Thickness Guarantees.

                  Hardox® Guarantees meet the requirements of EN 10029 Class A, but offer more narrow tolerances.

                  Length and Width

                  According to SSAB’s dimension program.

                  Tolerances according to SSAB´s mill edge standards or tolerances that conform to EN 10029.

                  Shape

                  Tolerances according to EN 10029.

                  Flatness

                  Tolerances according to Hardox® Flatness Guarantees Class D, which are more restrictive than EN 10029 class N.

                  Surface Properties

                  According to EN 10163-2 Class A, Subclass 1.

                  Delivery Conditions

                  The delivery condition is Q or QT (Quenched or Quenched and Tempered). The plates are delivered with sheared or thermally cut edges. Untrimmed mill edges available by agreement.

                  Delivery requirements can be found in SSAB’s brochure Hardox® Guarantees or www.ssab.com.

                  Fabrication and Other Recommendations

                  Welding, bending and machining

                  Recommendations can be found in SSABs brochures at www.hardox.com or consult Tech Support.

                  Hardox® wear plate is not intended for further heat treatment. It has obtained its mechanical properties by quenching and when necessary by means of subsequent tempering. The properties of the delivery condition cannot be retained after exposure to temperatures in excess of 250ºC .

                  Appropriate health and safety precautions must be taken when welding, cutting, grinding or otherwise working on this product. Grinding, especially of primer coated plates, may produce dust with a high particle concentration.