Friction and Wear Characterization of the Tribosystem Scraper versus Rubber in Conveyor Systems

Rubber conveyor belts are an important part of the transport chain in many industries, ranging from food processing to steel mills. In this context, it is important to employ scrapers, which remove adhering goods from the belts and reduce loss of these resources during transport. The tribological contact between belt and scraper is of high importance as this often is a source of wear and unintended energy consumption. In this work, the interaction between scrapers and belt was investigated by utilizing a pin-on-disk setup with and without abrasive intermedia. A strong dependence of friction and wear on the alignment angle between pin and belt was proven by the investigations. An orthogonal setup caused the highest coefficient of friction, but the lowest wear, while an increasing deviation from the 90° alignment, resulted in an inverse trend. Also, the geometrical shape and size of the abrasive determined wear, as larger, sharper particles enhanced wear. Abrasive particles likewise influence the tribological contact between pin and belt by reducing the friction compared with the 2-body contact.