Cutting Blade Wear
Simulating Tooling Wear Caused by Absorbent Biodegradable Fillers
Situation:
A manufacturer of absorbent biodegradable filler materials wanted to demonstrate that their filler caused less tooling wear compared to competitive products. As a supplier to manufacturers of disposable diapers, thermoplastics and paper, the customer had hoped to scientifically quantify the abrasiveness of their filler options compared to other choices.
Analysis:
The initial approach was to use Taber's Multi-Media Abraser. However after a series of tests, it was determined that the particulate size of the filler material was too large and abrasiveness of the filler material could not be compared. An alternative option was to generate three-body abrasion utilizing the Grit Feeder Attachment in conjunction with the Taber® Rotary Abraser (Abrader) . This test involves the destructive action of fine hard particles passing between a pair of leather clad wheels and a substrate. The resulting rolling action of the particles contributes to the measurable breakdown of the substrate materials. For this application, the biodegradable fillers were of an acceptable particle size to be used as an abradant with the Grit Feeder Attachment.
Each filler was placed into the dispensing hopper of the Grit Feeder Attachment and tested against standardized zinc (S-34) and steel (S-16) specimen plates. After a specified number of cycles, the testing was stopped and weight loss of the specimen plate was measured. Analysis of the results showed significant differences in weight loss on both the steel and zinc plates for the various filler materials. Using this information it was easy to rank the performance (aggressiveness) of the filler materials and show which materials may be most conducive to the reduction of cutting blade wear.
Benefit:
Use of the Taber® Industries Rotary Abraser and Grit Feeder Attachment allowed the customer to rank the abrasiveness of their biodegradeable filler material, and estimate maintenance costs associated with cutting blade (tooling) wear. The information also could be used as a benchmark to refine product formulations and reduce abrasiveness.
