Industrial Rollers in PUR Made for Slaughterhouses

Abstract:

ndustrial rollers made in polyurethane, PUR, are made to be used in a conveyer system in slaughterhouses. The rollers are made by the company Dansk Gummiindustri A/S. During use the rollers or the materials give some problems with the durability. Break in the rollers come much earlier than expected. An intensively investigation of the rollers has therefore been made. The investigations have been on the mechanical and chemical properties of the rollers. During their lifetime the rollers are cleaned at least once per day with cleaning agents of different types. The mechanical forces on the rollers have been analysed. It has been assumed that the weight of the meat pieces have been 7 kg each. The force on the roller under use has been calculated by using Finite Element method, FEM. The strength of the roller has been determined to be 26MPa, and the maximum load on the roller under use has been calculated to be 1,8MPa, which is far from the 26MPa. The fatigue strength is not known, but from knowledge of PUR there should not be any risk of fatigue. The rollers can have different colours though they are made of the same type of material all of them. The colour differences of the rollers appear because the curing time is different for the rollers. Samples for testing if the curing parameters have any influence of the strength and the chemical resistance for the cleaning agents used in the slaughterhouses are made. The mechanical properties are not changed considerable because of different curing parameters, but the PUR in the rollers become more homogenous after long time curing compared with short time curing. Infrared spectroscopy has been used for proving that. Samples with different curing times have been influenced by cleaning agents, which are normally used at slaughterhouses. Five different agents are tested. Two of them are acidly agents and three of them alkaline agents. One of the acidly and two of the alkaline agents are further more oxidative agents. It can be concluded that the cleaning agents influence the properties of the rollers. If the temperature is increased the influence increases. The rollers influence most of oxidative and acidly products. The conclusion is that it can be recommended to cure the PUR to full cure. Furthermore it can be recommended only to clean them up with alkaline cleaning agents without oxidative agents added to the cleaning system.

• Periodical: Applied Mechanics and Materials (Volume 371)
• Pages: 687-694
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMM.371.687
• Online since: August 2013
• Authors: Birgit Kjærside Storm, Liliana Aurelia Schjøtt
• Keywords: Chemical Influence, Cleaning Agents, Curing, Mechanical Influence, Polyurthane

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