Wear 270 (2010) 83–87

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Wear
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/wear

Abrasive wear effect of sugarcane juice on sugarcane rolls

Renzo Victoria Prado a , Beatriz Uquillas a , Jose Y. Aguilar a ,
Yesid Aguilar a , Fernando Casanova b,∗
a
School of Materials Engineering, Universidad del Valle, Colombia
b
School of Mechanical Engineering, Universidad del Valle, Colombia

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Corrosion seems to be an important factor affecting the wear of sugarcane rolls. This paper shows the
Received 13 April 2010 results of a research undertaken to evaluate the corrosive effect of sugarcane juice on carbon steel rolls.
Received in revised form Laboratory tests were performed on a prototype that approximately reproduces the wear conditions of
20 September 2010
sugarcane rolls. Laboratory tests were performed on low carbon steel (ASTM-A36), with and without a
Accepted 23 September 2010
layer of welded stainless steel. The performance of a buffer of austenitic stainless steel was quantitatively
Available online 8 October 2010
evaluated in a field test using a real roll. Field tests showed no improvement in the performance of the
roll when welded with stainless steel. In laboratory tests, synergy between corrosion and abrasion was
Keywords:
Abrasion
found in carbon steel. No direct comparison between the wear results on carbon and stainless steel could
Corrosion be done, because of the big difference in topography of the specimens in addition to the load applied
Wear mechanisms during the tests. Similar abrasion mechanisms were found in carbon steel and welded stainless steel.
Sugarcane rolls © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction and causes corrosion and detachment of the hard-facing deposits

The sugar industry commonly employs welded hard-coated
deposits to reduce wear on sugarcane mill rollers. These welding
deposits besides having better wear resistance than base material
(gray cast iron or carbon steel), produce sufficient surface rough-
ness to facilitate good gripping between the sugarcane and the
roller; therefore, welding deposits provide good feeding to the mill.
On carbon steel rollers, it has been observed that in places where
hard-facing material has not being deposited or where it has being
detached, wear is higher resulting in loss of part of the teeth. Fig. 1
shows cases where the uncovered parts of the teeth have been
intensively worn.
Synergy between abrasion and corrosion was reported by Batch-
elor and Stachowiak [1] for several alloys. According to Durmoo et
al. [2], sugarcane juice can produce corrosion even on an austenitic
stainless steel. Buchanan et al. [3] found that sugarcane juice influ-
ences the corrosion and wear on hard-facing alloys with high
chromium content. This suggests that, if corrosion due to the juice
can affect a high-chromium alloy, it can have a greater effect on
carbon steel. Therefore, the intensive wear commonly found in car-
bon steel could be due to a synergy of abrasion and corrosion rather
than to an abrasion process alone. Moreover, since the hard-facing
deposits are easily cracked, it is possible that juice enters the cracks
∗ Corresponding author at: Escuela de Ingeniería Mecánica, Universidad del Valle,
Cali, Colombia. Tel.: +57 2 3212262; fax: +57 2 3334899.
E-mail address: bando1271@yahoo.es (F. Casanova).
[3], leaving the steel exposed and ready to reach a state of wear as
shown in Fig. 1.
The influence of juice on wear of low-carbon steel was studied
in this research work. Tests were done on low-carbon steel by using
bagasse with sugarcane juice and the results were compared with
those made without juice shown elsewhere [4]. These tests were
done by using a prototype that approximately simulates the wear
process on sugarcane mill rolls.
Bagasse is the residual material after the sugarcane has passed
through the mill. It is mainly composed of water, fiber, and some
residual sucrose. The fiber is mainly formed by cellulose, lignin,
hemicellulose, ash and silica [5,6]. The bagasse behaves in the same
manner as soil in both compression and shear [7,8]. Some mechan-
ical properties are given by Downing et al. [9].
An effective way to reduce the corrosion effects on the wear
of carbon steel rollers may be by depositing hard-facing materi-
als over a stainless steel buffer. This buffer would cover the whole
tooth and avoid its corrosion. Also, if the hard-facing cracks and
juice enters in the cracks, the buffer would decrease the corro-
sion and the detachment of the hard-facing material. To study
the effectiveness of the stainless steel buffer, a real roll was cov-
ered with a buffer of austenitic stainless steel and mounted on a
mill for qualitative evaluation similar to that made by Kroes [10]
to evaluate tungsten carbides as an alternative covering mate-
rial for rolls. Additionally, tests in the laboratory machine were
done on low-carbon steel specimens covered with a layer of weld
deposited stainless steel to find the wear mechanisms on this mate-
rial.

