It's simple: Failed industrial blades mean lost productivity and higher costs. An offline machine means time lost. Failed blades can also damage the rest of the machine, adding to your expenses and cutting margins. Worst of all, blade failures put your factory team at risk. A failed blade can break and send debris flying.
Training everyone on the floor on blade failure analysis improves safety and makes your team more efficient by preventing unnecessary downtime and maximizing industrial blade use. When a failure occurs, working with an experienced partner like Hyde for a detailed systemic failure analysis gets you back online faster.
Industrial blade failure isn’t always as dramatic as losing a whole blade mid-cut. Failures often start small:
Regularly inspecting your blades for these signs of damage enables proactive maintenance. It's easy to reduce downtime by repairing or replacing blades when issues are small — not so much when they grow into big problems.
Understanding different failure modes will help you diagnose the root cause and take steps towards preventing blade damage in the future.
Fatigue failure occurs when blades weaken over time, developing small cracks that eventually grow and cause the blade to fail. It's usually caused by repetitive loads, even when loading under the recommended yield strength.
Repeatedly heating and cooling your blades during startup and shutdown can also cause fatigue. So can heavy vibration while cutting.
Abrasion refers to scratches, pits, gouges, and other material loss. It's common in plastics processing, food processing, lumber, and other industries that work with hard, abrasive materials. Dirt, rocks, and other debris ending up in your machinery can also abrade blades.
As your blades cut these materials, small particles cause erosion, similar to sandpaper. Over time, small nicks and pits can turn into cracks.
When small pieces break off your knife’s cutting edge, it’s a chipping failure. Chips usually appear when your blades have weak spots that crack and break under stress. They can also happen when you’re using the wrong blade to cut through a material.
Thermal cracking results from repeated heating and cooling cycles. Think about an icy road: As water freezes, it expands and puts extra pressure on the surrounding concrete. Over time, the road cracks. Water seeps into these cracks and turns them into potholes.
Your industrial knife blades go through a similar process. Intense heat causes the surface material to expand while the inner core remains cool. These temperature variations stress your blade and result in small cracks.
If you’ve ever seen a car with rusty rims, you’ve seen corrosion in action. Moisture, chemicals, and even other metals can corrode a knife blade. Even if your blades are coated to protect against corrosion, it can still happen if the coating is damaged.
Adhesion or galling refers to a type of failure in which material sticks to your knife blades. It’s common when you’re working with thin or sticky materials, such as plastic film or certain foods. This can weaken your blades and make them prone to cracks.
Accurate diagnoses can help prevent similar issues from recurring. For the right industrial blade solutions, follow these steps:
In addition to the blade itself, check the machine's RPM, feed rate, coolant flow, and alignment for obvious deviations from the norm. If you notice significant changes in production, abnormal sounds, higher energy consumption, or other severe issues, consider calling in professionals such as Hyde to run additional tests. Our team conducts wear analyses and metallurgical reviews. You may also need blade hardness testing or microstructural analysis.
If you need a replacement, buy American blades that are durable and precise.
Blades fail for multiple reasons:
An industrial blade supplier like Hyde has the metallurgical experience to customize blades for each machine. We offer custom blade fabrication and can design blades with the right materials for your job, made to OEM specifications for your machine.
With over 150 years of experience in manufacturing industrial blades, we understand why they fail. Our team can analyze wear patterns and other signs of damage and provide recommendations to prevent future failures.
Get a quote from Hyde for the replacement blades you need and assistance maintaining them in top condition.