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ENGINEERING TOOLS

BELT DESIGNATION DECODER

Decode any conveyor belt designation

Paste a belt code such as EP 500/4 6+2 X or ST 2000 8:6 W and this tool breaks it into carcass type, tensile strength, ply count, cover thickness and cover grade — each explained against the actual standards, PN-EN ISO 14890 and DIN 22102. It also flags the mistake almost everyone makes reading fabric designations.

Carcass codes

The first letters of a designation. Warp material then weft material for fabrics; ST for steel cord.

CodeConstruction
EPPolyester warp / polyamide (nylon) weft
NNPolyamide (nylon) warp and weft
PNPolyamide (nylon) warp and weft
PPPolyamide / polyamide (nylon) carcass
EEPolyester warp and weft
STSteel cord carcass

Cover grades

The trailing letter. Abrasion loss is the ISO 4649 maximum in mm³, so a lower number is a harder-wearing cover. DIN 22102 uses W/X/Y/Z; ISO 14890 uses H/D/L.

GradeStandardAbrasion (mm³)Tensile (MPa)Character
WDIN 221029018Best abrasion resistance — lowest permitted volume loss. For long-haul and highly abrasive material.
XDIN 2210212025Cut, gouge and impact resistance — the highest tensile grade. For sharp, heavy lump at loading points.
YDIN 2210215020General purpose. The default cover where neither extreme abrasion nor sharp impact dominates.
ZDIN 2210220015Soft, low-cost cover for mild, non-abrasive duty. Highest permitted wear.
HISO 1489012024High tensile strength (ISO grade). Comparable role to DIN-X for cut and impact resistance.
DISO 1489010018Abrasion-resistant (ISO grade). Sits between DIN-W and DIN-Y on wear.
LISO 1489020015General / mild duty (ISO grade). Highest permitted wear, like DIN-Z.

How a designation is built

A fabric belt designation like EP 500/4 6+2 X packs five things into one string: the carcass fabric (EP), the full-belt tensile strength in N/mm (500), the number of plies (4), the cover thickness top and bottom in mm (6+2), and the cover grade (X).

The number after the carcass code is the single most misread field. In EP 500/4 the 500 is the tensile strength of the WHOLE belt in N/mm, not per ply — the number of plies is the separate /4 field. This is exactly how ISO 14890 and DIN 22102 define the designation on manufacturer datasheets. Reading 500 as per-ply overstates the belt's rating fourfold.

Steel cord belts read differently. ST 2000 has no ply count because a steel cord carcass is a single plane of cables, so the number is unambiguously the full-belt breaking strength in N/mm. Cover thickness (8:6) and grade (W) follow the same rules as fabric.

Common misreadings

  • Reading the fabric strength number as per-ply. EP 500/4 is 500 N/mm for the whole belt, not 500 per ply — the plies are the /4 field.
  • Confusing cover grade letters across standards. DIN 22102 uses W/X/Y/Z, ISO 14890 uses H/D/L; a lower abrasion number (mm³) means a harder-wearing cover, so DIN-W at 90 mm³ outwears DIN-Y at 150.
  • Assuming cover thickness includes cleat or profile height. On a chevron or cleated belt the cover figure is the flat cover only; cleat height is additional.
  • Treating a heat grade (T1–T4) as the belt's service temperature. The T number is a lab test temperature, not the material temperature the belt can carry — that is usually higher.

Need the belt behind the code?

Decoding a designation tells you what a belt is rated for. Choosing the right one for your duty — width, carcass, cover grade, splice — is a specification decision. Send us the material, tonnage and conveyor geometry and our engineers will size it.

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