Wear of conveyor chains with polymer rolls

Roller conveyor chains are common used to transport goods in production lines or assembly lines, such as pallets, cars or steel coils. They are sometimes used in severe environments, soiled with water, foreign particles, chemicals or other contaminants. Normal use will result in wear of the components of the chain which can lead to unexpected failure and costly production downtime. Today, few literature on the wear of conveyor chain is available and there are almost no reliable test-rigs to generate and measure chain wear in a reproducible manner. In this research the different components of conveyor chains and the loading conditions are described. Additionally, the applications and (dis)advantages of chains with polymer rollers are discussed. The chain wear mechanisms found in literature are listed. Abrasive and adhesive wear between pin, bushing, roller and track are discussed. From the contact mechanics of the chain and pressure-velocity limit of the roller materials, the design constraints for the laboratory test-rig were derived. The capabilities and working principles of the developed test-rig are explained in this paper