Introduction

Cotton Duck Fabric Bearings are a layered rubber and cotton-duck fabric bearing that can be used in a wide variety of structural bearing applications.

They go by many names, such as fabric bearings, preformed fabric bearings, cotton duck pads, and cotton duck Bearings.

They can have a sliding surface of PTFE and stainless steel for a sliding expansion bearing (see example) or can be plain without sliding surfaces.

These bearings are well suited when very little relative rotation can be expected (equal to or less than 0.003 radians) and where they will sustain no more than 2500 psi of compressive stress.

Except for sliding expansion bearings (where movement is accommodated by the sliding PTFE/Stainless surface), they are not well suited if the movement is expected to be accommodated by shear of the fabric pad.

These bearings have a relatively low initial cost and are low maintenance.