Industrial Plastic Friction Washer Suppliers

A plastic friction washer (also called a high-speed friction cleaner or turbo washer) operates by passing wet plastic flakes through a horizontal or vertical cylindrical chamber in which a high-speed rotor (typically 600–1,200 rpm) creates intense mechanical agitation against the flake surfaces and against a stationary perforated screen or liner. The combination of high tangential velocity, flake-to-flake abrasion, and washing water circulation scrubs loose soil, sand, labels, surface coatings, and light organic contamination from the flake surface. Cleaned flake is discharged through the screen openings at the chamber periphery while water and fine contaminants exit through drain ports. A single friction washer stage is effective for clean to moderately contaminated film and rigid plastic. For heavily contaminated material (greasy food containers, municipal collection waste), multiple friction washer stages or a hot wash stage between friction washers is needed to achieve output quality targets. Friction washers are not effective for removing dissolved or embedded contamination — hot wash systems are required for that.

Friction washers are sized by throughput (kg/hour of plastic processed) and rotor diameter. Common rotor diameters range from 400mm (small-scale, approximately 300–600 kg/hour) to 800mm (large-scale, approximately 1,500–3,000 kg/hour). Multiple friction washers are often installed in series to provide additional washing intensity. Key specifications to confirm: rotor diameter and speed; screen or liner aperture size (affects washing intensity and throughput); material of rotor and liner (stainless steel, hardened steel, or polyurethane-lined for specific applications); motor power; water inlet and outlet connection sizes; and the input flake size range the machine is designed to handle. Confirm that the friction washer's flake size inlet is compatible with the output of your crusher or granulator upstream.