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[July 2005]
Advanced Ceramic Ball Bearing Development
The Timken Corp (Canton, OH, USA) has been awarded additional orders under an existing US$20 million US Air Force contract for hybrid bearing development. The new orders, which total around US$7 million, focus on the quality assurance of rolling elements and new cage materials for bearings used in current and next generation gas turbine aircraft engines.
One order - worth approximately US$4 million - calls for Timken to develop and validate new technologies for the quality assurance of silicon nitride balls with high reliability and low cost. These ceramic balls are at the heart of the hybrid bearing system being developed to meet specific high performance characteristics under the Versatile Affordable Advanced Turbine Engine (VAATE) programme. Understanding critical flaws is a major step in achieving consistent operation, which Timken will analyse through rigorous testing and computer modelling.
The other order is to develop and demonstrate high strength and/or low mass cage materials. These components, which serve to guide and retain bearing rolling elements, will demonstrate improved performance characteristics over designs currently employed in today's turbine engines. This effort is intended to have a direct impact on applications in the commercial aerospace, automotive and industrial sectors.
www.timken.com
ENDS