We had a longtime customer contact us recently to ask if we had a replacement for the Nylon 6 bearings they were using in their application. The bearings, which were occasionally exposed to moisture, were failing prematurely.

First, a definition: fluoropolymers are a family of plastic resins which are based on fluorine/carbon bonding. The family of products is varied through a manipulation of that bond by adding or subtracting fluorine through other bonds such as chlorine, ethylenes and other chemical agents.

Slide plate bearings provide support and a low coefficient of friction while allowing an object to move (or slide) freely along a supporting surface. They consist of an upper and lower component and can be used in both guided and free-moving applications.

Ultracomp is a family of laminate wound bearing materials with migratory lubricants added to the resin system. All Ultracomp bearing materials are high load, low speed materials designed to operate in extreme conditions without additional lubrication.

When considering your options for treating surfaces, there are many techniques available and many factors to consider. Ultimately, we believe plasma technology renders better bond strengths than other surface treatments and is generally cleaner, faster, and less expensive. Still, a number of other techniques are in common use. Let’s take a look at them now.

We are all aware that plastics expand and contract at different rates. When designing plastic plane bearings, one of the most critical considerations is to understand the thermal reactions of the material; designing not just for the normal operating temperatures of your environment, but to consider the minimum and maximum operating temperatures as well. Otherwise, you may lose the press fit (in cold temperatures) or expand to the point of shaft seizure (with hot temperatures).

This question was posed to me at a recent customer site visit. Ultimately, your choice of bearings for gear materials comes down to the friction, speed, and pressure of your application. And both bronze bearings and polymers can each play a role. Let’s dive in:

UHMW remains a hot topic here on Tech Talk, and on our Ask the Experts portal, too. Why is this true? For one, the material offers great value over other plastics, and has good abrasion-resistance properties, plus it is processed via a unique control (no molding, only machining). This trifecta of properties values make for a distinctive material, read on for more top FAQs:

If you’re a regular reader of Tech Talk, it will be no surprise that we’re big fans of composite plastics as a replacement for bronze bearings.

Composites offer a simple, one-piece construction and they eliminate many of the downsides of metal bearings – which we will outline below. When designing for your next application, here’s why you might want to consider a composite design instead.