Vulcanization is typically a process reserved for tires. It makes them more durable and more difficult to puncture, which is ideal considering all of the sharp objects that tires roll over on roads and parking lots. However, this process can be applied to just about anything made of rubber, or anything coated in rubber. Conveyor belt vulcanizing is one such example. Here is why you would want to vulcanize a conveyor belt, and how it is done. 

Conveyor Belts Are Akin to Endless Spinning Tires

If you think about it, you would realize that conveyor belts are very much like tires. Even though they are not round, they are constantly spinning, constantly moving, and constantly winding their way around a series of metal, spool-like components. The faster the conveyor belt, the more like tires in speed and function they become. Eventually, they wear out just like tires do. When they wear out, they snap and break, which is similar to tires blowing out on the road. The rubber gives way in one section, and they pop apart and fall away. The difference is, conveyor belts can get jammed up on their own belts and metal rollers when this happens, as opposed to rubber from tires falling off into the road. 

Vulcanizing the Rubber of Conveyor Belts

It makes sense to vulcanize the rubber of conveyor belts. You are making it stronger so that it will last much longer and not become weak and snap. If the belt should ever develop a weak spot, the company that vulcanized it for you can splice it and re-vulcanize it in a way that not only repairs the belt but also makes it stronger than before. You could repeat this many times, thereby continuously using the same conveyor belt until there is no other option left but to replace the belt entirely. 

Vulcanizing the Belt

Vulcanizing treats rubber to a heating and cooling process that pushes the rubber beyond its usual soft, stretchy phase and into a harder, slightly less stretchy material. It is still rubber, and it will still have a slight give to it. However, as a vulcanized product, it will not tear like softer rubber, and it will not rip or stretch too far. That is exactly what you want from a conveyor belt so that it stretches just enough to get over the rollers but not so much that it becomes slack and jams up in places and then cannot convey anything that is set upon it. 

Contact a company like Southeastern Conveyor Services, INC in order to learn more about volcanizing conveyor belts.