A vehicular propeller shaft through which a rotary motion of a drive power source is transmitted to drive wheels and which includes a first tubular member and a second tubular member. The first tubular member has a large-diameter cylindrical section, a small-diameter cylindrical section having a smaller outside diameter than the large-diameter cylindrical section, and a tapered cylindrical section formed between one end of the large-diameter cylindrical section and the small-diameter cylindrical section. The large-diameter cylindrical section, the small-diameter cylindrical section and the tapered cylindrical section are formed integrally with each other. The second tubular member is coaxially joined to the first tubular member and formed of a material having a higher degree of strength than the first tubular member.

A bearing element may include a bearing element substrate and a sliding layer applied to a surface of the bearing element substrate. The sliding layer may be formed of a sliding layer material. A surface roughness (Ra) of the surface of the bearing element substrate may be less than 1 m. The sliding layer material may include a polymeric material and iron oxide. The sliding layer may have at least three layers of the sliding layer material.

Embodiments disclosed herein are directed to tilting pad bearing assemblies, bearing apparatuses including the tilting pad bearing assemblies, and methods of using the bearing apparatuses. The tilting pad bearing assemblies disclosed herein include a plurality of tilting pads. At least some of the superhard tables exhibit a thickness that is at least about 0.120 inch and/or at least two layers having different wear and/or thermal characteristics.

The magnetic bearings make use of magnet assemblies with a high magnetic field gradient. The magnet assemblies use two permanent magnets with opposite polarization in a Kittel open domain structure. The basic factor of magnetic separation is the magnetic force, which acts on a particle of the substance and which is proportional to the magnetic susceptibility of the substance, the value of the magnetic induction B and the value of the gradient B of the applied magnetic field. Therefore, increasing the sensitivity and selectivity of magnetic separation will require use of the highest possible values of magnetic induction B and magnetic field gradient B, or their united factorthe product BB. The magnetic assembly have repulsive magnetic systems each having two juxtaposed permanent magnets 2, 4 with opposite magnetization in the form of a Kittel open domain structure. In such an system, near the edges of the faces of the joining magnets, a strong magnetic stray field appears and the value of the product BB reaches 10.sup.11 mT.sup.2/m. To concentrate the magnetic stray field shields 6 are provided on top of the two magnets 2,4 with a gap 8 between the shields at the joint of the two magnets 2, 4 forming zones of high magnetic field gradient 14 with increased magnitude for the product BB.

A resin coating layer in a sliding member has a surface shape indicated by a shape line. This shape line is divided into recessed sections and protruding sections by an average line for uneven areas. The inclination R of a straight line connecting the bottom of these recessed sections and the peak of these protruding sections is classified into Ra: R<0.02, Rb: 0.02R0.04, and Rc: 0.04<R. The sliding member comprises a resin coating layer fulfilling Ra+Rb50%.

A water lubricated composite thrust bearing of a nuclear main pump has a stainless steel base and an engineering plastic layer. The stainless steel base is provided with a concave-convex surface connected to the engineering plastic layer. The concave-convex surface and the engineering plastic layer are compositely molded by means of thermoplastic compound molding. A ratio of the area of the concave-convex surface to the area of an orthographic projection of the concave-convex surface on the stainless steel base ranges from 1.2 to 2. By means of the concave-convex surface and a specific bonding property obtained after fusion of a rough face and the engineering plastic layer, the concave-convex surface is bonded with the engineering plastic layer, thereby forming a reliable composite thrust bearing that is physically connected onto a whole.

Rotating machines and rotors therefor are disclosed. The bearings may be magnetic bearings configured to magnetically levitate the rotor. The rotors may include a hollow fiber-reinforced composite shaft and a magnetic bearing rotor core disposed on the shaft and configured for use with the magnetic bearing. In some examples, the rotating machines may be electrical machines.

There is provided a sliding member formed by combining a resin overlay and a soft metal overlay. The sliding member has a soft layer comprising a metallic material with a hardness of less than 40 HV provided under a resin overlay layer comprising a solid lubricant and resin. In the event of contamination by a foreign matter, the soft layer under the resin overlay layer is capable of plastic deformation and the resin overlay layer is capable of partial deformation accompanying the plastic deformation due to the hardness (T1) (m) of the soft layer and the hardness (T2) (m) of the resin overlay layer being such that 0.2T1/T27.0 and 3.0T120.0. Consequently, a foreign matter is desirably embedded and resistance to a foreign matter can be improved. Low friction is maintained by the resin overlay layer even after contamination by a foreign matter.

Needle bearing units and gas control valve arrangements including the bearing units are disclosed. A needle bearing unit for mounting a valve shaft or actuator shaft may include an outer ring and a needle cage, which may be arranged in the outer ring. Needle-shaped rolling elements may be guided in the needle cage, and the outer ring may have the form of a sleeve and have a sleeve bottom at its first end. An inner ring may be arranged in the needle cage and have, at its end remote from the sleeve bottom, an inner ring flange pointing toward the outer ring. The outer ring may have, at its second end, a sleeve flange, which surrounds the inner ring flange in order to fix the inner ring in the outer ring.

The element is formed from the winding of a fabric of small thickness ranging between 20 ?m and 150 ?m and mixed with a resin containing fillers. The fabric has the form of strips having a width ranging between 5 mm and 200 mm, with the strips being crossed in several layers.