Leverkusen, Germany -- Dakota Coatings has developed a thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) coating for conveyor belts using Bayer MaterialScience's Desmopan TPUs.
Bayer has been supplying Dakota with the TPUs which, "melt at very low temperatures, making them ideal for application on technical material webs using a powder sintering procedure," explained Jürgen Hättig, head of TPU Business Development at BMS, in an 8 Oct statement.
By compounding BMS' Desmopan TPUs with colours and additives, Nazareth, Belgium-based Dakota has managed to process them into fine powders using a cold grinding procedure.
"We have now developed a product family based on the TPU grades of Bayer MaterialScience that we sell to European conveyor belt manufacturers under the brand name Dakotex," said Arnd Nelde, sales manager for the product family at Dakota Coatings, in the statement.
According to Bayer, the TPU grades supplied to Dakota are free from plasticisers and meet the strict standards which apply to plastics coming into contact with foodstuffs. "This is a key factor because the food industry is a key purchaser of conveyor belts with TPU surfaces," said Hättig.
Bayer said that the TPU coating has high abrasion resistance and low wear, which ensures that the conveyor belts have a good service life.
Dakota is a compounding and cold grinding specialist. The company processes all common thermoplastics, as well as polyurethanes for paste and powder coatings destined for a wide range of textile and industrial applications. ss
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