Bearing assembly
Provided are bearing assemblies including one or more substrate assemblies, such as thrust bearing assemblies. The substrate assemblies include a bearing element fixed to a substrate. The bearing elements are formed from a thermally stable material such as a ceramic-bonded diamond composite. Methods for manufacturing the bearing assemblies are also provided.
1. A method of manufacturing a bearing assembly comprising at least one substrate assembly, the method comprising:
providing a substrate having one or more recesses;
applying a composition comprising an epoxy into each of the recesses;
inserting at least one bearing element comprising a ceramic-bonded diamond composite into each of the recesses to obtain a wet substrate assembly;
placing a bottom alignment plate into a pneumatic press;
stacking the wet substrate assembly onto the bottom alignment plate;
optionally placing a separator material on top of the wet substrate assembly;
placing a top alignment plate on top of the wet substrate assembly with or without the separator material therebetween;
pressing the wet substrate assembly with the pneumatic press at a pressure of from 0.2 to 0.8 psi Megapascal (MPa) for a period of from 5 to 15 seconds;
removing the pressed wet substrate assembly; and
curing the wet substrate assembly for 24 hours to obtain the at least one substrate assembly.
2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the substrate comprises an annular ring shape.
3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the substrate is formed from steel.
4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the substrate is formed from a cemented carbide.
5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the ceramic-bonded diamond composite comprises by weight 90% diamond grains, 9% silicon carbide bonded to the diamond grains, and 1% unreacted silicon metal.
6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the ceramic-bonded diamond composite comprises by weight 50-99% diamond grains, 1-25% silicon carbide bonded to the diamond grains, and 0.01-5% unreacted silicon metal.
7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein an adhesive formulation comprises silicic acid, steel fines, and an epoxy resin.
8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one bearing element comprises a bearing face formed in a shape selected from the group consisting of a circle, a square, a rectangle, a triangle, a trapezoid, a nonagon, an octagon, a heptagon, a hexagon, a scalene triangle, a right triangle, a parallelogram, a rhombus, a square, a pentagon, a circle, an oval, a star, and a crescent.
9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one bearing element comprises a fluid restriction element.
10. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the substrate comprises a fluid restriction element.
11. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the substrate comprises a first substrate body and a second substrate body joined together.
12. The method according to claim 11 , wherein the first substrate body and the second substrate are different materials.
13. The method according to claim 11 , wherein the first substrate body is formed from tungsten carbide and the second substrate body is formed from steel.