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Common Challenges: Material Characteristics

One of the biggest factors in choosing the right conveying system for your product and in the overall design of this equipment is understanding your material’s characteristics. Your product may seem like an easy material to the naked eye but it could be explosive, corrosive, hygroscopic or abrasive. All of these factors will have a significant impact on the equipment your process needs.

Material characteristics:

Flow Characteristics: Is your material sluggish or free-flowing? How the material behaves when it has been conveyed or unloaded is a primary concern when we design your equipment. If your product is sluggish as it is conveyed or it bridges then additional flow aides may be necessary. When we do a materials test we can understand the particular flow characteristics of your product which will help us to recommend the best equipment for your process.

Abrasion: Is your material abrasive? If it is then understanding how abrasive it is will influence what material your conveyor will be made from. When designing your equipment we want to ensure it has a maximum lifespan which we will do by reducing contact points.

Temperature: Temperature can apply to a variety of things such as material temperature, temperature while conveying & the ambient temperature in your facility will all affect how your material behaves as it is processed. This will all have an impact on how the equipment is designed for your process.

Materials Test and Machine Trials

The best way to avoid any future problems caused by your material’s characteristics is to do a materials test followed by machine trials.

At Spiroflow have a test lab where we will conduct testing on your product to analyze the specific characteristics which will help to avoid any future issues and plan which equipment and aides will be necessary for your production. We also have our test facilities are fully equipped with flexible screw, aeromechanical and tubular drag conveyors, as well as bulk bag fillers and bulk bag unloaders, so we can advise without bias on the right type of solution for your particular product, application and layout restraints. Wherever possible, we simulate your site conditions in terms of conveyor length, flow rate and angle of lift. We have a database of product conveying trials logged over forty-five years, taking the guesswork out of assessing flow rates and expected performance. If you are not able to witness a trial, we can send you a video with a full test report and recommendations.

Get In Touch

To book a materials test or to discuss, your materials specific characteristics with an engineer fill in our Contact Us form.

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