Preparation and Experimental Study of Graphite Material for Water Lubricated Thrust Bearing of Nuclear Main Pump

Based on technical difficulties of graphite water-lubricated thrust bearing such as preparation and properties detection, this paper investigated graphite bearing systematically from preparation and property testing, three different types of graphite (#1, #2 and #3) were carried out. The result indicated the tribological properties are poor if the graphitization of graphite is too high or low. The pads of water-lubricated thrust bearing are manufactured by the three kinds of graphite, and the start-stop test were carried out on a test platform for half-size bearing of nuclear primary pump. The result of start-stop test were indicated the graphitization have a visible influence on the wear loss mass of graphite pad.