"In June 2007, SHP decided to test BTG's Duroblade ceramic creping blades. One of the obvious objectives was to reduce the number of blade changes and hence lower the related production loss. We estimated that 30 min of production could be gained daily by reducing the number of blade changes.
The first tests with BTG Duroblade confirmed an estimated increase of B- coefficient (reduced production loss due to blade changes and paper threading) and also showed increased stability of the paper parameters.
The average blade lifetime was 55h, during which 262 tons were produced (mean value).
After introducing ceramic blades in standard production we recorded one exceptionally long lifetime; one blade ran 258 hours in total including one operation stop (first operating interval 136 hours, second operating interval 122 hours).
As the reduction in creping blade changes eased work for the operating personnel, they found a special interest in creating optimal operation conditions for the ceramic blades. Thanks to BTG's technical support this resulted in an average blade lifetime of 73h (meaning an average production of 350t per blade) which is more than satisfying