The Infra-red Heating Specialists
Tel/Fax +44 (0)1159 37 27 27		Email  enquiries@heatinfrared.co.uk

 

Rapid Forced Curing of Rubber, Silicone and Latex

 

Rubber products such as reinforced hoses require a temperature of around 160°C for a full cure to be achieved. For many years traditional hot air ovens have been used to cure rubber components in batch production but this process is relatively inefficient and results in lengthy curing times. The use of electric infra-red heating allows rubber to be force cured in as little as a few minutes.  The working flexibility of an existing oven can be enhanced, or in some cases the oven completely replaced, efficiency can be greatly improved and increased customer orders can be met.

Infra-red Curing

Infra-red radiant heating represents a clean energy rubber curing technique.  The radiant transfer of energy heats the rubber directly without the need to warm up large volumes of air.

The infra-red equipment is an ‘open’ design but the absence of hot air means that the temperature of the factory is not greatly effected.  The simple construction and absence of many moving parts and combustion products give reliability and longevity.

Benefits

The main benefit of using infra-red is that curing times are greatly reduced so output capacity can be boosted

There are also many other benefits:

·         The response time (heat-up time) of the infra-red elements is very fast by comparison to hot air systems.

·         In conveyorised systems, the heaters can be automatically controlled from product sensors or 'magic eyes'.

·         The system can simply be added to in order for future requirements to be met.

·         Energy can be saved by switching the infra-red elements off during even short production breaks.

Exact performance gains depend on the particular application but, based on projects carried out at East Midlands Electricity, reductions in curing times of up to 60% can be expected.

information reproduced by permission of East Midlands Electricity