Articles

Wear of conveyor chains with polymer rollers

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Abstract

Roller conveyor chains are common used to transport goods in production lines or assemblylines, such as pallets, cars or steel coils. They are sometimes used in severe environments, soiled withwater, foreign particles, chemicals or other contaminants. Normal use will result in wear of the componentsof the chain which can lead to unexpected failure and costly production downtime. Today, few literature onthe wear of conveyor chain is available and there are almost no reliable test-rigs to generate and measurechain wear in a reproducible manner. In this research the different components of conveyor chains and theloading conditions are described. Additionally, the applications and (dis)advantages of chains with polymerrollers are discussed. The chain wear mechanisms found in literature are listed. Abrasive and adhesivewear between pin, bushing, roller and track are discussed. From the contact mechanics of the chain andpressure-velocity limit of the roller materials, the design constraints for the laboratory test-rig were derived.The capabilities and working principles of the developed test-rig are explained in this paper.

How to Cite:

Kerremans, V. & Rolly, T. & De Baets, P. & De Pauw, J. & Sukumaran, J. & Perez Delgado, Y., (2011) “Wear of conveyor chains with polymer rollers”, International Journal of Sustainable Construction and Design 2(3), 378-387. doi: https://doi.org/10.21825/scad.v2i3.20537