A Foil Thrust Bearing Test Rig for Evaluation of High Temperature Performance and Durability

Abstract

A new test rig is designed to evaluate the start-stop cyclic durability of high-temperature solid lubricant coatings applied to foil thrust bearing systems. This test rig also allows the characterization of low speed thrust bearing performance, augmenting existing high speed test capabilities. The Low-Speed Thrust Bearing Rig is designed to test foil thrust bearings at speeds up to 21,000 rpm and temperatures up to 540 deg C (1000 deg F), with variable thrust loads. Thrust bearings can be subjected to tens of thousand of start-stop cycles to simulate decades of service in a turbomachinery application. Initial testing has validated the rig capabilities by subjecting a bearing and thrust runner to more than two thousand start/stop cycles at a temperature of 430 deg C (800 deg F).

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Apr 01, 2008
Accession Number
ADA480747

Entities

People

  • Brian D. Dykas
  • Daniel W. Tellier

Organizations

  • United States Army Research Laboratory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Bearings
  • Failure Mode And Effect Analysis
  • Foil Bearings
  • Friction
  • Gas Bearings
  • High Temperature
  • Journal Bearings
  • Load Cells
  • Lubricants
  • Lubrication
  • Measurement
  • Pneumatic Actuators
  • Resilience
  • Solid Lubricants
  • Temperature Control
  • Turbines
  • Turbomachinery

Readers

  • Tribology (the study of the boundary interaction between sliding surfaces, lubrication, wear and friction).