Idler rolls are an integral part of belt conveyors. Even though idlers have been developed to perform adequately for various installations over the years, selecting the most appropriate one is not that clear. Idlers roll materials, more specifically the replacements of steel idler rolls for polymeric ones, have been a topic of significant interest. However, the use of polymeric material brings other challenges, in particular, presenting similar structural and abrasion resistance to steel. This works proposes 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. Aiming further understanding of materials abrasions resistance, scratching tests were performed, and the main wear mechanisms, verified by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and abrasion factor (fab), were discussed along with the material properties and wear. The main conclusions were that some polymeric materials present abrasion resistance similar to steel rolls. The wear micromechanisms, verified by SEM and fab, are good indicators of abrasion resistance of the materials, but insufficient because they do not include fatigue effects resulting from multi-events and the additive fillers studied significantly altered the abrasive resistance of materials.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.