Mining Equipment Image by Tobias Mandt.

Look at the image above. Consider the influence and importance of friction products here. Looking at images like these can make the importance of friction products to industry and to other economic sectors easily apparent. Let’s start with the most visible, obvious examples. Take a look at the orange-colored materials being deposited by the equipment. It’s very likely that the conveyor system visible in this picture is controlled by a system that includes friction products as part of emergency stop mechanisms. Friction products are also likely to be included in the crane and winch mechanisms on other parts of the machinery. And if you look at the treads of the machine (they are the belts around the wheels that allow the machine to move), they are likely to be fitted with friction products that prevent unwanted motion.

Now consider what you don’t see in this image. Whatever materials that are being mined in this picture have to be transported to their destinations, and friction products play an immense role in that process of transportation. Look at the tiny vehicle that is visible beneath the machine’s conveyor. Within that vehicles are friction products used in the vehicle’s brake system, in its transmission and in other parts of the vehicle’s engine. Such vehicles are necessary to transport personnel to and from the mine site. Dump trucks and train cars that may be involved in the materials transportation process also are equipped with all manner of friction products, which are used to control the operation of their engines as well as the movement of their wheels. This is also likely true of the machinery that will be used to process and refine the mined materials once they reach refineries or other processing facilities. Considering all of the uses of friction products that are visible in just this image, it’s no surprise that friction products are vitally important to all economic sectors.

Mining Equipment Image by Tobias Mandt