Plastic as an appealing bearing material at higher temperatures
Metals are replaced by polymers more and more often. STASSKOL developed the ESKAFLON 449 as a particularly attractive bearing material at higher temperatures.
If you replace metals with polymerss, in addition to the high chemical resistance, the low density of the plastics is a great advantage, because this saves weight. However, the rigidity of the materials must stand up to the challenges of the application.
In order to increase the strength, we have introduced hard coal, carbon fibers, but also fabric mats consisting of carbon fibers into the high-performance polymers. With particularly high filling levels, we achieve mechanical properties that come very close to those of metallic materials. In order to be able to achieve filling levels of over 50 vol.-%, STASSKOL has further developed hot compression molding as a processing method.
An advantageous side-effect of the strongly increased rigidity of the polymers is the reduction of their thermal expansion. PTFE even has a very high thermal expansion coefficient compared to other polymers.
With our ESKAFLON 449, we have succeeded in reducing the thermal expansion coefficient to that of aluminum by adding appropriate fillers. This makes the material particularly attractive as bearing material at higher temperatures especially in contact with aggressive media.
In addition to the high rigidity, these recipes also provide all the further advantages of our high-performance polymers - in particular their very good chemical resistance, a feature otherwise only found in the area of metals in extremly cost-intense alloys.
The newly developed materials in this category also include ESKAPEEK 904, a carbon-fiber-reinforced PEEK with very good wear and tear resistance, and ESKASINT 9404, a carbon-fiber-reinforced polyimide with a high service temperature limit.
We would be happy to advise you on the selection of the right material.
