• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.140-144
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• 2004

Water-lubrication ball bearings are required to install in aqueous medium where water is used as coolant or working fluid. However water-lubricated frictional characteristics of stainless steel ball bearing is not will known compared to oil-lubricated frictional characteristics. Furthermore study on friction at high temperature is rare because bearing maintenance strategy for water-lubricated or chemicals-lubricated bearings of equipment is mostly based on change of failed bearings and parts. Ball bearings and ball screws are used to transmit power in the control rod drive mechanism for an integral reactor and are lubricated with high temperature and high pressure chemically-controlled water. Bearings and power transmitting mechanical elements for a nuclear reactor require high reliability and high performance during estimated lifetime, and their performance should be verified. In this paper, experimental research results of frictional characteristics of water-lubricated ball bearing are reported.

• KSTLE International Journal
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.43-46
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• 2003

Water-lubricated frictional characteristics of a stainless steel ball bearings are not well known compared to the oil-lubricated frictional characteristics. Furthermore a study on friction at a high temperature is rare because the bearing maintenance strategy for water-lubricated or chemicals-lubricated bearings of equipment is generally based on the replacement of the failed bearings-and parts. Ball bearings and ball screw are installed in the power transmission for the newly developing integral reactor and these are lubricated with chemically-controlled pure water at a high temperature and a high pressure. Bearings and power transmitting mechanical elements for an atomic reactor requires high reliability and high performance during the estimated lifetime, and it should be verified. In this paper, experimental research results of the frictional characteristics for water-lubricated ball bearings are presented as a preliminary investigation.

• International Journal of Precision Engineering and Manufacturing
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.47-50
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• 2008

This paper presents a new water-lubricated hybrid sliding bearing for a high speed and high accuracy main shaft system, along with the numerical method used for its design. The porous material for the restrictor and the restriction parameter were chosen based on the special requirements of the water-lubricated bearing. Subsequent numerical calculations give the load capacity, stiffness, and friction power of different forms of water-lubricated bearings. The pressure distribution of the water film in a 6-cavity bearing is shown, based on the results of the numerical calculations. A comparison of oil-lubricated and water-lubricated bearings shows that the latter benefits more from improved processing precision and efficiency. An analysis of the stiffness and friction power results shows that 6-cavity bearings are the preferred type, due their greater stiffness and lower friction power. The average elevated temperature was calculated and found to be satisfactory. The relevant parameters of the porous restrictor were determined by calculating the restriction rate. All these results indicate that this design for a water-lubricated bearing meets specifications for high speed and high accuracy.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers Conference
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.324-328
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• 2003

Water-lubricated frictional characteristics of stainless steel ball bearing is not well known compared to oil-lubricated frictional characteristics. Furthermore study on friction at high temperature is rare because bearing maintenance strategy for water-lubricated or chemicals-lubricated bearings of equipment is mostly based on change of failed bearings and parts. Ball bearings and ball screw are installed on the power transmission for a developing integral reactor and these are lubricated with high temperature and high pressure chemically-controlled pure water. Bearings and power transmitting mechanical elements for an atomic reactor needs high reliability. and high performance during estimated lifetime, and it should be verified. In this paper, experimental research results of frictional characteristics of water-lubricated ball bearing as a preliminary investigation.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.278-282
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• 2005

Deep groove ball bearing is installed in a control element of an integral nuclear reactor, where water is used as coolant and lubricant. This bearing is made of STS440C stainless steel for the raceways and the balls to use in radioactive environment and water. It is known that the retainer design affects ball bearing operability and endurance life, however there is no verified retainer design and material for water lubricated ball bearing. Four kinds of retainers are manufactured for the endurance test of water lubricated deep groove ball bearing. Three of them are commercially developed types and the other is designed for this research. It is verified that ball bearings with steel pressed and general plastic retainer can not survive to required life in the water, however bearings with machined type and cylinder type retainer can survive. This proves that one of the major design parameters for water lubricated ball bearing is retainer type and material. In this paper, experimental research of endurance test for water-lubricated ball bearing are reported.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.218-222
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• 2013

Water-lubricated ball bearings consist of rolling elements, an inner raceway, an outer raceway, a retainer, and an operating lubricant. In the water environment, ball bearings are required to sustain high loads at high speeds under poorly lubricated conditions. For the analysis of bearing behavior, friction torque is considered as the main factor at various flow rates, rotating speeds, and roughnesses between the rolling element and raceways. When the bearing operates at high rotating speeds, the friction torque between the raceway and rolling elements increases considerably. This frictional torque is an important factor affecting bearing reliability and life cycle duration. For understanding the flow conditions in the inner part of the bearing, this study focuses on the flow around the rotating and revolving rolling elements. A simple model of fluid flow inside the ball bearing is designed using the commercial CFD program ANSYS.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.39 no.6
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• pp.235-243
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• 2023

