Product category:
Materials and components
News Release from: Victrex | Subject: Victrex Peek 450FC30
Edited by the Engineeringtalk Editorial
Team on 12 February 2008
Polymer provides long working life for
bearings
Hiperax bearings Victrex Peek 450FC30 are made of can support loads of up to 8 MPa while running continuously in water at 65C.
Waukesha Bearings thrust bearings using Victrex Peek polymer have survived three years of continuous use Hiperax bearings have been installed in wet wound heater lift pumps by Weir Engineering Services
This article was originally published on Engineeringtalk on 5 Feb 2001 at 8.00am (UK)
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The bearings are manufactured from Victrex Peek 450FC30 and are insert moulded onto a substrate.
According to Dr Guy Pethybridge, Global Product Manager for Waukesha Bearings, "Waukesha saw the need to develop a thrust bearing solution that could handle high load capacity in water-lubricated applications".
"We developed the Hiperax thrust bearing and decided to implement Victrex Peek into the design because of its set of excellent tribological properties and attributes".
The Hiperax bearings can support loads of up to 8MPa while running continuously in water at 65C.
"Victrex Peek polymer bearings provide an alternative in both oil-lubricated applications and those lubricated by the process fluid.
These bearings combine excellent surface properties with a high working temperature.
In the conventional oil-lubricated environment, the polymer-faced bearing will run hotter than its metallic counterpart because of the low thermal conductivity of the material.
In practice, this leads to thinner working oil films compared to metallic surfaced bearings, but, because of the improved surface properties of the polymer materials, the actual load capacity can be higher.
"Our Hiperax thrust bearings made with Victrex Peek are still in use after three years of operation with minimal wear, despite the presence of system debris such as rust, which certainly proves polymers offer significant benefits in the right circumstances", concluded Pethybridge said.
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