Failure Analysis of Blade on Coconut Shell Crusher Machine

Abstract

Blade mounted on coconut shell crusher machine was frequently having damaged while being operated in making of coconut shell powder at small and medium industries. This took place repeatedly during the operation, therefore blade repairing and replacement has to be done for every 16 hours at the wear rate of 24.28%. A research was carried out to find out the cause of damage to the metal blade material on the coconut shell crusher machine. The scope of this research included the observation on visual examination, dimensions examination, chemical composition, hardness, and metallography. The results of observations and tests showed that blade was broken due to abrasion and deformation during operation. The metal material used for the blade was low carbon steel. Chemical composition of the metal content of the blade were: C (0.103 up to 0.144 %) and Mn (0.657 up to 1.400 %). Hardness value of blade metal materials were 146 up to 148 Hv. Microstructure consisted of ferrite and pearlite. This low carbon steel material is not suitable to be used as a blade on coconut shell crusher machines for producing of coconut shell. Repairing and maintenance of welding coating methods on blades using low carbon electrodes does not give increased significant value of hardness. Blade replacement in coconut shell crusher machines must comply with the requirements of tool steel with suitable heat treatment or the use of low carbon steel with the carburization process.

Performance Test of Coconut Shell Grinding Machine For Pyrolysis Process

“…There is a machine that uses a 150 HP power plant and a 3100 rpm engine speed in the process of making coconut shell powder, which uses 16 knife blades to rotate and grind coconut shells into fine powder. During the processing of coconut shells, each machine is capable of producing 1 ton of coconut shell powder per day and operates every 16 hours of the day (Surasno & Ihlas, 2019).…”