INVESTIGATIONS ON THE USE OF SOFT MATERIAL FOR ROBOT GRIPPER IN THE APPLICATION OF PAPER COIL HANDLING

摘要

The pick up and place procedure is one of the essential tasks for handling and transporting the paper coils during diverse cycles of operation in paper industries. The metallic grippers are widely used in several industries for material handling and process automation. The aim of this research is to develop a new approach to handle the soft rolled coils without affecting the orientation of the material. Silicone grades 20,40, 60 and 80 are selected and the blended polymers of silicone 20/80 and silicone 40/60 grades are synthesized through two roll millings followed by compression molding. The dumb bell samples are prepared as per ASTM D412 standard and uniaxial tensile testing is conducted in Inston machine. The strain-stress data at the strain rate of 250 mm/minute are recorded and the tensile strength of the blended polymers is measured. The results were reasonably good and suggested that the silicone soft gripper system with an acceptable accuracy can be recommended for handling paper coil without any deformations and unwanted marks during handling.