Unique bearing treatment benefits QLD sugar mills

Aug 31, 2023

When sugar cane first arrived in Australia in 1788, farmers in Port Macquarie struggled to keep it alive long enough to harvest.

Almost 75 years later, it was discovered that the crop needed a more tropical climate to thrive, and the first viable plantation was established further north, near Brisbane.

With an annual revenue of nearly $2 billion, sugar is now Australia's second-largest crop export after wheat. The majority of sugar cane is grown in Queensland, on family-owned and operated farms. Setts are cultivated for 10 to 18 months, after which they are harvested and sent to a milling facility for the initial stages of processing.

Dion Tomasich, branch manager at BSC Cairns, has been working for many years to supply several large sugar milling sites around Queensland with critical parts and servicing. Among other componentry, he said that the NSK Hi-TF Spherical Roller Bearings are extremely popular, especially for axle box units on cane train locomotives.

These particular bearings are made for heavy load conditions and operating environment-related contamination, offering seven times the service life of generic counterpart products.

"Because a lot of these sugar mills have been around a long time, they will often still have old, generic bearings on a lot of their established machinery," he explained. "These tend to be more prone to failure, and cost more in the long run due to constant downtime and change-outs."

"We suggest the NSK Hi-TF to many of these sites due to the excellent material properties of the steel," Tomasich elaborated.

"When combined with the heat treatment, they boast superior wear resistance and can ensure a much longer service life for the equipment. Some sugar mills that we work with have now been using them for years, offering very positive feedback in terms of their performance."

Catering to the harsh conditions of industrial plants, these Hi-TF products is an upgrade to NSK's previous TF bearing design. Combining the benefits of expertly refined materials and a new heat treatment process, they can withstand long periods of lubricant contamination and provide a 20 per cent improvement on seizure resistance.

Offering less than half the rate of wear then generic bearing options, the Hi-TF has been designed following comprehensive research and development. According to Tomasich, NSK's knowledge on the impact of surface dents renders their expertise highly valuable in an industrial parts market.

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