Comparative Study on Tribological Behavior of Biaxial Glass Fiber/Al2O3/SiC Epoxy Journal Bearing Under Various Test Conditions

Abstract

Composite journal bearings are becoming more popular now a day because they eliminate the possibility of seizure failure to the bearings. The major drawback of the gun metal bearings is the seizure failure. To overcome this problem, the composite journal bearings are widely used by the industries. In this study, the fiber reinforced plastic composed of glass fiber with epoxy resin composite /Al_2O_3/SiC journal bearing having the composition of 10-20% are tested under various operating conditions and the results are compared with gun metal journal bearing. This study focuses on the dimensional stability, temperature, friction, surface roughness and surface topography behavior of biaxial glass fiber epoxy composite with and without lubrication at different speeds and loads. It has been observed that the friction and temperature increases with increase in load but it's very less when compared to gun metal bearing. It is found that there is loss in weight due to increase in temperature and friction but the loss in weight is very less which is approximately 1 g. In the earlier research, most of the bearings are tested under very low speed with more catastrophic failure due to various loading conditions. Therefore in this study the composite journal bearing is tested from low speed to high speed with different loading conditions and their effects has been studied. This composite journal will save the significant cost to the industries by reducing the coefficient of friction, temperature, lubrication etc.