At ITMA, visitors to the Richard Hough stand were able to view the new Simtex calender roll, with its ‘amazing’ properties and performance, proven in rigorous tests.
“We are confident that Simtex will be a game-changer in textile calendaring. It offers amazing standards of finish quality, temperature range and durability. Simtex outperforms all the alternatives, combining the benefits of cotton and polymer rolls, without the drawbacks” says Mr. Anthony Ashton, Managing Director of Richard Hough Ltd.
Ahead of the show, Richard Hough was ready to support its claims with hard evidence, detailing some of the key properties of Simtex versus conventional products. The roll’s exact composition is not yet being disclosed, but it uses a combination of high-tech synthetic fibres as the basis for its exceptional heat resistance and durability. The fibres are oriented to coincide with the direction of material to be calendered, for maximum strength and smoothness.
This unique configuration gives Simtex rolls heat resistance of up to 300°C, as well as excellent gloss creation and smoothness, created by microslip friction at the surface. Elasticity is the key to this, measured by Poisson’s ratio of compressibility. Steel, for example has a Poisson’s ratio of 0.3 (incompressible). A typical polymer roll cover would measure at 0.3-0.35, also incompressible. Simtex offers much greater elasticity, at 0.2, matching the figure of 0.17 for cotton rolls, but with an incomparable advantage in heat-resistance.
The lack of compressibility means polymer rolls cannot deform to cope with uneven loading, so they can easily be damaged by debris or folds in fabric. Variations of only 4% it total nip pressure are enough to cause roll failure.
“There are many other factors which Simtex users will appreciate, including good resistance to marking and abrasion resistance and the durability to withstand repeated re-machining. We are delighted to explain all these advantages to customers visiting us at ITMA,” says Mr. Ashton.