In this article, we are going to review some of the basic principles behind the PV value, and take a look at some PV values for commonly used bearing materials.
Introduction
The amount of wear a bearing is going to experience is related to the bearing pressure and the running velocity. The more pressure applied to the bearing, the faster it will wear; similarly, the faster the bearing surface speed, the more wear will occur. Did you ever wonder why? One clue lies in the amount of heat that is generated as a result of interaction between the bearing and the shaft. The more heat that is generated, the faster the bearing will wear. One value that represents this relationship between heat generated and the resulting wear is the PV value. You will see this value used as a key part of the material selection process when specifying a bearing.
Here are some other articles on Polymer Bushings and Bearings from Advanced EMC Technologies Blog: