Drum Unloader Coating

As a producer of sealing compounds, adhesives and materials for underbody protection, extensive cleaning of manufacturing facilities is a daily problem for the company Henkel Teroson GmbH in Heidelberg.

The extremely sticky and pasty materials are pressed out of drums with the aid of drum follower plates and then conveyed to the extruders, where the materials are further processed. Whenever the material to be processed is changed, the follower plate must be cleaned to remove all traces of the old material and prevent impurities in the system. This complex and time consuming procedure should be optimized with a suitable coating system that achieves an extensive operational lifetime, even under such severe operating conditions.

Initial trials with one of our PlasmaCoat coating systems have exceeded customer expectations in regard to non-stick properties. The follower plate remained absolutely clean during production. However, this posed a new hurdle. Production residue that can no longer be conveyed by the drum follower plate now sticks to the plate. When the follower plate is removed from the drum, the drum is completely empty and production residue can be removed from the follower plate. Due to the non-stick feature, the production residue remains in the drum and can not be emptied. With the aid of another PlasmaCoat coating system the non-stick properties could be improved, allowing the drum to be completely emptied. Any residue left in the drum can be easily removed with the follower plate.

Mr. Klaus Hohlweck, manufacturing engineer responsible for the system, offers praise: “The effort required to clean the system has been greatly reduced, resulting in substantial savings in time and expense. The operating personnel particularly benefited by being relieved of an unpleasant chore.”

Encouraged by the positive results, Henkel Teroson has had additional system components (such as the hopper) coated.