Fluorolon 7100 Bearing - looking for feedback

[johnchrc]

Anyone familiar with this material. It has been quoted as a superior replacement for manganese bronze and super oilite #16 in the following application.

Rotating castor
1500 RPM
400 psi
Drilling mud with solids (barite)
Max temp 350F
PV = 628,000

7100 is a very hard plastic from what I'm told. It has a compressive strength of 43,000. I just can't see plastic lasting very long.

Note: A multi-layer 04DU04 Steel backed sintered bronze and PTFE bearing was worn away in 3 hours in this environment. In same application but in oil (produced crude) the 04DU04 works fine.

Thoughts???

 

[johnchrc]

This post goes with previous since I can't seem to edit my question.

The RPMs are not continuous. The speed is variable with highest RPMs being achieved for 1 hour max. Total run time is 3-4 hours per use. So life expectancy isn't much.

 

[edrush]

My perception (without any actual experience) is the wear rate of polymer bearings is higher than metal.

I am surprise a PV of 628k is acheivable even under optimum conditions. Are these english units? Throw a little sand in the vasoline and...... PV rating don't say anything about wear rates.

Is it possible to make the mud work for you? Can you pump the mud through the bearing to make a hydrodynamic bearing? This could backfire, but might be worth a try.

 

[sreid]

If the "bearing" is or can be essentually sacrifical (lasts one use cycle and is replaced), perhaps using a hard low wear rate material like Stellite might work.

 

[linearmotion]

We might have a material that will work well for you - triaboly. It is a mixture containing nickel, chromium and cobalt. It is added ( 20% ) to host pm material: bronze, iron or stainless.

http://www.lm76.com