Evaluation of apparent Young's modulus of the composite polymer layers used as sliding surfaces in hydrodynamic thrust bearings

Hydrodynamic bearings with a polymer sliding layer are able to operate in severe conditions, mainly due to favorable properties of the polymers. The goal of this research was to evaluate apparent Young's modulus of two types of the polymer composite layers used for sliding surfaces in hydrodynamic bearings, as a function of temperature. The Young's modulus was evaluated on the basis of compression tests carried out on samples obtained from thrust bearing pads. Measurements were accompanied by additional FEM calculations, reproducing the experiment. The results presented in the paper prove that apparent Young's moduli of the studied types of the composite layers depend significantly on temperature and their values differ from existing information in available data on polymers. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.