Multi-variate analysis of frictional interaction between grooved rollers and prepared sugarcane

Abstract

The Australian sugar industry utilizes rolling almost exclusively for extraction of sucrose from prepared sugarcane. The feeding and extraction performance of rolling mills is strongly dependent on the friction coefficient between counter-rotating rolls and the fibro-porous sugarcane blanket. Rolls are circumferentially grooved and roughened with weld droplets to assist juice drainage and maximize friction between rolls and blanket. Previous investigators have performed experimental measurements of the friction coefficient between metal surfaces and prepared cane or bagasse. This article develops a multi-variate empirical regression equation based on the experimental measurements of previous investigators to describe the dependence of the interfacial friction coefficient on normal pressure, groove angle, and relative rubbing speed. The friction coefficient was found to decrease exponentially with increasing normal pressure, decrease linearly with increasing rubbing speed, and increase with decreasing groove angle in accordance with simple wedge theory.