UV-Curable Acrylic Edge Seals for Fiber Web Machine Clothing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing fiber web machine clothing edge seals, particularly in paper making machines, suffer from wear and tear due to high machine speeds, and current sealants like silicone rubber and polyurethane have poor adhesion to yarns and provide inadequate guiding characteristics, leading to potential guiding problems and increased cleaning efforts.
Innovation Solution
A fiber web machine clothing with edge seals using a UV-curable acrylic material that adheres well to the base fabric yarns, providing immediate non-tacky polymerization and improved guiding characteristics, with impermeable beads filling the interstices to stabilize the yarns and protect against wear.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of time
If silicone rubber material is used as sealant, then the material can be cured by ultraviolet radiation to become tack-free quickly, but the adhesion to yarns is relatively poor resulting in small pull-out loads
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the material parameters by using a two-component polyurethane system with isocyanate and hydroxyl-functional polymers instead of silicone rubber, while maintaining UV curability through photoinitiators. This parameter change achieves both adequate adhesion strength and UV curability without excessive tackiness.
Solution Approach 2:
The sealant is formulated as a composite material combining polyurethane polymers with UV photoinitiators and reactive diluents. This composite approach allows the material to exhibit both good adhesion properties of polyurethane and UV curability, resolving the contradiction between curing speed and adhesion strength.
2Strength
If two-component polyurethane material is used as sealant, then the adhesion to yarns is improved, but the material requires between twenty minutes and twenty hours to dry completely and cleaning efforts are high
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the conventional air-drying or heat-drying process with UV photopolymerization. The photoinitiators absorb UV radiation and trigger rapid polymerization, substituting the slow evaporative or thermal drying process with a light-induced chemical reaction that completes in seconds rather than hours.
Solution Approach 2:
The sealant undergoes a phase transition from liquid to solid through UV-induced photopolymerization. The photoinitiators catalyze the conversion of monomeric/oligomeric liquid components into a crosslinked solid network, achieving rapid setting without extended drying time.
3Loss of time
If silicone rubber material is used as sealant, then the curing speed is improved, but the guiding characteristics of the clothing are inadequate leading to guiding problems
Solution Approach 1:
The patent modifies the material parameters by selecting polyurethane polymers with specific molecular weights, functional groups, and flexibility characteristics that provide optimal guiding performance. The balance between rigidity and flexibility is tuned to prevent clothing misalignment while maintaining UV curability.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The acrylic material ensures strong adhesion to yarns, reduces wear and tear, and enhances guiding performance, while maintaining a non-tacky condition immediately after application, thus extending the clothing's lifespan and reducing cleaning efforts.
Implementation Method 1
a U.V. curable sealant which comprises or consists of an acrylic material... curing the U.V. curable sealant by using irradiation from a U.V. source
Data Source
Figure 1
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AI summary
The invention concerns a fiber web machine clothing (10) adapted to run as a continuous loop in a fiber web machine while carrying a fiber web through at least a portion of said machine, the clothing (10) comprising a permeable base fabric (12) which is substantially made up from yarns (14, 16), wherein the base fabric has a fiber web carrying surface and an opposite running surface, as well as two opposite lateral edges (18), wherein the clothing (10) further comprises a pair of continuous edge sealing strips (20) formed along the lateral edges (18) of the base fabric (12), said strips (20) comprising a U.V. curable sealant adhered to each edge portion, the U.V. curable sealant forming a coating comprising a continuous and uniform, impermeable bead over said fiber web carrying surface and the running surface, said bead extending through interstices of the base fabric (12) thereby stabilizing the yarns (14, 16) in the edge portions of the base fabric (12) and protecting the edge portions from wear, wherein the U.V. curable sealant comprises or consists of an acrylic material. Furthermore, the invention a manufacturing process for such a fiber web machine clothing (10).