Ans. -  A.R.M* has been in operation since March 1996. In that period we have grown to become one of the largest Tungsten Carbide hardfacing manufacturers in Australia.

Ans. -  A.R.M* is a Proprietary Limited family owned company which is operated by

Mr.Timothy S. Falkenhagen as Managing Director.

Ans. -   Tim Falkenhagen had spent some 17 years fixing earthmoving equipment all over Australia in a range of positions including: on site maintenance fitter, maintenance manager and also as a technical consultant for a major equipment supplier.

"During that period I came across this type of welding technology. After extensive research, including travel to various factories overseas, I analysed this process to the point that I thought that it could be manufactured a lot better than it was at that time.

At A.R.M* we have proven many times to be successful where others have failed.

Just take Sugar Mill Rolls. In over 70 years of having this type of welding technology available, no one had worked out how apply this process directly onto Gray cast Iron sugar mill rolls.

We have successfully developed different welding methods and now have some of these Patented"

Ans. -  We currently have (6) permanent staff and use casual staff in high demand periods. Our licensee also has (4) permanent staff and also utilises casual staff as required.

Ans. -  No. These are only available under specific patent license agreements. We have (1) licensee who has been in operation now for just over three years (namely N.Q. Hardfacing) and they very successfully service the Far North and Western Queensland.

Ans. -  Yes . These are granted so far in Australia, South Africa and Pakistan and pending in many other countries.

We also have additional Patents Pending on some new wear part designs which, due to patent confidentiality requirements, cannot be detailed at this time.

Ans. -  Mig Carbide is a welding industry generic term used to describe the process of applying Tungsten Carbide Chips onto various items like Bulldozer Blades, Dragline Buckets, Grader Blades, Sugar Mill Rolls, Wheel Loader Buckets, Excavator Buckets etc.

This is done by creating a molten puddle on the part and depositing Tungsten Carbide chips into the puddle so that when it cools, Tungsten Carbide is frozen within the puddle.

Ans. -  The first recognised person to develop this process into a commercial product was Mr. Marion Woods in 1922. Stoody welding company in the U.S.A. later developed commercially available welding systems in the 1950’s and 60’s which facilitated the wide spread application of this process and since then other companies, with the invention of the computer chip, have been able to take this technology to a new level of sophistication.

Ans. -  Probably over 100 different options exist which would provide a wide range of performance outcomes.

Ans. -  That’s a secret.

Ans. -  A number of very important differences exist. One being the depth of penetration of the parent metal that we achieve with the molten puddle, another is the density of Tungsten Carbide that we are able to deposit into the puddle before it solidifies.

One very obvious difference is that our weld matrix, as a rule, does not have any craze cracking. This is very difficult to achieve and the method of creating this was worked out by accident by Mr. Falkenhagen.

These are just some of the differences one will notice when visually inspecting the different suppliers products. The other thing to keep in mind is that in over four years of extensive wear life trials, competing against numerous types of wear resistant options, A.R.M* Hardfacing has never, ever, lost a wear life trial.

Ans. -  That’s what a lot of competitors would like to have you believe, but in fact we have had various items analysed by ETRS which shows that we only have a Heat Affected Zone (HAZ) of around 1.0 mm just below our hardfacing matrix and even then, the HAZ is the same hardness as the parent metal. This is not necessarily achieved by all manufacturers of Mig Carbide.

Ans. -  This can depend on the particular item we are welding and also the particular type of Hardfacing combination that is required. The majority of our products which are manufactured for say the mining industry (e. g. like Bulldozer Blades) are based on $2.75 per Sq./Inch of A.R.M* Hardfacing applied (not including GST).

Other things like the type of matrix wire, the size of the part and other things like the preparation time required or perhaps even if there is some special tooling that may needed to complete the job can all have an affect on the quoted price of a job.

Ans. -  We suggest that all purchases of A.R.M* Hardfacing be made direct from the factory in Brisbane.

Other companies do resell our products, however these arrangements are not exclusive and therefore you may sometimes not always be supplied A.R.M* Hardfacing, even though in the first place you had good results using our products.

Just to be on the safe side we suggest that you actually specify that A.R.M* Hardfacing be supplied ( ie. from Abrasion Resistant Materials Pty Ltd.) to ensure that the quality and performance difference is consistent and so that in fact you get what you paid for.

Ans. -  This is difficult to answer because there are so many examples in terms of big wear life increases when compared to standard wear parts, cutting edges and bucket tips.

Here are just two examples.

1. Dragline Adaptors: where we regularly make these 200kg wear parts last up to 10 times longer than the standard OEM casting and for only around a 60% increase in the initial purchase price of the original part.
2. Sugar Mill Rolls: where our Patented coating can last over 50 times longer than the traditional Chromium Carbide dot/dash method of arc roughening sugar mill rolls. We have achieved 3.5 Million tonnes crushed without having to perform welding maintenance of the sugar mill rolls during the crushing season.

Ans. -  This can really only be done with field trials, although some manufacturers products are so different in terms of the quantity and quality of Tungsten Carbide that someone who is experienced in using this product would be able to make some visual assessments of quality.

Ans. -  No, and there is unlikely to be one developed as most manufacturers keep secret their particular processes, raw materials and techniques. At A.R.M* we have developed a benchmark product that consistently delivers superior performance when manufactured to our particular standards.

Ans. -  When anyone asks, " how do I know that this product will deliver us cost reductions" our standard answer is this, "If A.R.M* Hardfacing does not reduce your costs, I’ll give you your money back", says the managing director Mr. Tim Falkenhagen.

Ans. -  No.