Better than PTFE and UHMWPE: New PA6 and UHMWPE Compound Optimizes Bridge Bearing Properties
MKSM, a new bridge bearing sliding material, combines and surpasses the positive properties of the UHMWPE semi-finished product and PTFE.
Plastics distributor Dreyplas and Spanish company Mekano4 (MK4), a specialist in technical solutions for bridge bearings and post-tensioning, have jointly developed MKSM® a thermoplastic sliding material. It combines excellent wear resistance with heat distortion temperature higher than 80ºC and a very low coefficient of friction. Mitsui Chemicals supplies the base polymers for this innovative alloy of PA6 with UHMWPE plus special additives, which has been patented for this application.
MK4’s structural bearings are in widespread use in construction and civil engineering, especially in bridges. MKSM transfers very high static loads in bridges, where its outstanding sliding behavior facilitates displacements and, in the case of curved sliding elements, also a limited degree of rotation in all axes between the bearing-mounted elements and the base structure. Compared to semi-finished product UHMWPE and PTFE, this new sliding material offers enhanced thermal properties, abrasion and heat distortion resistance. Its longer service life, compressive strength, and lower sliding friction can make it possible to use smaller sliding bearings. It can also replace fluoropolymers such as PTFE, which are currently the focus of controversy.
The base sheet with a thickness of 8 mm ± 0.2 mm is manufactured on a horizontal calender-extruder system by the fabricator SIMONA, in Kirn, Germany. MK4 produces the finished product by cutting the sliding bearing sheets to size and drilling recesses for oil lubrication.
As Dreyplas’ Marketing Director Norbert Hodrius explains, “Where particular requirements have previously meant that there were no alternatives to using fluoropolymers such as PTFE, PVDF etc., this high-performance compound, which is now part of our portfolio, offers advantageous solutions in many cases. Developing special UHMWPE-based compounds of this kind is just one of the services we offer our customers. Our many years of experience and close cooperation with Mitsui Chemicals mean we can use our development and materials expertise to bring products with real added value to market in a short time, as in this joint project with Mekano4.”
Visit: www.mitsuichemicals.com
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