Quiet and silent: High-temperature bearings and seals for exhaust systems.

BUCK customer project for an automotive supplier: the end of vibrations and noise.

They are a common problem for automotive suppliers: unpleasant noises caused by vibrations in the exhaust area of vehicles. They occur when flexible bearings and seals in the high-temperature range are involved. And this in an industry where high quality is required for technically demanding components. BUCK solved the problem to the customer's satisfaction with a technical mesh.

Stainless steel meets graphite.

There have already been many attempts by suppliers to eliminate unwanted vibrations in exhaust systems, for example, with ceramic bearings and metal bead seals. However, the attempts were unsuccessful because the materials used behaved too inflexibly when exposed to temperature fluctuations. Because BUCK already had a certain level of recognition in the industry and a reputation as a fast, competent development partner, our approach to optimizing the bearing - and thus minimizing noise - fell on receptive ears at the supplier.

The first sample after one week.

Since we already had empirical values from similar projects involving damping and storage, we could select the optimum knitting machine and the material that was best suited from our point of view in a short time. In the next step, we created a sample tool and then used this to create the first meaningful sample, which we were able to provide to the customer after just one week.

The solution we have developed is a combination of pressed stainless steel wire knit and graphite. In simple terms, this means that we knit a stainless steel wire, combine it with graphite and press the two together. Thanks to its high flexibility, this material excellently compensates for tolerances in the event of large temperature fluctuations - and thus prevents the annoying noise caused by vibrations.