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There are several things to consider when selecting the right wear material for your system, as incorrect selection can result in premature wear and decreased service life of the wear lining material. Below are the main types and their most common applications.

Soft Rubbers (38 – 40 duro)

These are mainly used for wet abrasion applications where there is a slurry or water is added to the process of the items you’re lining.

Hard Rubbers (60 – 65 duro)

Hard rubbers are used for dry abrasion and higher impact applications such as where rocks enter a system or heavy items are being transported.

Synthetic or Specialty Rubbers

These are generally used for specific applications such as high-temperature or conditions where oil resistance is required. Specialty rubber includes Neoprene, Nitrile, EPDM rubber or Viton to name a few.

Polyurethane

PU is harder wearing than rubber and is used where a stronger wearing material is required. It can be used for wet or dry applications and is slightly more expensive as there is a bit more involved in the lining process. It’s good for high pressure conditions such as suction spools, because of the application process. This is similar to rubber hot curing process so it bonds better to the substrate.

Ceramic

Ceramic lining is one of the highest wearing types of lining next to silicon carbide. It’s a hard ceramic tile, with a high percentage of alumina and is incredibly hard wearing. This also means it’s very brittle and isn’t suited to high impact applications. It’s recommended to only be used where the attack angle of the product is less than 30 degrees otherwise it will wear out and shatter very quickly. There are two types of ceramic lagging:

• Rubber backed ceramics. Where ceramic tiles are embedded into a rubber backing. These are easy to apply and remove when replacement is necessary, and they provide a little bit of impact resistance due to the rubber backing.
• Direct bond ceramics. These give you the best adhesion and are used for high pressure applications such as spools because the bond is so strong. Bear in mind they are difficult to replace because they aren’t easy to strip and they are more expensive as well.

Skirting Rubber

It’s important to note that the wear materials mentioned above aren’t suitable for skirting rubber. This is because they are wear resistant rubber, and if they were used as skirting rubber, they may wear out the conveyor belt.

Skirting rubber is still around 60 duro, but it has a higher clay content and significantly reduced wear properties. This is so that the skirting rubber will wear out before the conveyor belt (which is a lot cheaper to replace).

Hot and Cold Bonding

Another factor to consider is that there are different ways of applying the wear lining material. Both soft and hard rubbers can be applied using hot or cold bonding. Hot bonding is the strongest and involves using an autoclave to directly bond rubber to steel. Cold bonding is the weakest but it’s also cheaper.

We’re Here to Help

If you need any advice, we have industry experts available to help you out. Our knowledge and expertise will provide you with the information you need to work out the best style of lining and adhesion selection as well as how to apply it. We also provide onsite as well as workshop lining.