Customized doctor blades

Doctor, coater and creping blades tailored precisely to the paper machine improve paper quality and reduce downtimes. This is why the development and manufacture of customer-specific blade technology is a top priority at Voith's Theresienfeld facility. As a leading supplier in the paper industry, Voith also offers its customers an integrated system solution comprising doctor blades, rolls and roll covers.

Since October 2016 Voith has been combining the entire development and production of doctor blades through the expansion of its facility in Theresienfeld, Austria. This is where Voith specialists produce doctor, coater and creping blades, i.e. all the standard types of blade used in paper manufacturing.

The close integration of all relevant production areas facilitates the ongoing development and improvement of the technology. Voith's core areas of expertise include composite materials like glass or carbon fibers for doctor blades and the thermal coating for various types of blade. Using specially developed resin mixtures the products are matched to the respective application, so the customer benefits from high cleaning efficiency and a long operating life.

Voith develops and tests its products under realistic production conditions on state-of-the-art test rigs. The aim is to develop the ideal blade for each application. In this context Voith can draw on its longstanding experience in roll covers and plant construction.

The SkySoft creping blade is one of the latest developments to come out of Theresienfeld. It features a ceramic tip that is particularly wear-resistant and ensures a long operating life. SkySoft can be produced with any tip angle to meet all requirements. Thanks to the fully automated production process, SkySoft guarantees consistent tissue quality, because the angle of the blades is tailored exactly to customer specifications. Using cutting-edge robot technology, the blade tip optimized to the application is produced with high precision. Due to the combination of coating technology and perfect blade geometry, the productivity of the customer's machine increases and paper quality is improved.

What is special about this approach is that Voith produces the doctor blades as well as the rolls and roll covers. "This is unparalleled," stresses Franz Michael Pürzl, Director Doctor Blades Global. Because instead of just focusing on the development of individual covers, coatings and blade materials, Voith can expedite the optimization of all components. The systematic matching of all products to one another enables an improvement in performance that none of the individual products could achieve alone.

Voith customers can also count on the expertise of the Theresienfeld team in the field. The service team analyzes the specific blade situation on site. The results obtained are used to identify problems on the doctoring installations and remove them effectively. But the work of the Voith Service team is not limited to doctor systems and roll covers. The team takes account of everything that influences doctoring efficiency, such as vibrations, roll geometry and other factors, as well as the interaction of roll, roll cover or doctor blade. In addition to the findings obtained on site at customer premises, a laboratory test may also be conducted. The data it produces then form the basis for a customer-specific optimization of blades and cutters.