ceramic pulley lagging offers significant improvements in grip and traction for conveyor belts. Furthermore, its longer service life reduces wear significantly. Rubber-backed ceramic strips or direct casting onto the pulley shell is an effective option for bend and non-drive pulleys on turnover conveyors.
Optimum Traction
Ceramic lagging offers optimal traction for conveyor belts, helping prevent slippage and wear on both pulleys and conveyor systems. Ceramic is highly resistant to abrasion and can be customized with either dimples or smooth surfaces for maximum customization based on your application and conveyor equipment needs. Furthermore, smooth ceramic surfaces create an even surface for belt cleaners to run over while increasing service life compared to rubber alternatives such as rubber lagging.
Richwood Ceramic Lagging can provide an effective solution to drive slippage and high belt wear compared to conventional rubber lagging. Constructed as a direct-bonded ceramic cover that requires no maintenance, this advanced solution features hard ceramic tiles with increased coefficient of friction that shed water and dirt from pulley surfaces, further aiding wear reduction and belt slippage prevention.
Other types of lagging may also be applied to conveyor pulleys, including polyurethane lagging which has become more and more popular due to its longer service life and ability to resist abrasion. Polyurethane can either be applied as sheets or strips that bond directly onto the pulley shell or cast directly on. Cast polyurethane may prove difficult and expensive to replace once worn down rubber and ceramic lagging has worn away; hence its application should generally only occur as an alternative solution.
Durability
Ceramic pulley lagging boasts superior durability over rubber, and is therefore more suitable for use on hard-wearing conveyor belts. Ceramic lagging lasts 10 times longer than standard drum rubber pulley lagging sheets – significantly lowering maintenance costs over time.
This type of ceramic lagging comes in two varieties, smooth and dimple ceramic. Both provide significant increases in friction and grip for conveyor belts to prevent slippage. Dimple ceramic lagging may be particularly effective on drive pulleys with increased fiction to assist driving the conveyor belt, while smooth ceramic is usually preferred on non-drive pulleys such as snub and bend pulleys.
Most conventional ceramic lagging is applied using cold bonding adhesives, which can lead to multiple joins between individual strips that allow water to seep in, leading to shell corrosion. This may result in tears in the lagging ripping off, necessitating either new pulley shell or replacement of it entirely.
Flexibility
Ceramic pulley lagging is an adaptable solution that can be utilized on both non-drive and drive conveyor pulleys, offering increased traction while decreasing power consumption – ideal for systems operating in wet or muddy conditions. Comprised of dimpled ceramic drive segments molded together in specially formulated natural and butadiene rubber bases, ceramic lagging features high friction values which increase traction while eliminating belt slippage while simultaneously decreasing power consumption – an especially crucial quality when operating under wet or muddy conditions.
Ceramic lagging can be applied to conveyor pulleys using either rubber-backed sheets or strips, or directly bonded onto their shell. Each method offers different advantages depending on your system’s unique requirements.
Cold bonding is generally easier and quicker to perform, helping keep costs low while speeding up lead times compared to hot vulcanization. Unfortunately, however, cold bonding does not offer 100% rubber tear adhesion and may not last as long.
Customization
ceramic pulley lagging can provide your conveyor system with high levels of traction to drive its belt, helping prevent unplanned downtime and production losses caused by slippage of conveyor belts in wet or dirty conditions. Ceramic lagging increases friction coefficient to prevent slippage of conveyor belts.
Ceramic is hard and durable material, ideal for shaping into pulley shaft profiles with its shaping capability. Additionally, cold bonding offers more economical lead times while offering 100% rubber tear adhesion – both methods provide reliable adhesion for shell attachment.
There are various varieties of ceramic pulley lagging available, from smooth and dimple versions that can be adhered directly to the shell of a conveyor pulley, to dimple versions used on drive pulleys due to increased friction and grip that helps drive belts more efficiently, eliminating or reducing slippage.