Plastic Transmission Thrust Ring Converted From Aluminum to Molded PEEK Material

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