At Epidor Seals and Rubber Technology we are aware of the critical aspects of our products depending on the needs of each application. A few months ago we published “The best guides on hydraulic or pneumatic cylinders”. In today's article, we are going to focus on the hydraulic cylinders and their guiding elements, The guides found in hydraulic cylinders are usually subjected to much higher loads than those in pneumatic cylinders. The guides found in hydraulic cylinders are usually subjected to much higher loads than the guides for pneumatic cylinders, they receive loads that produce compressive and shear stresses, being especially important their compressive loads.
Faced with this problem, the solution is T4, a proprietary material that aims to solve this situation with applications under high loads.
Characteristics of T4, the material for hydraulic cylinder guides
- Composition. -T4 is a material of phenolic resin reinforced with fabric. This fabric is what provides the guide with a very high mechanical strength, This is much higher than in the usual ptfe (Teflon®) based guides.
- Compressive strength. -Allows a 7 to 8 times greater resistance to that provided by bronze-loaded ptfe.
- Frictional capacity.The coefficient of friction with lubrication of the T4 is 0.07 compared to ptfe with bronze (0.13). This is due to the ease with which it can be impregnated with lubricant due to the weave of its composition.
All this allows the T4 material to have a high high wear resistance.
- Properties. -The material properties table is shown below:
- Working temperature. - Regarding the working temperature, depending on the hydraulic fluid, it will have some limits or others. The following table shows these limits:
For all these reasons, composite materials are becoming more and more popular for high performance applications.
- Custom manufacturing. -Materials similar to T4 are available in ISO standard sizes for normalized sizes, such as finished shelf parts. Often, guides are required in sizes that do not conform to the normalized standards, in which case semi-finished material is available that allows us to manufacture guides in diameters ranging from 25 mm to 210 mm.
As it is a material available for our own manufacturing, it allows the production of custom-made shaped guides to be an agile process. For small series we can manufacture in two to three working days., or even less time.