Tenmat-Railko bearing materials are non-metallic and have been specially designed to cope with extremes of operating conditions: loads, speeds, temperature fluctuations, dirty conditions, etc. Depending on the application and grade, these thermosetting resin laminates can operate dry, partially lubricated, or fully lubricated in oil or seawater.

Tenmat-Railko marine bearings offer significant advantages in terms of reduced vessel through-life operating costs: reduced maintenance, improved reliability and ‘kindness’ to shaft materials. They are applied as propeller shaft bearings, rudder bearings, steering gear and deck machinery bushes.

OIL LUBRICATED PROPELLER SHAFT BEARINGS

Traditional oil lubricated tailshaft bearings are ‘white’ metal lined – failures occur due to wiping of the liner due to: high loads, low speeds (where a hydro-dynamic oil film is difficult to generate), displacement of the tailshaft whilst manoeuvring and fatigue of the bearing metal caused by repeated shock loading. These types of white metal failures can be catastrophic, with the shaft becoming welded to the bearing.

RAILKO and FEROFORM material grades have been designed for oil lubricated tailshaft bearings and are applied to all sizes of merchant ships and cruise liners. RAILKO and FEROFORM have proven not to seize or damage the shaft in the event of oil loss due to worn or wire-damaged seals. The benefit to the Owner/Operator is that the vessel can be converted to water lubrication at sea and get to its destination at normal speed.

• There are no towing charges
• There is no need for machining down or replacing the shaft (assuming the wire has not done irreparable damage to the shaft)
• There is no need to run to the cost of keeping a spare shaft in stores and the additional cost of freighting it to the repair yard.
• There need be no knee-jerk reaction to get the vessel into the nearest dry dock – this can be planned – again resulting in minimal disruption to the chartering programme and enabling the most cost effective dry-docking location to be selected.

FEROFORM is the first composite propeller shaft bearing material that holds all major Classification Society approvals for both oil and water lubricated systems.
For those Owners/Operators sailing through environmentally sensitive areas, Feroform stern tube bearing materials are compatible with all EALs.

Please contact us to discuss all your propeller shaft needs and questions.