Custom-fabricated structural bearings are being introduced by Hercules Engineering for extremely high stress applications in resources projects requiring outstanding load-bearing performance, even in compact or wet spaces in mineral processing applications, power generation, ports loaders and land and marine exploration and structures .

The latest Herculon structural bearings are manufactured by integrating H-Glide fibre-reinforced composite pads sliding on 2B finish stainless steel to achieve an exceptionally low sliding coefficient of friction compared with other engineering bearing materials, even under water.

Unlike metal bearings that may rust or require continual lubrication and maintenance, the environmentally safe yet hard-wearing H-Glide bearing pads are dry sliding and will not release contaminants into surrounding environments or adjacent processes.

H-Glide’s excellent sliding properties (including friction coefficients from 0.05 – 0.1) are invaluable to infrastructure developers, engineers, architects and specifiers because lower coefficients of friction will transfer less stress onto the load-bearing structural components when the bearing does its job of protecting them against surrounding movement.

Hercules Engineering and Cut To Size Plastics provide a wealth of experience and application guidance, based on almost 50 years of operation in Australasian and Asia-Pacific regions in applying engineering polymer technology to construction, infrastructure, energy, mining, manufacturing, maritime, oil and gas, food and beverage, safety and water and wastewater applications.

Hercules Engineering’s latest example of bearings incorporating H-glide was in an extensive roof which required extreme load-bearing capacity in a confined space, as close as possible to the axis of the load.

The same high performance is equally useful in major energy and resources structures, including wharves, platforms and steel structures, where compact bearings must withstand long-term stresses to protect valuable structures with optimum levels of safety for those within or around them.

With their incompressible H-Glide sliding layer, these bearings can withstand extreme point pressures of 350-500 megapascals, depending on bearing design and application.

Ports, mineral processing and loading facilities(inc coal and iron ore) energy and land and maritime facilities are major applications for H-Glide bearings.

This outstanding performance – which is up to 40 times greater than conventional water-resistant and non-lubricated fibre-reinforced elastomeric bearing pads – is complemented by the material’s ability to function well in a variety of environments including, but not limited to, damp or under water applications. It is suitable for:

A major advantage of this type of composite bearing is that they do not require lubrication, which minimises any disruption to processes.

H-Glide bearings’ already excellent lifespans can be increased by the use of a mirror polished stainless steel sliding plate.

Absorption of water and other fluids is negligible. The material is virtually inert, reactions with food and cleaning substances, for example, almost never occur.

The standard ranges of Herculon structural bearings and Hercuslip composite slip joints are widely proven product designs that have performed over decades since 1972 in applications ranging from landmark metropolitan construction projects, through to major international industrial and resources projects.

The H-Glide bearing pad is available in different formulations, including conductive materials. It is equally suitable for a wide variety of high-load structures requiring extreme load-bearing capability combined with non ‘stick-slip’ behaviour, where static and kinetic coefficient of sliding friction are virtually equal.