Font Size: 

Most of the industrial machines use the belt transmission for the power transfer. These mechanisms often use the round belts with a few millimetres in diameter, which are made of the thermoplastic elastomers, especially the polyurethane. Their production process requires the bonding step, which is often performed by the butt welding, using the hot plate. One of the most important parameter which describes this bonding phenomenon is plasticized distance. Knowledge about its value is necessary to predict the length reduction ratio of the belt during welding, and in consequence to the joint quality evaluation. To predict quantity of plasticized material, which depends on a lot of process parameters, the physical model of plasticizing process should be designated. The experimental research about this phenomenon are helpful to estimate value of force which is necessary to perform plasticizing, and show the typical problems during this process. The paper presents the results of the round drive belts plasticizing attempts, for different diameters of the belt, which were performed using the strength test station and heating device. In conclusion of the paper, there is the correlation between plasticizing force, velocity and distance.