Studies on the various design and manufacturing parameters of roller shafts for sugarcane mills

Abstract

Serviceable engineering components not only rely on their bulk material properties but also on the design and characteristics of their surface This is especially true in wear resistant components such as top mill roller shaft in sugarcane industries, as their surface must perform many engineering functions in a variety of complex environments High carbon forged steel AISI 1040 is used for the manufacture of sugarcane mill roller shafts as the properties of heat treated C 40 are suited to the application But the major drawback of using this is its higher shear effect and higher coefficient of friction during metal to metal contact as they operate under overload high temperatures and high pressure The Mohanur Co operative Sugar Mills Limited Tamil Nadu India use crushing mills whose top roll shafts have the problems of sudden fatigue failure and reduced service life The present investigation addresses these problems with the aims to minimize the effect of fatigue at the pinion end of the top mill roller shaft by suitable designing parameters and to reduce the coefficient of friction wear volume and to avoid metal to metal contact by hard facing of the shaft newline