0043-1648/$ – see front matter © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.wear.2010.09.011
84 R.V. Prado et al. / Wear 270 (2010) 83–87
Fig. 1. Sugarcane roller teeth in worn conditions. (The circled area is an uncovered worn part of a tooth. Both images are at the same magnification.)
Fig. 2. Welded specimen sliding against the compressed bagasse.
2. Experimental procedure
Laboratory wear test were performed by using a prototype,
which approximately simulates the action of bagasse on sugarcane
mill rolls. The machine is basically composed of a steel ring (spec-
imen), which rotates and slides against compressed bagasse. The
ring is V-shaped, geometrically similar to the teeth of the sugarcane
rolls. A screw drives the bagasse ahead compressing it against the
ring. Fig. 2 shows the specimen sliding against the bagasse. More
details of the machine, its dimensions, and its operating conditions
are given elsewhere [4].
Tests were performed on specimens made of ASTM-A36 steel
(low carbon steel). Final bagasse from the Manuelita Sugar Mill with
mineral extraneous matter (MEM) and clean juice from the first
mill was used as abrasive material. Bagasse was initially washed to
remove any content of MEM and juice. Then, a controlled quantity
of MEM and juice was added. Rounded silica particles with mean
diameter between 0.212 mm and 0.300 mm were used as MEM.
After washing the bagasse, the juice was added at a rate of 25%
by weight. The dirt-to-fiber ratio (DFR) was used to measure the
amount of silica. DFR is defined as
Ws
DFR =
Wf
where Ws is the weight of silica and Wf is the weight of the fiber.
Three DFR levels were tested: 0, 0.15, and 0.5.
Table 1
Chemical composition of the base material and the electrode.
Metal C Mn Si S P
Base 0.26 0.75 0.40 0.05
Weld 0.03 1.63 0.65 0.01
The tests began with the samples at room temperature. As the
trial progressed, the temperature increased up to a stable value of
45 ◦ C. The moisture in the bagasse did not allow further increase
of temperature. The pH of the fresh juice was around 5.5. During
the tests pH was measured on the juice extracted in the machine
where the value decline to pH 4.6. This means that the test is severe
not only because of the sliding conditions, but also by the corrosion
conditions.
A load of 368.8 N was used for the tests on low-carbon steel.
Three segments were tested in each test. Prior to the tests, the spec-
imens were washed with acetone, dried, and then weighed. After
that, the segments were assembled in a holder to complete the
whole ring by using a non-welded segment of the ring, as observed
in Fig. 2. Each test was run for a sliding distance of 15,000 m. At the
end of the tests, the specimens were removed, cleaned with ace-
tone, and weighed again. The difference between the initial weight
and the final weight was the wear measure. A 0.0001-g resolution
electronic balance was used to weigh the specimens.
To observe the juice effect, wear data of carbon steel specimens
tested with juice were compared with those tested without juice,
which were taken from the literature [4].
Tests on stainless steel were done on low-carbon steel speci-
mens coated with austenitic stainless steel welding. A single layer
of a commercially available flux cored arc welding (FCAW) E309LT1
stainless steel electrode was used as the coating. The welding was
performed by using direct current electrode positive without pre-
heating. The average current, voltage, and wire speed were 135 A,
23.6 V, and 105 mm/s (250 in./min), respectively; the diameter of
the electrode was 1.143 mm (0.045 in.). Table 1 shows the nominal
chemical composition of base material and the electrode. Beads
in radial direction with a overlapping of approximately 20% were
deposited on the flank of the teeth. Also, a bead in tangential direc-
tion was deposited on the crest of the teeth. The tests were done
with the surface in the as-welded condition and a load of 565 N
was applied in this case. Load was increased in this test, because
with a lower load and welded specimens the machine did not work
satisfactorily. Tests with and without juice were done.
The rings were cut in segments of 45◦ for the specimens made of
the base material and approximately 20◦ for the welded specimens.
Fig. 3 shows welded and non-welded specimens.
Worn surfaces from the crests of the teeth were characterized by
(1) scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The crests of both the tested
and untested specimens were observed.
Field tests were conducted using a roll where high-chromium
white cast iron was deposited by welding over a buffer of austenitic
Cr Ni Mo V Cu
0.04 – – – – 0.20
0.01 23.80 12.97 0.14 0.07 0.25
 R.V. Prado et al. / Wear 270 (2010) 83–87 85

