PVC Conveyor Belting

Solid woven PVC belting is built as a single monolithic ply — a woven fabric carcass fully impregnated and coated with PVC — rather than multiple fabric plies bonded together with rubber compound the way most rubber conveyor belts are made. That's why every belt in Jealco's PVC lineup is listed as 1-ply regardless of its PIW rating (which ranges from 100 up to 750 across the General Purpose family). The single-ply construction makes PVC belting thinner, lighter, and more resistant to acids, chemicals, and abrasion than comparable rubber belting, though it's generally used for lighter to moderate loads rather than the heavy bulk-handling duty rubber belts are built for.

The back cover (the side that rides on the conveyor bed or pulleys) affects how the belt runs on the equipment. Smooth backs are the standard low-friction option for slider bed conveyors. Brushed backs have a textured finish that reduces running friction and heat buildup further, which matters on longer or higher-speed runs. Friction surface (FS) backs do the opposite — they add grip, which is useful when the belt needs traction against a drive pulley or when dual-sided grip is needed for package handling. Matching the back cover to your conveyor bed type and speed is as important as choosing the top cover.

Our PVC FDA (Food) Belting family is formulated and certified for food contact applications, with top cover options like herringbone and roughtop for grip on inclined or wet lines. If your belt will contact food product directly, or your facility requires certified food-contact materials for compliance or customer audits, use the FDA family. For non-food industrial conveying — general material handling, packaging, or manufacturing lines with no food contact — PVC General Purpose Belting offers a wider range of PIW ratings (up to 750) and cover combinations at a lower cost.

These textured top-cover patterns are all designed to add grip beyond what a smooth PVC surface provides, which becomes important as soon as a conveyor isn't perfectly flat. Herringbone and crescent patterns use a directional V-shaped or curved tread to help move product forward while resisting backslide on shallow inclines. Roughtop provides a more uniform high-friction texture, useful for irregular or loose product on moderate inclines. All three show up specifically in Jealco's PVC Incline Belting family — if your conveyor runs flat, a smooth or FS cover is usually sufficient, but any incline calls for one of these grip patterns.

Beyond the standard FDA, general purpose, and incline options, PVC belting can be built with oil resistance for greasy or lubricated environments, flame resistance for facilities with combustible dust or heat sources, and static conductivity for settings where static buildup is a safety concern (similar to FR/SC requirements on rubber belting). These features can typically be combined with any of the three belt families, so it's worth flagging your environment's specific hazards — oil exposure, fire risk, or static-sensitive material — when selecting a PVC belt rather than assuming the standard compound will cover it.