TBM cutters: at the forefront of the excavation
The cuttinghead of a Tunnel Boring Machine is made up of a rotating wheel which mounts the appropriate excavation tools, among which are the so-called “disc cutters” or “cutting rings“.
These represent the crucial component of the machine, because they constitute the part that has the task of attacking any type of rock and which therefore must ensure the most demanding performances.
The TBM cutters, therefore, must be of extremely high strength not only to allow maximum penetration rate and disruptive capacity, but also to keep its performance as unchanged as possible over time.
RingX ® by AB TUNNELLING: the best result of research in the sector
For this reason, AB Tunnelling, after in-depth studies in the field and on the characteristics of the most common TBM cutters on the market, developed its RingX ®, cutting rings of the highest quality born from years of research and experience and from a refined selection of the constituent material and production processes.
The fundamental quality of steel
For the fundamental constituent of RingX ® as the steel, a very high quality raw material was selected, extremely balanced in its alloying components. This “perfect cocktail” allows excellent results in terms of hardenability and hardness, tempering, resistance to wear, impact and compression. Furthermore, a particular production process was also chosen enhancing the quality of the steel.
An ideal geometry
The profile of RingX ® has been optimized: the result is a geometry that maintains a correct distribution of workloads even in an advanced state of wear and therefore extending the life cycle of the product.
The right heat treatment
Heat treatment plays a very important role in obtaining the quality of RingX ®. The operation is carried out with small, vacuum furnaces capable of reaching extremely high temperatures and with particular rapid cooling and tempering techniques which must not cause deformations or breakages of the rings. All this ensures that the hardness of the cutting rings remains homogeneous in all production batches.
RingX ® TBM cutters, a unique and exceptional product
In essence, the research and development that are the basis of RingX ® have made it possible to obtain truly unique and exceptional TBM cutters capable of:
- dealing with any geological situation;
- obtaining great performance in terms of excavation performance and therefore reduction of production times;
- reducing costs in terms of maintenance and replacement of the product;
- reducing costs resulting from machine downtime.