Abrasive wear resistance of idler roll polymeric materials

Abstract Idler rolls are an integral part of belt conveyors. Recently, steel idler rolls have been replaced with polymeric ones in low to middle load applications, bringing several advantages due to the polymer’s lightweight and low abrasiveness in the conveyor belt. However, using polymeric material for high load application brings challenges, particularly presenting similar structural and abrasion resistance to steel. This work puts forwards a methodology using a rubber-wheel tribometer to evaluate the abrasion resistance of polymeric idler rolls in their most severe operating condition (halted idler roll) and defines a threshold limit based on the results obtained with steel idler rolls. The methodology was applied to 07 different polymeric materials. To further understand materials abrasions resistance, scratching tests were performed, and the main wear mechanisms, verified by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and abrasion factor (F AB ), were discussed along with the material properties. The main conclusions are: i) some polymeric materials present abrasion resistance similar to steel rolls; ii) the wear micromechanisms, verified by SEM and F AB , are good indicators of abrasion resistance of the materials but insufficient because they do not include temperature and fatigue effects resulting from multi abrasive events; iii) the additive fillers significantly altered the abrasive resistance of materials, although they do not change the material properties significantly.