Ticomp MD Industrial Kettle Scrapers for High-Temperature Food Processing. Extending component life while providing metal and visual detection
A leading international food manufacturer was experiencing premature degradation of acetal kettle scrapers used in a high-temperature food-processing application.
The operating environment exposed a limitation of the existing material, with the acetal degrading through hydrolysis as temperatures reached up to, and sometimes beyond, 180°C.
The replacement material needed to provide a combination of
- High wear resistance
- Hydrolysis resistance
- High-temperature performance
- Food-contact suitability
- Metal detectability
- Blue visual detectability
The challenge
Although a metal-detectable blue acetal was available, it was sourced from Europe with long lead times and minimum order quantities. This made obtaining material for an initial trial difficult and expensive.
Rather than requiring the customer to commit to a large production quantity before the material could be evaluated, Dotmar developed an alternative approach.
The Dotmar solution
Dotmar identified Ticomp MD as a potential alternative and used its in-house material manufacturing capability to produce a small quantity of the material in sheet form.
The sheet was then machined into the initial kettle scraper components, allowing the customer to trial the material in the actual application before committing to a full production batch.
The result
The Ticomp MD scrapers extended component service life while providing additional foreign-material detection benefits through their metal-detectable and blue visually detectable formulation.
The initial trial components remained in service at the time of writing, so their ultimate service life had not yet been established. However, the results were sufficiently positive for the customer to order a full replacement batch of scrapers.
The customer subsequently requested trials of Ticomp MD in other applications, including belt scrapers.
Engineering insight
This application demonstrates the importance of selecting materials based on the complete operating environment, rather than a single material property.
Temperature, hydrolysis, wear, food-contact requirements and contamination detection all needed to be considered together.
Understanding the application and the cause of material failure can lead to a better solution than simply replacing one material with another.
Need help with a challenging application?
Dotmar can assist with material selection, prototype components and application trials to help identify the right engineering plastic solution for demanding operating environments.
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