Have you been searching for sintered iron plates for your Power Take-off? If so, you might be finding yourself plagued with absurd lead times or sub-standard quality. Well, read on, because WPT Power may have what you are looking for.
What are Sintered Iron Plates?
In the world of over-center clutch Power Take-offs (PTOs), sintered iron plates are found in the roughest applications. But what are they?
Sintering is the process of heating compacted metal powder to fuse the particles. This creates stronger, more durable parts. With sintered iron plates, the metal powder is bonded to a gear tooth steel drive plate with a process called sinter bonding.
The Pros of Sintered
The benefits of the sintered iron plates are torque capacity, improved temperature thresholds, excellent heat rejection, and a consistent wear rate.
The Cons of Sintered
The major downside of the sinter plate is the high upfront cost. Prices can be four to five times more than a traditional molded gear tooth friction material. Another drawback is that the steel drive plate increases wear on the drive ring or clutch gear.
Are There Other Options?
Recently, sintered iron plates have been in short supply. Additionally, the ones available may not have been what you are used to in terms of quality and performance. So, this begs the question, are there other options?
The short answer is yes. WPT Power manufactures a heavy-duty, laminated, gear tooth friction disc referred to as HD Laminated.
What are HD Laminated Friction Discs?
HD Laminated frictions discs are made of phenolic treated, aramid fiber, brass wire-injected, composite laminate material. This material is layered and subjected to high pressure and heat to form strong, dense sheets of various thicknesses. You may be more familiar with the wildly popular variation from DuPont™ known as, Kevlar®. These sheets are then machined into gear tooth friction discs for use in WPT clutch assemblies and part replacements.
The Pros of HD Laminated
When compared to sintered iron plates, the biggest benefit of HD Laminated friction material is cost. With prices only twice that of traditional molded materials, they are cost effective choice.
Other benefits include high shear (tooth) strength, consistent torque production, low wear rates, and good fade resistance. Lastly, the laminated friction does not cause as much wear to the drive ring as its sintered counterpart.
This makes HD Laminated a good replacement for most places a sintered iron plate would operate. For example, the WPT HD Laminated discs are used in rock crushers, grinders, whole tree chippers, heavy-duty pumping units, road milling machines, and drilling rigs.
The Cons of HD Laminated
The drawback to HD Laminated, when compared to sintered iron plates, is heat rejection and temperature threshold. Because they are a fiber composite laminate material, they function as a thermal insulator instead of a conductor.
The Importance of Reviewing the Application
The longer explanation to the question, “Are there other options?”, is that it depends on the application specifications. If you contact WPT Power, one of our skilled Sales Engineers can review and determine if these discs are right for you.
However, in our experience, 98 percent of equipment can be covered with a traditional molded or laminated gear tooth product. That is because most applications do not require high thermal resistance. The heavy-duty applications described above see more shock loading than slipping. So, heat generation is kept to a minimum.
When using non-metallic plates, the engagement procedure referred to as “bump starting” reduces thermal loading to the clutch. This allows a heavy, or high inertia, load to be started at low speeds with minimal heat-inducing slippage.
Wrapping it Up
In summary, when looking for replacement sintered iron plates, there may be another, more cost-effective option. So, reach out to WPT Power today to see if we can help with your plate shortage.
Written By: J.D. Bodine, Senior Sales Engineer