How to Improve the Fatigue Resistance of Iron Pipe Pallets?
Publish Time: 2025-11-13
In modern industrial logistics systems, iron pipe pallets are widely used in automobile manufacturing, heavy machinery, steel metallurgy, and large parts warehousing due to their high strength, high load-bearing capacity, and excellent reusability. However, under long-term, high-frequency forklift handling, stacking load cycles, and transportation vibrations, iron pipe pallets are prone to weld cracking, pipe bending, and even structural failure due to metal fatigue, seriously affecting safety and lifespan. Therefore, effectively improving their fatigue resistance has become a key technical issue in the design and manufacturing of iron pipe pallets.1. Prioritizing High-Toughness Steel to Lay the Foundation for Fatigue ResistanceIron pipe pallets typically use carbon structural steel or low-alloy high-strength steel as raw materials. Compared to ordinary steel, the latter not only has a higher yield strength but also better impact toughness and ductility, effectively absorbing dynamic impact energy during handling and delaying crack initiation. Furthermore, using cold-drawn or hot-rolled precision welded pipes ensures uniform wall thickness and low internal stress, reducing stress concentration points caused by material defects and improving overall fatigue life from the source.2. Optimize structural design to reduce stress concentrationFatigue failure often begins in areas of stress concentration, such as corners, welds, and holes. Finite element analysis allows engineers to optimize the topology of key pallet components: for example, using large rounded corners instead of right-angle connections to avoid sharp corners; adding reinforcing ribs or triangular support plates at the intersection of longitudinal beams and cross braces to distribute the load; and rationally arranging pipe spacing to reduce redundant structures while ensuring rigidity. Some high-end iron pipe pallets also incorporate "bionic truss" or "honeycomb" bottom frame designs, reducing weight while improving overall bending and torsional resistance, significantly improving fatigue performance under dynamic loads.3. Strengthen welding and connection processes to ensure node reliabilityWelding is the most critical and vulnerable step in iron pipe pallet manufacturing. Traditional manual arc welding is prone to defects such as porosity, slag inclusions, and lack of fusion, which can become the starting point for fatigue cracks. To improve weld quality, advanced manufacturers generally adopt robotic CO₂ gas shielded welding or laser welding technology to achieve uniform welds, controllable penetration depth, and a small heat-affected zone. Simultaneously, full-scale or double-sided welding is performed on critical stress-bearing nodes, followed by post-weld stress-relief annealing to effectively eliminate residual stress. For detachable pallets, high-strength bolts with anti-loosening washers are used, avoiding welding defects and facilitating maintenance and replacement, indirectly extending the overall service life.4. Surface Treatment and Corrosion Protection Measures to Delay Environmentally Accelerated FatigueHumid, salt spray, or chemically corrosive environments significantly accelerate the fatigue process of metals. Therefore, iron pipe pallets are often surface protected through hot-dip galvanizing, electrophoretic coating, or powder coating. Hot-dip galvanizing not only provides a physical barrier, but the cathodic protection of zinc also inhibits the spread of rust at scratches. A high-quality anti-corrosion coating allows pallets to serve outdoors or in high-humidity environments for over 10 years without structural degradation, fundamentally delaying the accumulation of fatigue damage.The fatigue resistance of iron pipe pallets is not determined by a single factor, but rather by the synergistic effect of materials, design, processes, and protection. Through the application of high-toughness steel, stress-optimized structures, advanced welding technologies, and long-lasting anti-corrosion systems, modern iron pipe pallets are capable of meeting the demands of high-intensity, long-cycle industrial logistics.
