Minnesota Rubberand Plastics' thrustrings act as rotating planetary carriers for helical shaped ring gears intransmission assemblies. When precision molded of a high performance PEEKformulation by MR&P, they incur less heat and surface abrasion resulting inlonger operating life than the aluminum components which they replace.

Theirmaterial formulation included PEEK (Polyetheretherketone) providing hightemperature resistance (400 - 450F), carbon fiber providing high wearresistance and PTFE for reduced friction. The manufacturer says in addition toproving to be more durable over time, the MR&P design was 50 percentlighter and cost significantly less than the aluminum thrust rings.

Importantassembly benefits were accomplished with the new MR&P thrust ring design. Theprevious aluminum component design had two locating holes requiring tediousriveting and assembly. Accurate alignment was required to avoid wastedcomponents and potential performance issues. The new MR&P design eliminatedthe locating holes and added self-aligning features for easy and fast press-fitassembly. Scrapped parts thus were eliminated.

Plastic Transmission Thrust Ring Converted From Aluminum to Molded PEEK Material_A