Why Do Rock Drill Parts Break So Quickly? The Secret Lies in the ''Soul'' of the Metal
DURABILITY IN ROCK DRILL PARTS: IT'S NOT JUST ABOUT SHAPE — IT'S ABOUT WHAT'S INSIDE
Most people in the mining industry look at a spare part as just "a piece of iron." But hundreds of meters underground, when those massive drifters start delivering thousands of impacts per minute, the picture changes completely. What's there in that moment isn't just metal — it's engineering, the right material, and the right heat treatment.
There's Steel, and Then There's "Steel"...
You can find a part on practically every street corner, but they don't all perform the same. Why? Because quality begins the moment the metal enters the factory. Here's what we learned at Akkom: trusting a certificate on paper isn't enough. We run the spectrometric analysis ourselves. If the carbon ratio or alloying elements are off by even a hair, that metal doesn't get to become a rock drill part. What happens if it does anyway? Either it shatters like glass on the very first impact, or it stretches out like taffy.
"Reverse Engineering" Isn't Just Taking Measurements
Measuring a part's outer dimensions with calipers is easy. The real skill is understanding its internal structure — what kind of process the metal actually went through. When we get an original part in hand, we don't just ask "how many mm long is it?" We ask, "Why did it wear out right here?" "Why did it crack right there?" Our goal isn't just to copy it — it's to spot the field failure and improve the design.
Heat Treatment: Disciplining the Metal
This is the most critical stage. Think of a piston: the outside needs to be diamond-hard so it doesn't wear down, but the inside needs to be just as flexible (tough) so it can absorb those enormous impacts. If you're off by even one degree in the furnace, or you miss the cooling window, a part that looks perfect on paper will fail within its first hour in the field. In our furnaces, there's no such thing as a "standard process" — every part has its own "cooking recipe." Because we know that the wrong heat treatment means all that effort goes straight in the trash.
What Does Success Mean to Us?
Selling the part is the easy part of the job. For us, real success is that part hitting its target operating hours at a mine in Chile or Africa and still saying "I'm still running." When a mine manager says, "We switched to Akkom, and our downtime dropped" — that's our biggest quality certificate.