Using Urethane Coatings For Material Handling Equipment

Whether it’s for construction and highway material processing, plants, quarries, or mines for concrete batching, extreme wear can be experienced by material handling equipment for sand, gravel, aggregate, stone, and rock. Skirting, belt cleaners, dump cones, turn-heads, hoppers, drums, chutes, pins, batchers, and other handling equipment – because it comes into contact with numerous course materials – can experience severe wear. Excessive abrasion occurs in “hotspots”. Increasing wear resistance has become more important than ever before.

What, precisely, is the problem? Why is this type of equipment so prone to wear? After all, rubber or steel protective liners are traditionally used for increasing wear resistance. Unfortunately, these may not be sufficient to protect against abrasion.

Is there a way to increase the overall wear resistance of bulk material handling equipment?

Abrasion And Wear Cause Problems

Why is abrasion and wear such a problem when it comes to bulk material handling equipment? When this type of equipment begins to wear out, gaps and holes can result, causing the risk of spillage. That can be costly, along with the downtime required for cleanup and repair. What can be done?

To provide better wear resistance than the previously mentioned steel or rubber options, a urethane sheet can be used. Urethanes are dependable and cost affective elastomers that combine the advantages of plastics, ceramics, and high-tech metals performance. Additionally, they are rubber-like in their level of resistance.

Urethane – the Perfect Wear Resistance Solution

Though as resistant as rubber, urethane offers significantly less friction. Between batches, this helps improve the cleaning ability of equipment. That, in turn, leads to productivity enhancement. Urethanes also help reduce wear in contact with sand, aggregate, and of the rough materials.

But wait! There’s more to this incredible liner. With embedded ceramic tiles, it can be made even more durable. Ceramic embedded urethane is used on turn heads, discharge chutes, feed chutes, etc., for its highly effective control against extreme wear.

To fit the shapes and contours of high contact areas, urethane can be cut from full sheets. That means, wherever extreme wear protection is required, it can be easily bolted or welded to provide just that. While on-site, these liners can be cut, fitted, and installed.

But to simplify installation, increase reliability, and reduce production downtime even further, to fit more complex configurations, custom liners can be made.

Bulk Material Handling Applications For Urethane Elastomers

Urethane elastomers’ outstanding abrasion resistance has led to numerous applications where bulk material handling equipment is concerned. Compared to rubber or steel, urethane formulations can last much, much longer. This is particularly useful when severe wear is a problem, such as concrete ready-mix facilities, and other plants that handle bulk materials. This longer-lasting protection reduces change out labor, replacement costs, and production downtime.

Where impact, sliding, and abrasion occur regularly, urethane coatings are used successfully to protect equipment. In batch plant applications, for example, this can include conveyor lines, hoppers, bins, chutes, drums, etc.

Another desirable characteristic of urethane is that, because different thicknesses are required for different applications, it can be made to the desired thickness. For instance, lasting 5 to 10 years, a 1-inch thick liner is used on wet batch mix drums.

Increasing Wear Resistance: Who Can You Turn to for Urethane Coatings?

A&A Coatings offers urethane protective coatings as well as other coatings for various purposes. Our technicians are well-versed in the latest, most high-tech coatings and thermal spray methods. Imagine being able to reduce downtime, costly repairs, maintenance costs, and more – thereby improving your bottom line – all from a simple coating.