A bearing designed for environments up to 500°F or where thermal expansion stability is critical.

Product Description

The PolyLube HT bearing is a high load, low RPM bearing designed for applications where self-lubrication is desired, but conventional composite bearings will not perform at high temperatures. This product has been designed to provide excellent performance at elevated temperatures. With a glass transition temperature of over 450°F this epoxy filament wound structure exhibits superb performance over extended exposure to elevated temperatures. The bearing material is focused on applications where the bearing will be exposed to temperatures up to 500°F.

In addition to its high compressive properties (in both static and dynamic modes), this bearing material is inherently self-lubricating. The self-lubrication capability of Polygon’s new material means that the use of expensive high temperature external lubricants such as polyurea grease, lithium grease, some bentone greases, as well as advanced ester based oils and complex thickening systems may no longer be necessary.

The PolyLube HT bearing creates a high strength, self-lubricating journal bearing material that can offer performance enhancements over greased systems, as well as graphite loaded bronze structures, some iron-copper graphites, polysulfone, PEEK, and polymide bearing materials.

Product Schematic

This bearing is based on the same filament wound structure as the PolyLube MRP bearing and has the same wear liner. The result is that the HT bearing has a high static and dynamic load capacity. The HT bearing is also inherently self-lubricating through the same film transfer process as the Fiber Series bearing.

The result of a higher temperature resin matrix, the same high strength filament wound backing, and the same self-lubrication process combine to make the HT bearing an ideal solution for high temperature applications.

Applications

PolyLube High Temperature applications are not just for elevated temperature environments but also for applications where the bearing may need to resist thermal expansion during operation. One example of this is in snowmobile clutch markets. In these applications, the clutch speed goes from 0 to very high RPM’s in micro-seconds (and vice versa). During this cycling, friction is rising because speed is being dramatically increased. As the friction goes up so does the temperature of the associated components. A high temperature composite bearing material can resist these expansion phenomena and as a result offer better long term wear, improved bearing durability, and less seizure opportunity than conventional metal bearing materials.

Loading Guidelines

**Polygon's proprietary process of fiberglass filament winding results in exceptionally strong structures to support the PolyLube wear surface. Loading in excess of 30,000 PSI can be tolerated in specific applications. A more general design approach for applications with oscillating pins and angular force vector change less than 45 degrees should be designed to an average working pressure of 8,000 psi. Polygon MRP and Fiber bearings will allow pressure spikes as high as 12,000 PSI during approximately 5% of the operational life.

Applications running with a stationary pin and a a fully rotational bearing should be designed to a an average working pressure of 6,000 psi. In these applications, Polygon's MRP and Fiber bearings will allow pressure spikes as high as 10,000 PSI during approximately 5% of operational life.

Please consult with a Polygon Application Engineer for any questions regarding loading conditions and bearing performance.