Screening glass powders and frit presents a unique and challenging process for screening machines. Elcan has worked with these powders for 25 years and has developed efficient, successful solutions for the entire glass industry.
Blinding is major problem when screening fine glass powders because it first coats and then plugs the screen openings. This blinding then makes inefficient cuts and eventually damages the screen cloth. The density of glass powders is extremely high and conventional screeners do not have the energy needed to prevent this blinding.
Elcan Industries has screening systems that transfer so much energy to the screen surface that the particles never have time to settle and block the hole opening. Instead of vibrating the body of the screening machine, we send unique energies directly into the cloth from underneath. This breaks up agglomerations and stratifies the material across the entire surface as well as keeps the screen clean. For products that are statically bound, we have measures that remove all static from the screening surface.
Glass powders have varying particle shapes that cause particles to not pass through the screen openings. Elcan has developed a series of techniques to deal with the needles and shards that are common particle shapes. We can remove these unwanted particles from the product stream without losing the good product.
Agglomeration of particles can cause the appearance of oversize material that is actually fines bound together. The high energy of our sifters blows agglomerates apart and allows the individual particles to efficiently pass through the mesh opening.
Elcan’s high energy machines are also used in our unique toll processing facility where we handle different types of glass powders every day. The screening technologies that Elcan has helped develop have the capabilities to screen glass powders that others cannot do with ease. We have the ability to screen from sizes as big as 10mm down to sizes as small as 10 micron!
For high value glass powders, our Hi-Sifter is the only machine capable of making 20 micron cuts without any risk of outside contamination. The entire contact area is highly polished stainless steel. The large rectangular Rhewum screeners have the ability to produce tonnage of efficiently cut product.
There is a long track record of success with screening glass powders at Elcan. We have screened over 1 million pounds of at 325 and 500 mesh! Elcan is currently assisting glasspowder producers to remove fines as small as 10 microns. No matter what powdered glass you are producing, it is likely that we have successfully screened it already.
Call today to find out how we can help!
