Menatek, an established manufacturer of a considerably wide range of components for military land vehicles, differentiated itself from other Turkish companies by showcasing a new product at DSEI exhibition. The product known as “Bradley Bearing” is a self-lubricating spherical plain bearing used as a critical joint component of M2 Bradley armoured combat vehicle’s suspension assembly. The Bradley Bearing features a self-lubricating composite liner that is capable of operating under pressures of up to 690 megapascals. This liner is said to be three times more resistant to wear compared to its closest competitors on the market.

Among the products showcased by Menatek were torsion bars developed for such tracked vehicles as the M113 armoured personnel carrier, the M60 main battle tank and the amphibious assault vehicle (AAV).

Commenting on the Bradley Bearing, Naz Ünal, Director of Business Development and Strategy at Menatek, said: “We carried out a unique product development process following deep analysis which is conducted using a special simulation software that we customized based on our engineering experiences. First of all, even for the initial digital prototypes, each technical feature of the part was subjected to 50+ simulation iterations in order to fully understand the details. The simulations were programmed down to the last detail, taking into account parameters such as movements of the crystal structures inside the material. This allowed us to produce an error-free prototype on the first production run. This was clear evidence of the success of Menatek’s product development process. Our previous pall-pin type plain bearing and the Bradley Bearing that we have recently added to our product portfolio represent the two opposite ends of self-lubricating bearing production in terms of manufacturing methods. Act of developing these two bearings from scratch itself is the proof of the knowledge and expertise that Menatek possesses in this field.

Source; savunmahaber.com