GGB tribological solutions move the industrial world one step closer to the future. Our products are used in tens of thousands of critical applications every day—around the planet. Our goal is to provide reliable, maintenance-free surface solutions for almost any application—no matter where those demands take our products.
GGB's diverse polymer coating solutions encompass some of the most state-of-the-art coating technologies available. Our TriboShield® product line includes seven standard formulations that cover the full spectrum of mechanical, thermal and chemical capabilities offered by today's coating materials. They can also be applied to nearly any surface, regardless of shape or material, making their potential almost endless. And when it comes to working with and enhancing the performance of your existing bearing and polymer coatings solutions, our TriboMate product line is specifically designed to be paired up— all leading to enhanced performance.
The excellent low friction and high wear resistance performance of GGB metal-polymer bearings make them ideal for hundreds of applications in numerous and diverse industries. Depending upon application requirements, metal-polymer composite bearings can be produced in many shapes and sizes.
GGB's Engineered Plastic Polymer bearings provide excellent wear resistance and low friction in both dry and lubricated operating conditions over a wide range of applications. Engineered plastic bearings are made from thermoplastic bearing material processed by injection moulding. This production method enables us to produce unlimited dimensions in accordance to our standard, and also parts with special designs and features.
GGB's Fiber Reinforced Composite products typically consists of a filament-wound, fiberglass-impregnated, epoxy backing with a variety of low-friction wear-resistant bearing linings. These self-lubricating fiber reinforced composite bearings are particularly effective in applications where the relative motion is not sufficient to promote circulation of the oil or grease used with more conventional bearings. GGB Fiber Reinforced Composite bearings are available as bushes, plates, bearing segments and special forms, depending on the particular material type.
Bimetal and metal bearings offer excellent corrosion resistance in industrial outdoor applications and in water, marine and offshore environments. GGB offers a broad range of sizes, forms and materials in monometallic and bimetallic bearings.
Engineered as a solution to conquer misalignment reduction when high demands are placed on bearings, GGB's UNI, MINI and EXALIGN® self-aligning shaft bearing assemblies offer improved equipment performance under standard bearing assemblies by reducing stress and friction. Offering superior performance in a wide variety of applications, GGB's self-aligning assemblies are available in both standard and custom configurations.
GGB has been putting the world in motion for over 120 years with industry-leading tribological bearings, coatings and assemblies. From Polymer Coatings and Metal-Polymer bearings to Fiber Reinforced Composite bearings and self-aligning shaft bearing assemblies, our solutions are specifically designed to reduce friction and optimize performance and durability.
Tribology is the science of wear, friction and lubrication, and encompasses how interacting surfaces and other tribo-elements behave in relative motion in natural and artificial systems. This includes bearing design and lubrication.
GGB’s TriboU is intended to provide the working engineer, who may or may not be a user of GGB’s surface engineered solutions, to understand and implement basic tribological concepts in the design, manufacture and use of industrial equipment.
At GGB, we aren’t afraid to take risks for our customers. We are passionate about the work we do and believe that same passion contributes to the level of innovation that can enhance human potential. We take pride in working closely with customers in the early stage of a design to think broadly and boldly, and to expand beyond traditional surface engineered solutions. We offer reliable partnerships based on trust, compassion, determination, collaboration and respect.
GGB seeks out collaborative, long-term relationships with each one of our customers. Our diverse expertise gives us a deep understanding of the challenges you face. When you partner with us early, our GGB engineering team is able to review your assemblies and make sure both the bearing and surrounding components are optimized for performance and cost-effectiveness.
Dry running plain composite bearings have been of great interest for numerous applications due to their remarkable sliding performance over a wide-range of Pressure-Velocity (PV) Factor values. The sliding performance of dry running shaft bearing contacts is affected by numerous surface engineering related factors. One essential factor is the formation and development of high quality transfer films on the shaft surface (attacking counter surface).
The present article explores the transfer film formation and accompanied tribology affecting processes in a common composite bearing shaft contact. Wear and friction tribology experiments were conducted using a Pin on Disk test device. The tests were run at a pressure of 11.3 MPa and a continuous sliding speed of 0.035 m/s. The tribology experiments revealed fluctuating and re-measurable run-in friction and wear tribological performance until the system entered its steady state stage. This fluctuation in performance was hypothesized to be caused by multiple tribology affecting processes taking place at the interface of both contacting surfaces throughout the sliding process.
Careful micro structural (SEM - Scanning Electron Microscopy and FIB - Focused Ion Beam sections) and chemical analysis (EDX - Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and XPS - X-Ray photoelectron spectrometry) were performed on the stressed surfaces to discover the nature of those tribology affecting processes. General surface observations of the attacking counter face and the worn pin surfaces discovered first insights regarding the structural changes within the transfer film and bearing material. The micro structural analysis of the transfer films formed throughout the sliding process revealed structural alterations within the transfer film architecture that progressed with covered sliding distance. Chemical analysis of the diverse transfer film stages provided useful information that chemical processes are also of crucial importance in determining bearing tribology.
Taking all aspects into account, the present paper confirmed the initial hypothesis that observed friction and wear tribological responses of the shaft bearing contact can be linked to structural changes within the transfer film and bearing material along with variations of the transfer film chemistry.
Dr. Marco Enger* marco.enger@ggbearings.com
Dipl.-Ing. Jürgen Eder juergen.eder@ggbearings.com
Dipl.-Ing. Jürgen Erlewein juergen.erlewein@ggbearings.com
Timo Ziegler, B.Sc. timo.ziegler@ggbearings.com
* corresponding author
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