Correlation of rubber based conveyor belt properties and abrasive wear rates under 2- and 3-body conditions

Predicting the lifetime of a conveyor belt from lab-scale tests has become increasingly important, as the cost for the belt represents up to 70% of the acquisition and maintenance costs of a transport system. In practice, belt selection relies strongly on the well-established ISO 4649 abrasion test, where fixed corundum paper is utilised as the abrasive medium, resulting in 2-body abrasion. In the present article, this is compared to the ASTM G65 test with rolling, round abrasive particles, leading to 3-body abrasion. To evaluate the lab-scale results, they were compared to a conveyor belt that had been used to transport sintered charge for eight years. The comparability and reproducibility of wear patterns encountered on this particular belt was matched with the lab test and then correlated with mechanical properties of the rubber materials. It was found that the ISO 4649 tests, where abrasive wear is dominant, rarely reflect wear patterns and wear mechanisms occurring in real applications. In contrast, the ASTM G65 3-body abrasion test entails fatigue dominated wear, which is found in real applications. The ISO 4649 test results showed a strong dependence on tensile strength and Shore A hardness, while tear strength was the most influential factor for the ASTM G65 test.