Swipe to the right

How Rubber Sheeting Rescued Bakeries from a Sticky Situation

By Hygenic 8 years ago 11358 Views No comments

03-07-2016

In many manufacturing industries, there are problems that arise between the interaction of the product being made and the machinery being used. A prime example of this appears in the baking industry where many bakeries can experience problems with dough getting tacky and sticking to the machinery during the automated cutting processes.

It begins with the dough being cut into cookies. The dough is rolled out on a belt and is then cut into individual shapes or pieces. It’s during this cutting process that the dough can sometimes get stuck to the cutter. If that happens, it can decrease the efficiency of the manufacturing process because time will be needed to correct the issue. Or it will increase the amount of scrap due to proper specifications not being met.

To keep their production line efficient, the bakeries needed to find a solution that would keep the dough from sticking to the cutter without compromising their recipes. The bakeries needed a material that had good tear resistance and elongation properties so the cutter wouldn’t break through the material too quickly but still wouldn’t stick to the dough. The final requirement was it had to be very thin so it didn’t affect the size of the cookies. The solution was a sheet of natural rubber latex manufactured by The Hygenic Corporation that they could wrap around the cutter that would keep the dough from sticking.

Over 35 years ago, the bakeries started ordering HYTONE® Natural Rubber Latex Sheeting, which met all of these requirements, including the fact that it could be produced at up to 42 inches wide. This was an important consideration because the bakeries needed to make sure the sheeting was wide enough to fit over their various-sized cutters.

Here are some typical physical properties of HYTONE Natural Rubber Latex Sheeting from Hygenic that made it ideal for the bakeries:

Tensile Strength

4,000 psi

Ultimate Elongation

750%

Tear Resistance

260 pli

100% Modulus

120 psi

300% Modulus

260 psi

500% Modulus

500 psi

Density

0.98 gm/cm3

Max. Continuous Use Temp.

250° F

Durometer

35-45 Shore A