Method and apparatus for processing elastomer composite
AssigneeCabot Corporation
InventorsRon Grosz, Lawrence R. Gooch
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method and configuration for automated operation of a two-roll mill. Also provided is a method for continuous or semi-continuous operation of a two-roll mill.
Claims27
A continuous method of processing elastomer composite through a two-roll mill, the two-roll mill having an input region and an output region axially spaced from one another along a first of the two rolls, the method comprising:
- admitting discrete pieces of elastomer composite to the two-roll mill at the input region;
- adjusting one or more of a nip gap width, friction ratio, surface velocity, and coolant temperature of the roll mill such that A) a band of elastomer composite on the roll mill has a plurality of voids through which the surface of the first roll is exposed, and B) elastomer composite precesses downstream from the input region to the output region as a result of the action of the mill;
- and
- discharging elastomer composite masticated by the two-roll mill from a predetermined axial position on the first mill as a coherent output strip;
- wherein, either A) discharging is performed simulataneously with admitting, and, during discharging, any elastomer composite removed from the two-roll mill is removed continuously, or B) at least 90% of the elastomer composite removed from the two roll mill is removed continuously as a coherent strip, or both.
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21-35. (canceled)
In a two-roll mill for processing viscoelastic material, the two-roll mill comprising first and second parallel rolls having a nip therebetween, the nip having a vertical dimension v defined by the distance from a center plane of the two-roll mill to a tangent plane of the two-roll mill, the nip further having a first horizontal dimension h defined by the distance between the rolls on the center plane and a second horizontal dimension defined by the distance the first and second rolls on the tangent plane, the improvement comprising:
- the two-roll mill further comprises a bank guard having first and second concave edges defining a protruding portion therebetween, the protruding portion having an edge, wherein the first and second concave portions are configured such that the first concave edge is disposed from about 3h to about 5h from a portion of the surface of the first roll disposed within the nip and the second concave edge is disposed a distance of about 3 to about 15 mm from a portion of the surface of the second roll disposed within the nip, and wherein the protruding portion extends into the nip towards the center plane to allow, during operation of the roll mill, advancement of viscoelastic material disposed between the center plane and the edge of the protruding portion past the bank guard.
37-38. (canceled)
An apparatus for starting a strip of resilient material for removal from a band of the resilient material disposed on a first of two rolls of a two-roll mill or a calendaring mill, the apparatus comprising:
- a starter blade;
- an actuator that advances and retracts the starter blade;
- and
- a conveyor for receiving the strip of elastomer material and conducting the resilient material away from the first roll.
40-44. (canceled)
A method of starting a strip of resilient material for removal from a band of the resilient material on a first of two rolls of a two-roll mill or a calendaring mill, the method comprising:
- making two parallel cuts in the band, thereby defining two spaced channels in the band;
- actuating a starter blade against a surface of the first roll between the two spaced channels, thereby making an axial cut in the band of resilient material and starting a strip;
- directing the strip of resilient material to a conveyor disposed at a predetermined distance from the starter blade;
- and
- continuously conveying resilient material away from the band via the strip.
46-51. (canceled)
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.