Powder Bearings with Polymer Inserts

Abstract

This work considers the design of a support slider bearing based on macro-composite material—a powder composite with polymer inserts—intended for operation in self-lubrication mode. The problems of the starting condition are solved in this work based on the implementation of the rotaprint principle by placing on the friction surface in the conical cavities of polymer inserts. The ratio of the areas of polymer, the lubricating element, and the metal surface was optimized in the work—as a result of which the amount of optimal value of the coefficient of relative area for the investigated range of design parameters of the bearing was 0.45 ± 0.05. The multifactor planning of experiment was used in this work to determine the optimal value of topology coefficient and to construct a regression model. The design of the support slider bearing was tested with a T-11 model precision tribometer.