In material handling systems, it can be easy to lose sight of protecting tried-and-true metal rollers. While metal rollers typically move goods and materials with ease, they can also, when damaged, compromise product quality, lower efficiency or even bring a process to a standstill. That’s why it’s important to keep them well maintained. Recently, a roller specialist that serves a variety of industries — including plastics and paper — contacted us to address some persistent threats that its rollers face in a converting application.

Our customer produces a 68-inch long, eight-inch diameter roller to apply a poly film to a steel web. This roller comes into contact with tacky adhesives at a temperature of 220°F. Not surprisingly, the hot adhesives stick to the roller and accumulate. As a result, adhesives may be applied unevenly, ultimately reducing product quality. Stuck-on adhesives also cause wear and tear to the base metal, lowering efficiency and leading to increased maintenance and the associated downtime, costs and reduced throughput.

Plasmadize Technical Advantages

Our Plasmadize® coatings are applied using an enhanced thermal spraying technique and are particularly effective for applications that involve sticky substances and very high temperatures. In addition, the family excels on large surfaces and can be applied in thick or thin layers. These true composite coatings are a matrix of metals, ceramics, polymers and/or dry lubricants selected to suit various application requirements. For example, our technical experts evaluate each application and its challenges to recommend the appropriate infused polymers. In this instance, the aim is to provide metal roller surfaces with excellent release and wear properties.

Plasmadize can be applied to large surfaces and offers a low coefficient of friction (COF). It also exhibits an operating temperature range of -200 to +1,300°F (-129 to +704°C) and surpasses chrome plating or heat-treated electroless nickel in long-term wear resistance. Additional features and specifications include:

• Available with a non-stick or gripping surface.
• Zero porosity and superior corrosion resistance, depending on the selected proprietary polymers.
• Hardness beyond the Rc scale.
• Resistance to acids, alkalis, chlorides, most organic solvents, sulfites, thiosulfates and pulp bleaching products.
• USDA, FDA and PFAS-free versions are available.

Plasmadize Keeps Your Converting Equipment Rolling

When you need to prevent adhesive residues from damaging large metal rollers, you can’t afford to experiment with the wrong surface treatment. Plasmadize successfully defends against glues at elevated temperatures, ensuring cleaner surfaces and preventing wear and abrasion for greater machine runtime and far less downtime than other surface protection methods. Our technical experts are available to review your converting application concerns and recommend an appropriate Plasmadize coating to protect your large metal surfaces and improve their non-stick properties.

For more information, please visit our product page.