Is Kevlar a band-aid? or is it a proactive approach to finish quality?
Why use Kevlar? How is it BEST used?
With your current handling equipment, do you get scratches, dents, shadow markings and carbon marks on your extrusions. These defects likely result in scrap material as your customer will reject inclusions and shadow markings and return the defective parts to you. You scrap number just went up!
Kevlar is now widely used for handling systems in high temperature extrusion manufacturing applications. But more than high temperature must be taken into consideration when evaluating Kevlar life expediencies. The combination of heat and friction will impact the life expectancy. Things to consider: Does your handling system have flight bars or rollers? Flight bars will typically create friction and wear on the Kevlar more quickly. Consider changing to rollers. If your runout is equipped with rollers, then you likely have a puller system. A puller system will generally guide the profiles down the center of the roller which will wear the middle of the rollers more than the outer parts. Maybe a 3 piece roller will be the cost effective way to proceed whereas you may change out only the middle section at 1/3 of the cost? Also, if you have a water quench system, a special resin treatment, which repels the water and extends the life of the Kevlar vs and untreated product in the same conditions. This Kevlar with the resin treatment should be used in the areas that typically get wet from your quench.
If your runout has a chain driven slat system, the key to longer Kevlar life is to synchronize the runout with the speed of the extruded material. Again, friction combined with the heat from the extrusion will impact the life of the material.
Whichever system you have, Kevlar is still your best option to eliminate carbon marks, scratches and heat marks on the extrusion.
Kevlar is not just used on the runout and Kevlar belts are the answer for moving the profiles from the runout across your handling system to the stretcher. Friction should not be an issue here if you allow the belts to deliver the profiles to the stretcher without manually dragging the shapes across the belts. Dragging is a bad practice and will destroy your belts over a short period of time. Let the belts do the work!
Need to replace your handling system?
Visit my website to see the fantastic handling and unique stacking equipment Extral Technology has to offer. Click here: https://www.extrusionsupplies.com/product-page/extral-technology
