Bowman International claims its new BowMet range of rolled bearings are the biggest advance in plain sliding bearings in more than 70 years.
BowMet is said to offer a higher load capacity and longer life than comparable bearings for customers operating in the construction and quarrying sectors, together with outstanding heat, speed and corrosion capabilities. It is manufactured in innovative ToughMet alloy, developed by Materion in the United States.
With a static load of 820N/mm2 and an impressive PV value of 9.6 MPa x m/s, BowMet is ideally suited to a wide range of harsh industrial applications, including mining and quarrying, heavy construction, motorsport, offshore oil and gas, materials handling and marine. It is said by Bowman International to have an outstanding ability to withstand corrosion such as hydrogen embrittlement and chloride stress corrosion cracking, particularly when compared with traditional copper-based alloys.
Additionally, the rolling process is said to ensure virtually no wastage and unrivalled flexibility with no minimum quantity, making BowMet the ideal solution for virtually any application. The bearings are available as plain or flanged in a variety of standard wall thicknesses from 0.75mm to 3mm or above, and are also available in imperial sizes. The range can also be customised to include lubrication grooves, location slots, tabs, holes and pockets, while special and one-off runs can also be produced with minimal or no tooling costs.
Paul Mitchell, managing director of Bowman International, says: “BowMet is nothing short of a revolution in bearing design and capability, with the capacity to deliver increased reliability, reduced downtime, fewer warranty claims and lower maintenance costs. All this, of course, in addition to outstanding bearing properties which enable higher loads, higher speeds and combat corrosion.”
