What are the advantages and disadvantages of self-lubricating copper bushings and graphite copper bushings?

Advantages and disadvantages of self-lubricating copper bushings:

Advantages:

Good self-lubricating performance: in the design of the copper bushing is usually processed on the substrate of the hole and filled with solid lubricants, such as graphite, PTFE, etc.. These solid lubricants can be gradually released in the working process, the formation of a lubricant film on the friction surface, reducing friction and wear, even in the absence of external lubrication can also work normally, reducing the maintenance costs and workload of the equipment.

Strong wear resistance: generally made of high force brass, tin bronze and other copper alloy materials, these materials themselves have high hardness and strength, coupled with the role of solid lubricants, making the self-lubricating copper bushing has good wear resistance, long service life.

High load-bearing capacity: copper alloy materials have high strength and can withstand large loads, suitable for heavy-duty machinery and equipment.

Low noise: Due to the good self-lubricating performance and low friction coefficient, the noise generated during the operation of the equipment is relatively small, which helps to improve the working environment.

Wide range of application: can be applied to a variety of working environments, such as high temperature, low temperature, humidity, corrosion and other harsh environments can still maintain good performance.

Disadvantages:

Higher rotational resistance: compared with other types of bearings such as rolling bearings, the rotational resistance of self-lubricating bronze bushings is relatively large, which may consume more energy in high-speed rotating occasions and affect the efficiency of the equipment.

Relatively low precision: in the very high precision requirements of the equipment, self-lubricating bronze bushings may not meet the requirements, because of its manufacturing precision and mounting accuracy relative to rolling bearings and other products may be slightly lower.

Higher initial cost: due to its relatively complex manufacturing process, the need to process the holes in the copper bushing substrate and filled with solid lubricant, so the initial cost of self-lubricating copper bushing is relatively high. However, from the long-term use, due to the reduction of maintenance costs, the overall cost may not be high.

Advantages and disadvantages of graphite copper bushings:

Advantages:

Excellent self-lubricating performance: graphite itself has good lubricating properties, in the process of sliding friction between the shaft and the bearing, a part of the graphite particles will be transferred to the friction surface of the shaft and the bearing to form a layer of more stable solid lubrication diaphragm, preventing the direct adhesive wear of the shaft and the bearing, and able to work normally without refueling or less refueling.

High load-bearing capacity: with high-strength copper alloy as the substrate, it has high strength and hardness, and is able to withstand larger loads, and is suitable for heavy loads and low-speed work occasions.

Good high temperature resistance: graphite can still maintain good lubrication performance at high temperature, so graphite copper bushings can work in high temperature environment, suitable for some high temperature equipment, such as metallurgy, chemical industry equipment.

Strong corrosion resistance: copper alloy matrix has a certain degree of corrosion resistance, coupled with the high chemical stability of graphite, making graphite copper sleeve has good corrosion resistance, can be used in corrosive environments.

Relatively low cost: compared with some high-performance bearing materials, the cost of graphite bronze bush is relatively low, with a high cost performance.

Disadvantages:

Graphite is easy to fall off: in the process of long-term use, graphite particles may gradually wear out and fall off, resulting in a decline in lubrication performance, affecting the service life of the copper sleeve. If the graphite shedding is serious, it may also cause wear and tear to other parts of the equipment.

Slightly worse mechanical strength: Although the base of graphite copper bushing is copper alloy, which has a certain degree of strength, the presence of graphite will reduce the overall mechanical strength of the material to a certain extent, so that it may not be as good as pure copper bushing or other high-strength material bearings under certain extreme working conditions.

Not suitable for high-speed operation: due to the self-lubricating properties of graphite may not be able to give full play to high-speed rotation, and the centrifugal force generated by high-speed rotation may lead to uneven distribution of graphite, affecting the lubrication effect, so the graphite copper bushings are not very suitable for high-speed operation of the equipment.