Heavy-Duty Alligator Shear Blades for Scrap Metal

High-Performance Alligator Shear Blades: The Essential Guide for Metal Recyclers

In the scrap metal industry, your alligator shear blades are the frontline tools that define your processing speed and operational costs. Whether you are cutting steel bars, aluminum profiles, or copper pipes, the durability of your shear knives is the key to minimizing downtime.

Alligator shear blade technical specifications

Common Material Overview of Alligator Shear Blades

The following table summarizes the type, core characteristics and main applicable shearing materials of common blade materials:

Blade Material Selection Scheme

H13 (4Cr5MoSiV1) Hot Work Tool Steel

Performance

After heat treatment, its hardness reaches HRC52-55. It resists impact well. It also stands up to high temperatures without softening. It has strong core toughness and can be hardened evenly.

Suitable for

Alligator shears with a tonnage of ≥160T. It is mainly used to cut ultra-thick steel plates (≥30mm), high-hardness round steel, ordinary alloy steel, thick-walled welded pipes and other heavy materials.

Advantages

It is a common choice for heavy-impact work. It can effectively resist strong impacts during cutting. It prevents blades from chipping or breaking. It is adaptable and uses a mature production process.

H13K Modified H13 Hot Work Tool Steel

Performance

It is an upgraded version of H13. It keeps H13’s good impact resistance. It also improves core toughness, high-temperature stability and fatigue resistance. Its hardenability is better than ordinary H13.

Suitable for

Ultra-large alligator shears with a tonnage of ≥180T. It is mainly used to cut extra-thick steel plates (≥40mm), heavy alloy steel, thick-walled seamless pipes, large structural steel and other high-pressure, high-impact materials. It is also suitable for ultra-heavy continuous cutting in scrap yards.

Advantages

It resists strong impact and fatigue better than ordinary H13. Under ultra-heavy working conditions, its service life is 20%-30% longer than H13. It is the first choice for ultra-large alligator shears.

LD Steel (7Cr7Mo2V2Si) Cold Work Tool Steel

Performance

After heat treatment, its hardness reaches HRC60-64. Its surface wear resistance is much better than ordinary tool steel. It has high core toughness. The blade’s overall hardness is even. It resists abrasive wear very well.

Suitable for

Medium-to-large alligator shears with a tonnage of 100T-160T. It is mainly used to cut 10-30mm thick steel plates, thick rebar, rusty scrap steel, angle steel/channel steel and other highly abrasive common materials.

Advantages

It has the best wear resistance among the three materials. It greatly reduces how often blades need to be replaced. It improves the efficiency of large-scale production.

Strengthening Process

The performance of these three materials depends on precise heat treatment and surface strengthening. Even for the same material, different processing methods can make the blade’s service life differ by more than twice.

Basic Heat Treatment Process

1. Use vacuum heat treatment instead of ordinary air quenching. This reduces surface oxidation and decarburization of the blade. It ensures the blade’s overall hardness is even.

2. After quenching, immediately perform low-temperature tempering at 180-220℃. This eliminates internal stress. It prevents the blade from deforming or cracking. It also stabilizes the material’s core hardness and toughness.

Suggestions on Blade Material Selection

Alligator shear blades and scrap shear blades are usually made of H13 material. If the scrap composition is complex, we recommend H13K. If you have higher requirements, please contact the manufacturer to discuss material upgrading.

Blade Metal Materials International Grade Corresponding Table

Global Supply: Heavy-Duty Alligator Shear Blades & Metal Cutting Knives

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