Novotext
Novotext is a trade name for cotton textile-phenolic resin, essentially cotton-reinforced Bakelite. It was often used in car engines for gear wheels used to provide a direct drive to the camshaft as it is flexible and quiet-running. One of the first luxury cars to use this material for its camshaft drive gears was the Maybach Zeppelin of 1928. The material is known under various other names such as Turbax, Resitex, Celeron and Textolit. In bar form it is also known as Cartatextiel and Ferrozell and in sheet form as Harex, Tufnol and Micarta.
01Tufnol
Tufnol is a composite material comprising phenolic resin and another material (paper, cotton fabric etc.). The two materials together complement each other's qualities. It is inherently water resistant and some grades are used as a lining in loaded bearings (e.g. stave bearings) where lubricating oil use is not feasible. Rather, it can be lubricated with water. It has very low friction characteristics; thus it finds its use in dusty, chemically sensitive environments. The ability to work without oil makes it a preferable choice for design engineers. Unfortunately, the preparation is not as environmentally friendly.
02Production
Production is achieved through the use of chopped strand mat (CSM) technique.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Novotext”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Textolite.jpg by Zureks, CC0
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