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Teflon® Slide Bearings
Why Teflon® Slide Bearings?
Fluorogold® slide bearings is a special formulation Teflon® TFE, reinforced by Furon with a glass fiber aggregate to provide a structural material that offers significant compressive strength without cold, flow, yet retains the low-friction (.06) and chemically inert characteristics of unfilled Teflon®.
Fluorogold® is a structural Teflon® material. Teflon® alone is not a Fluorogold® and therefore will not have the increased strength and wear factors necessary for adequate performance in structural situations.
Fluorogold® typically offers 2000 times more wear resistance, 250% more creep resistance and 45% more immunity to deformation than unfilled Teflon®.
Fluorogold® composition, manufactured into sheets of required thickness, is factory bonded, using precise heat and pressure in hydraulic presses, to specially prepared backing plates or supporting materials such as carbon steel, stainless steel, bridge-bearing neoprene, fabric reinforced rubber pads or other required composition. The resulting combination is cut to required size as simple slide bearings or fabricated into bearing assemblies in combination with anchorage devices, special hardware and elastomeric materials.
Fluorogold® bearing surfaces are weatherproof, able to absorb dirt, grit and other contaminants without noticeable effect on their useful properties and have the longest life of any known bearing surface meeting these needs. They may be used either interior or exterior, under any exposure. Fluorogold® has excellent dielectric properties, thus providing excellent insulation against stray electrical currents and galvanic corrosion.
Function
- To accommodate movement under load with minimal friction.
- To provide release or sliding surfaces at bearing ends of structural members, thereby accommodating shrinkage or thermal motion of members.
- To isolate components or parts of structure or assembly of parts when their relative movements must be independent of each other.
- To provide a release bearing system in order to prevent stresses from entering certain parts of a structure.
- To provide positive seismic separations.
Composition
Fluorogold® is a special formulation of Teflon® TFE, reinforced with a strong glass aggregate and other reinforcing agents to provide a structural material that offers significant compressive strength without cold creep, yet retains the low friction and chemical inertness of virgin Teflon®.
The Fluorogold® composition, molded, sintered, and skived to the required thickness, is factory bonded to specially prepared backing plates, such as carbon steel, stainless steel, or elastomeric-backed plates.
Fluorogold® bearing composition is identified by its own characteristic gold color. Pure unfilled Teflon® is a cloudy white color and maybe processed into nearly any color by the use of coloring agents. By always looking for exclusive golden color, you are assured that only the properly engineered structural Teflon® composition known as Fluorogold® is being utilized.
Advantages
- Fluorogold® is structural Teflon®.
- Lowest friction factor of any solid material.
- Chemically inert.
- Able to absorb dirt and grit without increasing the coefficient of friction
- Weatherproof- less than 0.01% moisture absorption
- Able to allow for misalignment
- Provides electrical insulation- no galvanic corrosion
- No stick- slip action
- Easy to install- simply bolt or weld
- Reduced support costs- the low friction factor remains constant
- Only half as much bearing area us needed compared to virgin TFE
- Takes compressive loads of 75 psi to 2000 psi
- Temperature range of -320 degrees F. to 400 degrees F.
- Shear of the epoxy bond exceeds shear of the material