Auburn, Mass., July 9, 2024 – Kadant Solutions Division, a division of Kadant Inc. (NYSE: KAI), announced the launch of the X-Tek roll cleaning blade, a cutting-edge solution designed for high-temperature cleaning applications with highly polished roll surfaces such as those found in carbon fiber and lithium-ion battery production.

“The new X-Tek roll cleaning blade incorporates both polymeric and carbon fibers,” stated Dr. Ka Lun To, senior blade manufacturing and R&D manager for Kadant U.K. Limited, a subsidiary of Kadant Inc. “This unique combination provides highly effective roll cleaning while ensuring the roll surface is not damaged, an issue that can occur with traditional metal or glass fiber blade materials.”

The thin, highly efficient X-Tek roll cleaning blade is engineered with multiple layers of polymeric and carbon fibers. Its advanced construction allows the blade to quickly conform to the roll surface, ensuring a thorough cleaning process. The blade materials and construction reduce manufacturing downtime and maintenance costs in high-temperature roll cleaning applications due to durable carbon layers which provide extended blade life and a reliable cleaning solution.

“The X-Tek roll cleaning blade is the most flexible blade we have made to date,” commented Jerry Vandoros, director of industrial sales Americas for Kadant Solutions. “Even though the blade is flexible across the machine, the carbon makes the blade stiff in the machine direction. It is wear-resistant unlike any blade we’ve offered to the carbon fiber and lithium-ion battery industries. Specifically in the high-temperature environment for lithium-ion battery calendering applications, the X-Tek roll cleaning blade’s engineered resin provides good performance.”

Kadant Solutions, based in Auburn, Massachusetts, is a leading supplier of doctor blades, doctor blade holders, and doctoring systems for papermaking and other industrial processes. The company’s cleaning and conditioning products are applied to the cleaning of forming and press fabrics and the filtration of process water as well as engineered wet-end products for papermaking.

About Kadant

Kadant is a global supplier of technologies and engineered systems that drive Sustainable Industrial Processing. The Company’s products and services play an integral role in enhancing efficiency, optimizing energy utilization, and maximizing productivity in process industries. Kadant is based in Westford, Massachusetts, with approximately 3,500 employees in 20 countries worldwide. For more information, visit www.kadant.com.

Safe Harbor Statement

The following constitutes a “Safe Harbor” statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties, including forward looking-statements about our customers, products, technologies, and markets. These forward-looking statements represent our expectations as of the date of this press release. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. These forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause our actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including those set forth under the heading "Risk Factors" in Kadant’s annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 30, 2023 and subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.