Abstract:

Rubber layer of ship stern tube water-lubricated rubber bearings can be easily deformed elas- tically under certain load, and can cause the change of water wedge between the bearing and the shaft journal, which affects the friction performance of the bearing system. Thickness and hardness are the main structural factors that affect the deformation of the rubber layer. To determinate the influence of these two factors and their interaction, tests were carried out on the test rig SSB-100 by test blocks, and corresponding friction coefficient were recorded. Then two-factor variance analysis with interaction was done with the experimental data. The results show that among the effect of rubber layer thickness, hard- ness and their interactions of test blocks on the friction properties, the rubber layer thickness is the most significant, followed by hardness, then the interaction of thickness and hardness. Thus, in the design, rubber layer thickness should be guaranteed as priority.

Key words: organic polymer material, stern tube bearing, thickness of rubber layer, hardness of rubber layer, friction performance, variance analysis