GRAPHALLOY Bearings Replace Ball Bearings in Damper Application

See how Graphalloy damper bearings helped a refinery in Italy reduce maintenance costs and eliminate high-temperature failures.

Discover the full story and engineering solution behind this upgrade → Read more

Parts for Pump Survival & Reliability

Case Rings and Wear Rings

Pump wear rings and case rings made from GRAPHALLOY® materials can significantly improve the reliability and efficiency of both horizontal and vertical pumps. The unique properties of the Graphalloy material, a range of self-lubricating graphite-metal alloys, benefit users across a wide variety of pump services.

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GRAPHALLOY 'Disaster' Bushings for Improved Safety in Case of Seal Failure
“Disaster Bushings” are used in pumps outside the seal to minimize product leakage to the environment in the event of a seal failure. GRAPHALLOY® materials provide ideal properties for a disaster bushing. 

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Graphalloy for 3D Printers

3D printers need uncontaminated environments to create their products.  When lubricating bearings, traditional lubricants can often migrate from their desired location and disturb the printing process.  The answer to this problem can be found in self-lubricating bearings.

Check out a Design World "Bearing Tips" article featuring Graphalloy's success in a 3D printer application here.

Graphalloy for Drinking Water Applications, Food Applications

Potable Water NSF International has certified grades of GRAPHALLOY material for use in municipal well pumps and treatment plant applications. These Graphalloy grades are certified to NSF/ANSI Standard 61-"Drinking Water System Components- Health Effects" and approved in the category for Multiple Water Contact Materials up to 180°F. The Water Regulations Advisory Scheme (WRAS, UK) has approved a grade of GRAPHALLOY material as suitable for contact with wholesome water for domestic purposes having met the requirements of BS 6920-1:2000 and/or 2014 'Suitability of non-metallic products for use in contact with water intended for human consumption with regard to their effect on the quality of the water'. Where to use NSF and WRAS Certified Grapahalloy Bushings Municipal Well Pumps Pumps- Potable Water Water Treatment Plants Click here to learn more about Graphalloy for drinking water applications Food Applications In 1996, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave GRAPHALLOY a favorable opinion for use in pumps, baking ovens, and equipment for transporting and handling food. That opinion was updated and refreshed in 2018. Click here to learn more about Graphalloy for food applications

Common Reasons Why Oil/Grease Lubricated and Plastic Bearings Fail

Bearings are essential machinery components. Bearings protect the moving shaft from wear and damage, keeping it in place with little friction. They need to be lubricated in order to do so. Oil/grease lubricated bearings and self-lubricating plastic bearings are common but often times not capable of handling extreme situations. Below are the main reasons either option might fail.



Reason #1: High Temperatures

Reason #2: Low Temperatures

Reason #3: Vibration

Reason #4: Corrosives and Washout

Reason #5: Dust, Ash, and other particulates

Reason #6: Dry Run and Low Viscosity Pumpage 

Reason #7: Heavy Loads

Reason #8: Infrequent Operation/Inactivity


Click here to learn more about each reason

GRAPHALLOY® Finds Its Place In Renewable Energy

For years, Graphite Metallizing has been supplying products to companies involved in the production of clean, renewable energy. The advantages of alternate power sources are well-documented. However, because of the extreme nature of the environments required to generate power, it often becomes impossible to use traditional bearings.

Tidal power provides an inexhaustible source of renewable energy. A company in New England was seeking low maintenance bearings for a turbine shaft suspended forty feet below the ocean surface. As the tides move in and out, the turbines spin and generate power. GRAPHALLOY bearings proved ideal for this application because they operate successfully in submerged conditions and tolerate abrasive environments like salt water.

GRAPHALLOY bearings are helping to solve the world's energy needs.

GRAPHALLOY Bearings: A Component of Power Generation at The Geysers

GRAPHALLOY Helps Generate Reliable Geothermal Power

The Geysers is the largest geothermal power field in the world. Because geothermal power is constant (and nearly free), The Geysers have become one of the most reliable energy sources in Northern California. Currently, the Calpine Corporation owns and operates 19 of 21 power plants at The Geysers. Calpine and their predecessors have used GRAPHALLOY to solve a critical pump application problem.

Click here to read more...

 

(Image courtesy of DOE/NREL, Credit - David Parsons)

You Need GRAPHALLOY® In Your Freezer

A seafood processing plant in the Southeast was running a conveyor in their freezer area to "flash-freeze" fresh seafood. The environment is a difficult one: the temperature is cold (28° F/-2° C) and wet and the system requires frequent wash down. The conveyor bearings were being replaced every other month.

The plant maintenance superintendent contacted GRAPHALLOY about the problem. It was determined that the current bearings were not holding lubrication because of the cold, wet conditions and, as a result, breakdowns were occurring frequently.

GRAPHALLOY 4-bolt flange block assemblies were installed and have been running successfully for more than six years. The plant has since placed orders for additional flange assemblies for their freezer conveyor and fish wash down lines. GRAPHALLOY continues to work with the plant maintenance superintendent to identify other opportunities on their fish processing conveyors.

The self-lubricating qualities of GRAPHALLOY bushings are well-suited to cold, wet applications. Once again, GRAPHALLOY bearings work when others fail.

How will Graphalloy handle our jet fuel pump application?

The principal bearing issue for Jet fuel is its very low specific gravity which makes jet fuel a poor lubricant.

Graphalloy bearings have many applications in very low gravity pumpages (lng, ethane, propane, benzene, CO2 etc.). Graphalloy is excellent for these applications because in these low specific gravity fluids Graphalloy provides a margin of safety allowing moving parts to contact without galling or seizing.

We have a history with aircraft fuel gear pumps (from memory I think these go back to the 60's). Our primarily pump business is in high HP centrifugal boiler feed and process pumps (vertical and horizontal) where low lubricity, flashing or run dry conditions are a possibility. Graphalloy bearings will allow the pump to survive an upset. So we have lots of related experience and are confident that the materials can handle a jet fuel pump but we encourage you to do you own testing in as close to real world environment as possible.

We mostly supply finished bearings/bushings and generally these are custom sized for a specific manufacturer's equipment. Pumps are a large part of our bushing applications. The key Graphalloy material advantage is the ability to run dry or in very light fluids (jet fuel for example) without galling. This permits the pump to run dry for a period and then re-establish pumping without failing. (FYI http://www.graphalloy.com/html/pump.html ).

For a metal pump, the usual design is to install, with a press fit, directly into the housing of the pump. The bushings can be supplied with a metal backing but this is normally not necessary. One advantage to the press fit installation directly into the housing of the pump is that as the temperature of the housing changes the bearing can be designed to maintain both secure mounting and a constant clearance to the shaft over a wide range of operating conditions.

In order to proceed to a design, our engineers will need: pump cross sections and dimensions on housing and shafts, materials of construction, rpm, expected loads and pumpages.