a 1.4
1.2
1

Wear (g)
0.8
0.6 Juice-free
0.4 With juice
0.2
0
0 0.15 0.5
DFR

b 1.4
1.2

Wear (g)
Fig. 3. Welded (bottom) and non-welded (top) specimens. 0.8

0.6 Juice-free
With juice
0.4
of stainless steel (E309LT1). The average current, voltage, and wire
speed for the buffer were 160 A, 25 V, and 120 mm/s, respectively. 0.2
Lincore 60 FCAW wire was used as the hard-facing alloy. Its weld-
0
ing parameters were: 145 A, 21 V, and 72 mm/s. Wire diameter was 0 0.15 0.5
1.143 mm (0.045 in.) for both the buffer and the hard-facing. The DFR
roll was mounted on the top position of the second mill of the
Manuelita Sugar Mill (Palmira, Colombia). The roll was qualitatively Fig. 5. Wear as a function of the extraneous matter content: (a) carbon steel and (b)
evaluated via periodic visual inspection. welded stainless steel.

3. Results and discussion
3.1. Field test
No important improvement was found in the performance of
the roll welded with stainless steel. Fig. 4a and b shows the roll
recently welded and after four months of working. Extensive wear
and detachment of the hard-facing deposits can be observed in
Fig. 4b. The conditions on a real roll change continually and no direct
comparison can be done between rolls at different positions on a
mill, or different mills, or at different times; however, according to
the experienced staff at the mill, the stainless steel buffer did not
improve the wear resistance of the roll.
3.2. Laboratory tests
Fig. 5 shows the results of wear as a function of DFR for both
tested materials. The average wear and its standard deviation are
reported in the figure. For carbon steel (Fig. 5a), wear was increased
in the presence of juice even when the test was done with bagasse
free of MEM. The most likely reason for this increase in wear is
the corrosive action of the juice. During the test with juice-free
and MEM-free bagasse, the action of the bagasse on the steel sur-
face is limited to detaching some plastically deformed zones [4],
therefore the wear is very low; however, when juice is added to
MEM-free bagasse, juice produces corrosion on the surface and
the slipping of the bagasse detaches the corrosion products. Thus,
wear is markedly increased by the synergism between corrosion
and abrasion [1]. Evidence of the corrosion process is shown in the
SEM analysis provided.
As expected, a clear increase of the wear with increasing MEM
was found for the welded specimens, as noted in Fig. 5b; also,
high dispersion in data is observed, which is due to the high influ-
ence of the roughness of the as-welded surfaces with respect to
the machined surfaces. An irregular surface tends to wear more
intensely than a plain surface, and as the topography of the welded
specimens is not the same (as observed in Fig. 3), then, the wear
is not very similar. Stainless steel is self-passivating rather than
noble in chemistry, thus in an abrasive situation with continuous
removal of passivating layers, significant corrosive wear of stain-
less steel would be expected; however the data obtained in these
tests are not conclusive.

