BEP Surface Technologies Limited
Precision Engineering and Surface Technology
On an Impressive Scale
BEP Surface Technologies possess engineering skills,experience, manufacturing plant and environmentally accredited processes that enable us to create and deliver truly unique engineering products and services that will exceed your expectations.
We design, manufacture and refurbish chill rolls for world leading laminators and cast film producers in the packaging and plastics industries as well as for high quality textured paper manufacturers.
Our ground breaking copper shell chill roll technology offers faster line speeds, 10 times the thermal efficiency of steel rolls, reduced cooling costs, lower energy consumption and premium quality end products.
We also have the capability to undertake chill roll auditing analyses covering surface quality, cooling efficiency, temperature distribution and condition of journals.
SERVICES INCLUDE
- COPPER AND STEEL SHELLED CHILL ROLL DESIGN, MANUFACTURE AND REFURBISHMENT
- SUPERFINISH TECHNOLOGY,TEXTURED AND SPECIALIST FINISHES
- HEAVY DEPOSIT NICKEL AND COPPER ELECTROPLATING
- HIGH SPECIFICATION ELECTROPLATING FOR PRECISION INDUSTRIES
- LARGE CAPACITY MACHINE SHOP SERVICES
- TURNING, GRINDING, POLISHING, GRIT AND SHOT BLASTING
Chill Rolls
Copper shelled chill rolls have the capability to produce more product for the same floor space, use less energy and solve condensate problems.
- Greatly increased Line speeds
- 10 times the thermal efficiency of steel rolls
- Reduced cooling costs
- Lower energy consumption
- Elimination of condensation on roll ends
- Repeatable high quality finishes
High Efficiency Copper Chill Rolls
BEP has more than 250 high performance copper chill rolls in circulation around the globe.
Many of the world’s leading laminators, cast film producers and high quality textured paper manufacturers have chosen to invest in our rolls because they produce higher quality products, at greater speed, using less energy.
In 2002, we observed that our clients were unable to operate their production lines at optimum levels of performance due to the inherent limitations of both steel and aluminium chill rolls. This led us to design our first copper chill roll product.
We are experts at electroforming high quality, seamless copper tubes to any thickness our clients specify. Our unique method of manufacture delivers the best combination of heat transfer and roll rigidity.
With coppers anti - corrosive qualities and high thermal efficiency, our rolls were a natural choice for companies who wished to increase their line speeds, improve their product quality and reduce their operating costs.
An additional unforeseen benefit of selecting copper shelled chill rolls was that our clients became able to reduce their capital expenditure on other components within their manufacturing lines.
BEP’s unique proposition allows us to replace an outer steel shell with a fine grain electroformed copper shell, up to 20mm thickness depending on application, which we then shrink fit over stainless steel guiding spirals welded to an inner core. This provides great strength and enhanced resistance to deformation.
Finishing Technology / Ultra-Finish Mirror Polished Chrome Rolls
Ultra-finish chrome rolls are typically used in the manufacture of plastic film, photographic film, plastic, sheet and glass.
Our in-house techniques, developed over many years, enable us to produce high quality mirror polished chrome plated rolls with surface finishes as fine as Ra 0.005um and with TIR and parallelity close to perfection.
As all the pre-grinding, inspection, chrome plating, degassing, finish grinding and polishing is done in-house, we have total control over the finished product and so guarantee repeatable quality and realistic lead times.
Ultramat Textured Finishes
We can produce a wide range of matt, silk and textured surfaces by shot blasting and electrolytic techniques. Finishes range from fine Ra 0.1um to rough Ra 15um. Generally these finishes are used for producing plastic sheet, photographic paper, laminating and coated steel strip.
Electroplating / Hard Chrome Plating
BEP Surface Technologies provide a high quality service for the precise deposition of hard chromium. We have the facility to hard chrome plate a large range of components from small shafts and bores to large laminating cylinders, cooling rolls, conductor rolls, turbine rotors, pump shafts, calender bowls, and printing rolls etc.
Chromium offers extreme hardness, from 900 to 1150 HV, low co-efficient of friction, excellent resistance to wear and abrasion and is resistant to most chemicals. The coating also retains its hardness after heating to 400°C and resists tarnishing above 300°C.
Our chrome purification plant ensures that our chrome vats deliver optimum performance at all times. This ensures the chrome solutions are always as new, resulting in superior chrome quality.
Nickel plating. Heavy nickel deposits enable the reclamation of damaged, worn or incorrectly machined engineering components and impart chemical and high temperature resistance.
Nickel also forms an excellent seating for static fit bearings and eliminates fret corrosion while offering better performance than the original steel. It may be used as a corrosion barrier beneath hard chrome deposits on components such as laminator cooling rolls, conductor rolls and duct rolls to prevent attack on the base materials through the micro-porous structure of the chromium. BEP can also nickel plate rolls with a softer more ductile grade specifically formulated for the machine engraving industry. After engraving and chrome plating these rolls are often used to apply chemically aggressive coatings onto packaging film.
All our nickel deposits can be turned and ground to customer specifications in our well equipped machine shop.
Copper Plating
We have continued to develop our copper plating process techniques since 1970, designing and building our own equipment while striving for optimum performance and quality. Today we boast extensive facilities for copper plating rolls of all sizes, from very large chill rolls and conductor rolls to large volume work for the printing industry. The copper produced in our vats is fine-grained and highly ductile. We use it to deposit thicknesses from a few microns to in excess of 20mm.
Although copper is relatively corrosion resistant it is subject to rapid tarnishing and staining if exposed to the atmosphere. Consequently, electro-deposited copper is rarely used unprotected and is normally overlaid with chrome or nickel.
Our manufacturing centre has the capability to machine and polish copper rollers down to very fine limits and to apply various textures prior to chrome plating.
Turning and Grinding / Turning and Precision Cylindrical Grinding
The turning and grinding all kinds of large diameter, heavy rolls, cylinders and shafts to very fine tolerances is a speciality at BEP. Our grinding machinery can handle steel mill rolls and large chill rolls up to 10 tonnes in weight.
We can also diamond turn and polish copper surfaces on rolls up to 1100mm diameter. In addition to the usual finishes on steel and cast and chilled irons, we can grind copper, chrome, nickel and even rubber. Diamond grinding of plasma sprayed coatings such as tungsten carbide and ceramics can also be undertaken.
Acid Cleaning
Users of cooling and heating rolls may experience problems with roll waterways becoming furred up with either lime scale or rust. Providing the waterways are not completely blocked and the rust has not corroded through the shell we can usually clean them out.
The process involves pumping a temperature controlled cleaning solution, specially developed by BEP, through the waterways to dissolve the lime scale and rust, thus restoring the rollers to their original thermal efficiency.
After cleaning any residual acidity is neutralised and the roll is thoroughly washed out with water and flushed with a rust inhibitor.
All the residual chemicals from the cleaning process pass through our effluent treatment plant before final discharge to sewer.
Degassing
Heated chrome rolls used in the plastics industry normally require heat treatment to remove occluded hydrogen from the chrome deposit. If this is incorrectly managed the hydrogen can percolate out of the chrome and cause defects in the form of tiny bubbles in the plastic sheet or film.
To save customers wasting production time pre-heating the rollers in their machines prior to use we can treat rolls in a specially constructed temperature controlled oven. We heat the rolls to a precisely controlled thermal ramp and record the temperature profile data. During the heat treatment process the rolls are hung vertically to eliminate any risk of distortion.