TFE EXPANSION BEARINGS FOR HIGHWAY BRIDGES

THE POTENTIAL USE OF TETRAFLUORETHYLENE (TFE) AS A SLIDING SURFACE FOR HIGHWAY BRIDGE BEARINGS IS REPORTED ON. THE RESEARCH INCLUDES A COMPARISON OF TFE BEARINGS WITH THE BRONZE BEARINGS WHICH ARE CURRENTLY USED ON PRESTRESSED CONCRETE BRIDGES. SAMPLES SUPPLIED BY VARIOUS MANUFACTURERS WERE TESTED TO DETERMINE THE CHARACTERISTICS OF TFE SURFACES CONTAINING DIFFERENT AMOUNTS OF GLASS FIBER FILLER AND TO EVALUATE THE EFFECT OF DIFFERENT TYPES OF BACKING MATERIAL ON THE PERFORMANCE OF THE BEARINGS. BOTH LABORATORY AND COMPARATIVE FIELD TESTS WERE CONDUCTED TO MEASURE THE RELATIVE BEHAVIOR OF THE VARIOUS BEARING CONFIGURATIONS. A DESCRIPTION OF THE TEST PROCEDURES, AN ANALYSIS OF THE DATA OBTAINED, AND A DISCUSSION OF OBSERVATIONS MADE DURING THE TESTING PROGRAM ARE INCLUDED. THE RESULTS INDICATE THAT TFE BEARINGS ARE SUITABLE FOR USE IN HIGHWAY BRIDGES. DESIGN SPECIFICATIONS ARE PRESENTED AND RECOMMENDATIONS ARE MADE FOR ACHIEVING THE OPTIMUM TFE BEARING CONFIGURATION. /AUTHOR/

• Corporate Authors:

  Federal Highway Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590

  Illinois Department of Transportation

  Division of Highways, 2300 South Dirksen Parkway
  Springfield, IL  United States  62764
• Authors:
  • Jacobsen, F K
  • TAYLOR, R K
• Publication Date: 0

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Bearings; Elastomers; Highway bridges
• Old TRIS Terms: Tetrafluorethylene
• Subject Areas: Geotechnology; Highways; Materials;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00215964
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Federal Highway Administration
• Report/Paper Numbers: Study No Ihd-7
• Files: TRIS, USDOT
• Created Date: Jan 12 1972 12:00AM