Comparison of Plain Bushing Technologies for Reduced Grease Consumption in Construction Equipment

In construction and agricultural equipment, joints using plain bearing / shaft assemblies need to fulfill demanding requirements regarding reduced grease consumption and maintenance, load bearing capacity, resistance to shocks, overloads and abrasion. The behavior of an innovative bearing design, based on the combination of steel as core material, special surface topography and high technology surface treatments is studied. Surface topography, composition of the friction layer and base material turn out to have a considerable influence on the behavior of the joint. This new bearing design is compared with other common industrial bearing technologies and is found to be the best compromise in terms of resistance to adhesive and mechanical wear under high load oscillatory motion.