Improvement of Slippage and Wrinkling of Transporting Webs Using Micro-Grooved Rollers

We describe an entirely new method of improving the slippage between web and roller. First, the concept of a micro-grooved roller is introduced, and then a theoretical model for estimating the slip onset velocity under the transport of web by the micro-grooved roller is formulated. The predicted results are compared with the experimental data to verify the applicability of the prediction model of slippage. Moreover, the web-wrinkling condition, which is in a trade-off relationship with the slippage condition, is also considered in the model. From the theoretical and experimental results, it is confirmed that the optimized micro-grooved roller is very effective in improving the slippage and wrinkling of thin web under the high-speed transport with low tension at the actual production line.