Recycling - Grapple tips - Mobile equipment - USA - More than 2.5 years

Objective

Replace the original OEM grapple tips with Creusabro^® 8000, aiming to significantly improve durability and reduce the frequency of replacements in a highly demanding metal recycling operation.

Test Conditions

• Location: Metal recycling facility, USA

• Environment: Continuous handling of heavy, sharp, and abrasive scrap metal. Grapple tips are subject to repeated impact, high mechanical stress, and cutting friction during lifting, sorting, and loading.

• Function: Replaceable tips of hydraulic grapple arms, a critical wear component that ensures reliable scrap handling.

• Original material: OEM-supplied standard tips (material unspecified)

• Replacement material: Creusabro® 8000, processed by cutting, bending, and welding

Results

• The OEM grapple tips were being replaced regularly due to rapid wear under harsh conditions.

• The Creusabro® 8000 tips have now been in operation for 2.5 years and are still running — with no sign of imminent failure.

• The new tips were fabricated using standard forming and welding processes, allowing a smooth upgrade from OEM parts.

Value Delivered

• Exceptional Wear Life: Over 2.5 years of continuous operation and still in use — a major improvement over OEM parts.

• Lower Operating Costs: Dramatic reduction in tip replacement frequency, downtime, and spare part inventory.

• High Impact & Abrasion Resistance: Creusabro® 8000 proved ideal for extreme metal-on-metal conditions.

• Easy Fabrication: Fully compatible with standard cutting, bending, and welding techniques — no special tooling required.

Expert Insight

In aggressive applications like scrap handling, OEM parts often lack the durability required for long-term use. Creusabro® 8000 offers a field-proven upgrade, with unmatched wear resistance and toughness. Its homogeneous through-thickness properties allow fabricators to shape and weld custom tips that outlast standard components by years, not months.

Conclusion

By switching to Creusabro® 8000, the metal recycling facility and Stulz Manganal achieved a drastic increase in service life for grapple tips — with the parts still running strong after 2.5 years in one of the harshest industrial environments.

Creusabro® confirms its status as a reliable, high-performance alternative to OEM wear parts in the recycling industry.

Comparative test