Performance Plastics Ltd. provides a wide range of plastic bearings and plastic bushings, molded from both standard and custom blended materials. We develop and blend the materials when specialized applications require a proprietary material.

Typically, additives are re-enforcements such as glass, carbon, and Kevlar fibers, or lubricating such as PTFE, UHMW, graphite, molybdenum-disulfide, silicones, and other more exotic options. For special applications, we blend two or more resins to get just the right properties to achieve your performance requirements.

The addition of re-enforcing additives such as glass, or carbon fibers to improve load-carrying properties, will wear a non-hardened surface prematurely. Therefore, mating surfaces (in non-lubricated applications) must be hardened, increasing the over-all cost of the assembly. For this reason, the three custom materials we use most often (PB05, PB15, PB45) have no abrasive additives, and provide a good cost/performance option.

Determining the appropriate bearing material requires a thorough understanding of the application, and its environment. Loads, speeds, impact, duty cycle, life, mating materials, finishes, temperatures, and chemical exposure all factor into determining which bearing material to use.

Generally speaking, most applications seek a bearing material with low friction. Low friction means less energy consumption, and results in lower heat gain. Lower temperatures mean longer bearing life. Call Performance Plastics for help on your next project.

Contact Us