SITUATION/APPLICATION
The food industry is a dynamic and fast paced business. Belts and associated equipment for food processing are required to have food contact approved materials for use with any kind of food product or process. They must also be highly resistant to animal fats, vegetable and mineral oils, as well as many chemicals and be capable of handling clean-in-place wash-down procedures. Modern production lines for sausage processing move at extremely high speed grip to endure this demanding environment. Additionally, materials must meet all the food grade requirements of the locality where it is used.

THE PROBLEM
The Megadyne OEM team worked with a manufacturer of sausage processing machinery to solve their problem of short belt life. The application suffered frequent belt breakage and delamination due to the severe environment where the belt was exposed to material degrading animal fats and high pressure periodic wash-down maintenance of the equipment.