Soft roll and process for making such a roll

The elastic roller, especially for polishing a paper web, has a hard roller core (1) especially of metal with a cladding of an elastic matrix material (6). The roller cladding is covered by a metallic layer of metal fibers and/or metal-coated fibers (3). The fibers (3) are gathered into one or more fiber bundles (4) and/or rovings and/or a fiber web and/or the metallic covering is in a single fiber layer. The metallic covering layer has a radial thickness of 2-30 mu m and preferably 5-10 mu m and/or the surface of the metallic covering is ground and especially polished and/or the metallic surface has an Ra value of ≤ 0.05 mu m and especially ≤ 0.03 mu m. The metal for the outer covering layer has a melting point of ≤ 600 degrees C and preferably about 480 degrees C or less. A filling material of fibers (3) is embedded in the matrix material (6) which has a greater stiffness than the matrix material (6) and/or has a thermal conductivity which is greater than the matrix material. The thermal coefficient of expansion of the filling material fibers (3) is less than that of the matrix material (6) and is generally equal to that of the roller core (1) and/or the filling material is of fibers of carbon and/or glass and/or metal. The fibers for the filling material (3) are especially as fiber bundles (4) and/or rovings and/or a fiber web, and at least part of the fibers (3) are of the same material as the fibers in the outer covering layer and/or the fibers (3) in the fiber bundles (4) or rovings or web are used at least partially both for the matrix material (6) and the outer metallic covering layer. At least part of the fibers, and preferably the majority, are aligned in an axial and/or radial direction and/or in a statistical alignment distribution and/or they are in a fiber layer or in radially successive fiber layers. Additional filling materials can be added to the matrix especially as fibers or powder of quartz and/or a polymer. The matrix material (6) is a plastics and especially a heat-setting plastics or a thermoplastic and/or it is a resin/hardener combination. An Independent claim is included for a cladded roller production process where the metallic covering layer is wound around the elastic roller core cladding, using a number of metal fibers and/or metal-coated fibers. The fibers are in one or more fiber bundles and/or rovings and/or a fiber web. One roving is composed of a number of neighboring fibers of the same type and/or a single layer is wound