Non-woven Rollers

Viscoelastic non-woven product VNP is a special material with a long service life

The term of VNP – viscoelastic non-woven products – describes FKM’s manufacture of non-woven roll coverings for a range of applications. The non-woven material used here is made of plastic fibers bonded into a felt-like sheet and finished with an elastomeric binder. Annular discs are punched out of the non-woven, axially pressed and compacted on a roller core to produce the lining. The resulting blank is then turned over and polished.

Most coverings are produced for chemically near-neutral environments (pH 4 – pH 8). However, some non-woven coverings also find use in contact with strong acids and alkalis.

The special advantage of non-woven coverings is the combination of its surface porosity with high wear resistance. Run-in marks from belt edges or cuts disappear again to a great extent. This porosity enables the surface to absorb liquid and suppress aquaplaning, in particular on oily belts.

This ensures belt contact while maintaining the coefficient of friction or squeezing performance.

These properties are used in many applications. The following list of examples refers to the steel industry, though many of these applications are also found in other metal industries:

• Squeeze rollers in degreasing plants (cleaning and rinsing part)
• Squeeze rollers in cooling blocks (“water quenching”) on galvanizing lines
• Squeeze rollers on roll stands or skin pass mills
• Oiling rolls
• S-rolls, deflection rolls
• Driver and brake rolls on slitting and cut-to-length lines
• Feed rolls for cut-to-length and punching lines
• Measuring wheels

Non-woven rollers from FKM are also frequently used in the pressing plants in the automotive industry, where they are used there as squeeze rollers for oil in belt and blank washing machines. A low residual oil quantity and even oil film, often on large widths of over 4 m, are important here.