Thordon non-metallic bearings have been used in a wide range of industries and various applications such as in pumps, pivot points, screw conveyors, hydro turbine wicket gates, agitators, and flocculator paddle wheels. Thordon Bearings are design to work under the most extreme conditions: abrasive, corrosive, high impact load, high humidity, and infrequent maintenance periods.
Key Attributes
Self-Lubricating
With a low inherent coefficient of friction, Thordon bearings typically do not require grease lubrication. This results in reduced maintenance costs and safety issues. Environmental and product contamination concerns associated with grease lubrication are eliminated. Thordon Bearings are homogenous polymers with built-in lubricants. The lubricants, being dispersed through the bearing material, continue to provide low friction through the life of the bearings.
Long Wear Life
Based on 40+ years of experience supplying bearings to industry, Thordon bearings ave been proven to provide longer wear life than the bearings they replace. Longer life may be the result of Thordon's low friction, superior abrasion resistance, high resilience and impact resistance, or a combination of several of the above. The end result, however, is the same... improved reliability and reduced life cycle costs.
High Resilience and Impact Resistance
Elastomeric Thordon bearings exhibit a Modulus of Resilience many times that of bronze. As a result, Thordon elastomeric bearings can absorb impact or shock loads encountered during operation without permanent deformation to a much greater degree than bronze or other non-metallic bearings.
Low Operating Friction
Thordon Bearings have lower static and dynamic coefficients of friction than most other materials commonly used for industrial bearings. This is the case whether the bearing is dry or submerged in liquid. A low bearing coefficient of friction is important in minimizing adhesive bearing wear and providing smooth, stick-slip free start-up and operation.
Conversion of Existing Bearings
Worn metallic or metal backed bearings can be re-lined with Thordon elastomeric bearings. Field bonding Thordon into the metal shell of the work bearing can often reduce cost. Fitting of the re-lined bearing remains unchanged.
Easily Installed
After machining to the proper dimensions for an interference fit, Thordon bearings can be easily fit into place by press or freeze fitting. Thordon elastomeric bearings may be cooled in dry ice or liquid nitrogen. Once the bearings are placed in position and warm they will assume the design interference fit. Expensive and labor intensive pressing equipment and fixtures are not necessary.
Other Attributes
Corrosion Resistance
Noise Reduction
High Temperature
Improved Chemical Resistance
Easily Machined to Size
High Abrasion Resistance
Accommodates Edge Loading
To learn more about non-metallic industrial bearings, visit our Pump & Industrial Bearings page. And if you ever have a question about how Thordon bearings can be implemented into your processes, don't hesitate to contact our engineering department.
