Development of heavy duty hybrid carbon–phenolic hemispherical bearings

Carbon–phenolic woven composite materials are employed in heavy duty bearings due to their inherent self-lubricating properties and thermal stability. In this work, a hybrid composite hemispherical bearing (CHB) composed of carbon–phenolic composite and aluminum back-up for the suspension of high mobility tracked vehicles, is developed. In order to reduce the damage generated during machining of the spherical surface of CHB, a near net-shape molding process was used. The thermal residual stresses in the composite and aluminum generated during molding process were calculated by finite element analysis with respect to the fiber types and material stacking sequences. From the calculated data and tested results for CHB, it was found that the developed CHB performed better than the conventional carbon-PEEK CHB.