Our Chief Executive Officer, Steve Dixon, recently presented at the The Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers (STLE) Annual Meeting and Exhibition in Nashville. The event is considered the lubricant industry’s most respected for technical information, professional development and international networking opportunities.

Steve presented his findings on ‘The Performance of Small Centre Pivoted PTFE Thrust Bearings in Low to Medium Speed Applications’. Undertaken by himself, Paul Bruce (Engineering Director) and John Butler (Design Office Manager), the research aimed to determine if PTFE thrust pad technology, originally developed to overcome problems in large hydro-generator thrust bearings, can have advantages in small thrust pad applications.

The PTFE research concentrated on thrust pad sizes 80-150 mm (3” – 6”) and speed ranges of 2.5 – 35 m/s (8 – 115 ft/s) which is typical of more standardised vertical pump applications. It was found that both offset and centre pivoted thrust pads were able to support specific loads of 7 MPa (1000 psi) across the speed range and tolerate repeated rotation reversals, therefore confirming the highly durable nature of PTFE.

Contact us if you would like to find more about our PTFE bearings and research or speak to one of the team.