Low-friction laminate liner for bearings

Claim 1

A bearing device which comprises a bearing support surface and a laminate as a bearing liner secured to the bearing support surface, which laminate comprises: a. a flexible woven backing sheet material; b. a flexible, nonwoven, porous, thin, polymeric sheet material consisting essentially of a fibrous thermoplastic polymeric fluorocarbon material having low-friction, self-lubricating properties; c. a hardened, thermoset resin binder material; d. the backing sheet material characterized by a plurality of substantially regular and uniform, relatively large openings thereon having from about 10 to 45 openings per linear inch; e. the polymeric sheet material characterized by a plurality of small pores therein up to about 100 microns and a pore volume of over about 50 percent; f. the polymeric sheet material compressed into the openings of the backing sheet material and mechanically secured as a face surface to the backing sheet material; g. the resin binder material impregnated into the openings of the backing sheet material and the pores of the compressed polymeric sheet material, the resin material and the backing sheet material adapted to serve as a structural load-carrying element; and h. the compressed polymeric sheet material and the impregnated resin material in the backing sheet providing an internal laminate liner having a facing surface of compressed fibrous polymeric material essentially free of resin thereon, and a hardened, resin-rich backing surface secured to the supporting surface to form a low-friction bearing liner.