Premature blade wear has five root causes: substrate mismatch, edge prep error, heat-treat quality, re-grind damage, and line-side operating conditions. This troubleshooting guide walks through the diagnostic flow, the visual tells for each failure mode, and the fixes that actually work.
A plate shear blade that cracks at the edge is almost always one of four things: chamfer too small, hardness too high, blade gap wrong, or plate out of spec. This article walks through the diagnostic and the fix for each, with a field case for stainless, mild and AR plate.
A slitter knife that turns blue, straw or purple is being annealed in service. The edge temperature has exceeded the tempering temperature. The fix is usually cooling, then grade upgrade, then coating.
Materials encyclopedia entry for YG10.
Materials encyclopedia entry for YG15.
Materials encyclopedia entry for YG6.