While industrial rollers are primarily used to facilitate the movement of various machine components, they can also be used to provide support and transport for materials moving through the machine.

These rollers are used in industries such as wood processing, newspaper and printing industries, plastics manufacturing, medical equipment and material handling (conveying systems). Whatever your application, finding the right roller manufacturer that specializes in the type of roller you're looking for, whether it's an impact roller or a polyurethane roller, is the difference between a good product and a great one.

The various types of industrial rollers include drive rollers, guide rollers and transport rollers, of which transport rollers are probably the most common. Industrial rollers can be manufactured by a molding or casting process, and in some cases, even by an extrusion process. However, solid rubber industrial rollers are most commonly made by injection and compression molding processes.

In injection molding, the rubber is heated and then injected into the cavity of a closed split mold or die, which is then cooled to form the roller. In compression molding, the rubber is heated and then placed in a heated mold under extreme pressure to achieve the shape of the roll. In extrusion, industrial rolls are formed by heating the rubber and then squeezing the molten rubber through a die with a pin in the center that is used to form the hollow inside the roll.

For industrial rolls having a metal core, the core is typically formed by a metal working process such as metal stamping. Metal stamping is similar to the extrusion process, using the same type of die with pins to form the metal core from the inserted metal material. The top of the die is attached to the press ram, while the bottom is attached to the press. The punch, also called a plunger, then applies pressure to force the metal to be squeezed through the die, thus forming the roll. A rubber-to-metal bonding process is then used to form a rubber sheath over the metal core. In this process, the rubber adheres to the metal substrate through the use of an adhesive.