This paper presents the fabrication process of water-lubricated plastic bearings. Plastic bearings require good mechanical properties and tribological properties as well as elasticity and shock resistance, especially when lubricated in dirty water conditions. In this study, sleeve-type plastic bearings are produced by winding a prepreg sheet, which primary contains nitrile rubber (NBR)-modified epoxy, self-lubricating fillers, and various types of lattice-structured reinforcing fibers such as carbon, Aramid, and polyethylene terephthalate. A thermosetting epoxy is chemically modified with NBR to impart elasticity and low-friction characteristics in water conditions. Experimental investigations are conducted to examine the mechanical and tribological characteristics of the developed bearing materials, and the results are compared with the characteristics of a commercial plastic bearing (Thordon SXL), well known as a water-lubricated bearing. A Thordon bearing (mainly composed of polyurethane) exhibits an extremely low load-bearing capacity and is thus only suitable for medium loading (1~10MPa). The tribological characteristics of the test materials are evaluated through Falex block-on-ring (LFW-1) friction and wear tests. The results indicate that friction exhibited by the carbon-fiber-reinforced NBR-10wt.%-modified epoxy composite material, incorporated with the addition of 20wt.% UHMWPE and 6wt.% paraffin wax, is lower than that of the Thorden bearings, whereas its wear resistance surpass that of Thorden ones. Because of these features, the load carrying capacity of the fabricated composite (>10MPa) is higher than that of the Thorden bearings. These results confirm the applicability of water-lubricated plastic bearing materials developed in this study.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.35 no.6
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• pp.396-402
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• 2019

Materials made from plastics are increasingly utilized in constructing greenhouses and setting up shield structures. Polyester fabrics have a wide range of use in horticulture and other fields of agriculture. They are utilized as a greenhouse cover and also help in combating intense climate variation in the field. Over time, these fabrics may experience friction against other surfaces. Owing to this, the surface framework of the material degenerates. This study examines the frictional characteristics of aluminized polyester fabric in both dry- and water-lubricated environments under changing applied loads and sliding speeds. Friction experiments are performed at room temperature by employing a pin on a disk. The experiments reveal that the friction coefficient decreases with increase in applied load in both dry sliding and water-lubricated environment. However, the friction coefficient decreases more under the water-lubricated setting than in the dry state. At the maximum applied load, the highest friction coefficient is discovered in the dry state with a range of 0.282 to 0.237, whereas a friction coefficient of 0.229 to 0.189 is observed in the water-lubricated state. Additionally, it is observed that the friction coefficient increases with an increase in sliding speed under both experimental environments. The examination of specimen surfaces reveals that the abrasion is minor in the water-lubricated setting compared with that in the dry state.

• International Journal of Fluid Machinery and Systems
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.49-55
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• 2013

Water lubricated guide bearing was newly released and has been applied to actual hydro turbines with vertical shaft. As a result, they can have not only high bearing performance but environmental advantages in meeting the demand for reducing river pollution by oil leakage from oil lubricated guide bearing. The PTFE composite guide bearing was tested by experimental equipment operated under conditions similar to those of actual hydro turbines. Circumferential and axial tilting bearing segments help to improve the bearing performance and efficiency due to low friction loss in the bearing system. Furthermore, bearing cooling systems could be eliminated and maintenance periods could be extended, thus the initial investment and operating costs of the hydroelectric power plant are reduced.

• International Journal of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.746-757
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• 2021

To investigate the mechanism of friction-induced vibration and noise of ship water lubricated stern bearings, a two-degree-of-freedom (2-DOF) nonlinear self-excited vibration model is established. The novelty of this work lies in the detailed analysis of influence of different parameters on the stability and nonlinear vibration characteristics of the system, which provides a theoretical basis for the various friction vibration and noise phenomenon and has a very important directive meaning for low noise design of water lubricated stern bearings. The results reveal that the change of any parameter, such as rotating speed of shaft, contact pressure, friction coefficient, system damping and stiffness, has an important influence on the stability and nonlinear response of the system. The vibration amplitudes of the system increase as (a) rotating speed of shaft, contact pressure, and the ratio of static friction coefficient to dynamic friction coefficient increase and (b) the transmission damping between motor and shaft decreases. The frequency spectrum of the system is modulated by the first mode natural frequency, which is continuous multi-harmonics of the first mode natural frequency. The response of the system presents a quasi-periodic motion.