The Paper Industry has had many changes over the past decade. Some of the changes include plant closings, buyouts and consolidations. These changes are not only with the Paper Companies but also the vendors associated with the industry.
The types of paper machine designs that are still common to the industry, especially in North America, are Beloit, VOITH, and VALMET. These designs include a variety of components that are maintenance items to the machines.
One area of the paper machine that needs optimum service from the replacement parts are the components of the suction roll. These components include Airload Tubes, Deckles and Seal Strips. The sealing strips have many names including suction roll seal strips, sealing strips, side deckles, packing, seals, silencers or side packing strips.
Sawyer Industrial Plastics, Incorporated was founded in 1978. Since then we have made many changes as well. Now we have four generations of composite graphite materials for our Seal strips to meet every design need as well as every application need for the suction roll.
Even though our competitors claim their material is homogenous, having a material that is the same through out doesn’t always provide a material that performs the best. The rubber graphite or extruded graphite materials are reported by customer to wear fast, sometimes too fast and tend to be more brittle than the composite graphites. The Polytron® products combine different materials together to help solve all the problems associated with the harsh environment of the suction roll.
Our products are designed to be extremely flexible. Even before the competitors flexible materials, such as the METSO FlexSeal ® or the Coldwater ColdFlex ® were introduced, our products combined the balance of flexibility with a low coefficient of friction.
The elastomeric composite properties do not have rubber to act as a brake; rather, the resin binder is mixed with graphite to produce the lowest dynamic coefficient of friction of any material on the market.
We have continued to develop products for the Paper Industry to address the realities of budgets and to solve problems. For each and every suction roll, we have the best product for the application. From compressed graphite to composite graphites, we have it all.
In addition to the Pulp & Paper Industry we have expanded into other markets including the Food Service & Packaging Industry, Construction Industry, Textile Industry, Chemical Industry, the Heating and Air Conditioning Industry and the Friction Industry.
We have representation all over the world. We have Technical Representation all over the United States as well as Canada, Mexico, Chile, Columbia, Brazil, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Austria, India, Turkey, Indonesia, Thailand, South Korea, Sweden, Finland, Germany, Poland and China. Our distribution covers 6 of the worlds 7 continents.
Debbie H. Sawyer, Vice President
Sawyer Industrial Plastics, Incorporated