When a food manufacturer needs to fill serving cups with sauces, there’s a lot riding on how well the proper amount of product is dispensed. For the food manufacturer, it means the production line is running fast and smoothly. For the consumer, serving consistency is a sign of product quality. To get the right fill amounts into serving cups, food manufacturers use aluminum "blocks," also known as filler heads.

These manifolds typically incorporate a piston or rotary valve that directs sauces through one or more feed channels to dispensing nozzles, which precisely dispense the required volume of product into individual cups during continuous filling cycles. When the servings are released at the precise moment and volume, the process is seamless. If the product is dispensed imprecisely, out of sync or if sauces fail to shear off cleanly, worn components are often the culprit.

Tufram Staves Off Alkaline Cleaner

One Magnaplate food-manufacturing customer has a dedicated production line that fills serving cups with salad dressing. To protect the filler block, the company relied on a hard coat anodizing process — often a sound option for food-contacting parts. However, the mild alkaline cleaner the company used during the sanitation cycle removed the coating within seven to 10 days, wearing out parts and creating downtime to replace them. Our customer sought an FDA-compliant coating that could stand up to the cleaner, thereby reducing downtime and keeping production moving. After discussing their challenges with us, a Tufram® coating was applied to the aluminum blocks with great success.

The Tufram process combines a hard aluminum oxide ceramic with proprietary polymers to enhance the strength and durability of aluminum components like filler blocks, imparting permanent lubricity for extended wear protection that results in less downtime for maintenance. Tufram coatings outperform conventional hard anodizing and similar processes to resist corrosion, reduce friction and improve hardness. And, many Tufram types provide superior resistance to acids and alkaline chemicals.

Other advantages include:

• Abrasion and galling prevention.
• FDA and USDA compliance.
• Thickness range of 0.0002 to 0.003 inch.
• Operating temperature range from -360 to +850°F.
• Excellent thermal conductivity.
• High dielectric strength.
• Non-wetting for faster, easier cleanup.

Ensure Consistent Output of Food Products

Whether you package salad dressings, sauces or other condiments, the reliability of your filling equipment will mean the difference between a well-run production line and poor, inconsistent output. Tufram surface treatments offer many features to deliver trouble-free protection.

Be sure to talk with a Magnaplate technical expert to help determine the best Tufram coating for your aluminum parts.

For more information about Tufram coatings, please visit our product page.