Laurie Green, Managing Director | Cut to Size Plastics

Construction companies across Australia are benefitting from cost-effective measures to ensure their infrastructure assets are protected against the effects of our harsh climate.

Repeated heating and cooling over many seasons eventually results in older assets buckling or cracking when old bearings have exceeded their lifespan, corroded, lost their flexibility or become bound rigid. This often happens with bridges, pipelines, aqueducts, ramps and other structures.

These structures still have to carry the same loads, or transport the same contents, but now offer much less protection at all to vital contents, including people and vehicles on bridges and water, slurries, oil, gas and chemicals in pipelines.

Technology has come a long way since many of these items were first installed some 30 to 40 years ago. One focus of Cut To Size Plastics and its Hercules Engineering division that has been gaining momentum in recent years is cost-efficient and maintenance-free alternatives.

Slip joints and structural bearings can now incorporate high performance combinations of engineered thermoplastics and stainless-steel facing surfaces that don’t break down in the way that earlier types of bearings used to deteriorate.

They are engineered to accommodate the vertical and horizontal stresses imposed by expansion, contraction and varying loads, thereby greatly reducing downtime and maintenance.

Engineering for low maintenance is essential whether you are involved in carparks, walkways and bridges, or working on elevated section of pipelines serving remote resources and industrial projects where you can’t afford to have pipelines out of commission or needing frequent maintenance.