The design and construction of a high vacuum bearing test apparatus.
Abstract
The growing interest in the exploration of the
universe makes mandatory new machines which must operate
under the extreme temperatures and the high vacuum
(10 to 10 mm Hg.) of outer space. A critical problem
is that of developing bearings which will operate for long,
unattended periods of time. Conventional bearings cannot
be used because the liquid lubricants are quickly evaporated
by the low pressure, and the solid lubricants wear or chip
away, exposing the clean metal. If two perfectly clean surfaces
come in contact, they weld together and then leave a
rough surface when they are torn apart. This does not
happen in our atmosphere because the metal surface quickly
adsorbs films of oxygen and water vapor which act as lubricants. There are many proposed designs for bearings which can
operate under this high vacuum, but there is very little
emperical data on the performance and useful life of these
bearings. The purpose of this thesis is to design and construct
an apparatus which will measure the performance of
instrument bearings operating in a high vacuum.
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