Fig. 4. Roll with stainless steel buffer: (a) recently welded and (b) after four months of working (both figures are at the same magnification).
86 R.V. Prado et al. / Wear 270 (2010) 83–87
Fig. 6. SEM micrographs of carbon steel surface: (a) specimen tested with juice and MEM-free bagasse and (b) specimen tested with juice and 0.15 DFR.
No direct comparison can be made between the results on car-
bon steel and stainless steel, not only because of differences in load
and size of the specimens but differences in topography. Although
the welded specimens were worn down more intensively than
those of carbon steel tested at the same load (shown in Ref. [4]),
the welded specimens also processed a greater quantity of bagasse
because of the better grip provided by the rough surface. Also,
the welded specimens crushed the bagasse more intensively than
the machined specimens. The same happens in the real sugarcane
rolls: roughness provided by welding increases griping and helps
to reduce the size of the bagasse particles to improve extraction.
This is another important reason why the welding is applied and
not only the wear resistance provided by the hard-facing weld
deposits.
In order to bear in mind the differences in surface topography,
a better indicator of the work done by the specimens would have
been the quantity of bagasse passed through the machine and the
reduction in size of the bagasse particles, rather than only the lineal
sliding distance (15,000 m); unfortunately that indicator was not
used in this study.
3.3. Scanning electron microscopy
Although, in general, the roughness of the surfaces tested with
bagasse and juice was similar to those tested with juice-free
bagasse, shown elsewhere [4], the main difference was the pres-
ence of corrosion traces on the surface of the specimen tested
Fig. 7. SEM micrographs of stainless steel surfaces: (a) as-welded surface, (b) juice and 0 DFR, (c) juice and 0.15 DFR, and (d) juice and 0.5 DFR.
with juice and without MEM, as can be observed in Fig. 6a. On
the other hand, Fig. 6b shows the surface of the specimen tested
with juice and 0.15 DFR. In that figure, it can be observed that new
grooves have been generated by the action of silica grains. These
new grooves are less deep and thinner than those generated dur-
ing the machining process, which can still be observed in Fig. 6a;
thus, a polishing process is underway during the wear process. An
important feature observed in Fig. 6b is that few traces of corrosion
are found. This can be explained by the action of the silica grains
rubbing the surface and removing corrosion products [11].
Surfaces of the welded specimens are shown in Fig. 7. The
as-welded surface revealing the wear-free surface is displayed in
Fig. 7a. Fig. 7b shows the surface tested with juice and with 0 DFR; a
few scars and plastic deformation are visible on this surface, which
are due to the action of the bagasse because of the lack of sil-
ica grains during the test of this specimen. A low wear value was
obtained for this condition, as shown in Fig. 5b.
Contrary to the carbon steel specimen (Fig. 6a), no evidence of
corrosion was found in the surface of the stainless steel specimen
tested without silica grains (Fig. 7b). An important change in surface
topography can be observed in the surfaces tested with MEM with
respect to the as-welded and those tested without MEM. Scars in
the sliding direction generated by cutting and plowing, because of
the silica grains are observed in specimens tested with MEM. No
important differences were found among those tested with 0.15
DFR and 0.5 DFR, and no traces of corrosion were found on the
surfaces.
 R.V. Prado et al. / Wear 270 (2010) 83–87
4. Conclusions
No improvement of the roll welded with a buffer of austenitic
stainless steel was observed in the field test. Severe wear and
detachment of the hard-facing deposits occurred.
The corrosive effect of the sugarcane juice increased the wear of
the specimens made of carbon steel, even when the test was done
without MEM. Traces of corrosion were found on the carbon steel
surface tested without silica grains. In the specimens tested with
silica grains, the rubbing of the silica grains removed base material
and corrosion products.
Higher variability in the results for the welded specimens was
found with respect to the machined specimens. This variability is
mainly induced by the high roughness of the as-welded surfaces. To
take into count the difference in specimen roughness, the quantity
of bagasse and the reduction in the bagasse particle size must be
used as indicators of the work done by the specimen.
Silica grains produced similar wear mechanisms (cutting and
plowing) on both carbon steel and austenitic stainless steel
deposited by welding.
Acknowledgements
The authors thank the Vice Rectory of Research at Universidad
del Valle and Ingenio Manuelita for the financial support for this
work.
87
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