Analysis of defects in carcass of rubber–textile conveyor belts using metrotomography

Rubber–textile construction of conveyor belts is widely used in various continuous transport systems. Due to the fact that complex carcass is vulcanised, its observation and analysis are very difficult to perform. The methods used so far have been based on its violent extracting, often accompanied with the formation and existence of defects. Such an analysis does not allow distinguishing between defects caused by operation of the belt or defects caused by the process of extracting itself. This paper aims to verify a new approach to examining the inner carcass of rubber–textile conveyor belts with a focus on the possibility to obtain information about its condition. This has not been possible with the methods used so far. The main focus is on the measurement of distance between the individual fibres in the warp and weft of the carcass, and simple size analysis of the identified defects. Presented results prove that the method of industrial tomography clearly identifies the defects in the conveyor belt carcass. The method enables the identification of single fibres, punctures and separation of individual layers.