BELT WITH VARIABLE GROOVES

摘要

A belt (16) for use in a papermaking process, such as in a long nip press having a cylindrical press roller (12) and an arcuate pressure shoe (14) which define a nip (10). The belt has a nip load zone (36) which passes through the nip during an operation. The belt comprises a substrate (28) having a coating (34) on at least one surface thereof The substrate is in the form of an endless loop and has a longitudinal or machine direction. The coating has a plurality of grooves (42, 44) running in the machine direction, wherein grooves (44) in a center portion (64) of the nip load zone have at least one of a depth, width, cross-sectional shape, or spacing which is different from that of grooves (42) in outer portions (62) of the nip load zone so as to vary the void volume of the nipe load zone in a cross-machine direction in a desired manner.