Effect on thermal deformation and fatigue wear on PEEK-PTFE composite bearing with a jet cooler under dry condition

Abstract In chemical situation use, PEEK (Poly ether ether ketone) is expected as one of bearing’s material. PEEK bearings are required stable performance and long lifetime for a tribological application use in chemical environment etc. However, the thermal deformation or fatigue fracture on the PEEK bearing with PEEK/graphite film is not well known. In this study, rolling contact fatigue tests were conducted on PEEK-PTFE composite bearings under dry condition, with a radial load of 260 N and a rotational frequency of 1500 min –1 . The tests compared the bearing’s life between cases without cooling and with cooling using a jet cooler. To evaluate the progression of damage, the bearing’s raceway surface observations using a microscope and surface roughness measurements were performed every 3.0×10 5 cycles under each condition. As a result, in the case without cooling, the bearing temperature increased rapidly within 3.0×10 5 cycles. Therefore, the thermal deformation of elliptical brinelling occurred on the bearing’s raceway surface. In contrast, using a jet cooler significantly improved the bearing’s life by approximately 900 percent compared to the case without cooling. While the bearing using a jet cooler achieved long life for 3.0×10 6 cycles, the fatigue cracks and pitting occurred on the bearing’s raceway.