Research Developments of Aerostatic Thrust Bearings: A Review

In aerostatic thrust bearings (ATBs), a high-pressure gas film with certain bearing capacity and stiffness is formed by passing between the moving surface static surface. Aerostatic have outstanding advantages in following aspects: high precision, speed, long service life, etc. They are widely used many fields, such as high-speed air spindles, precision machine tools, air-bearing guideways, turbine machinery, drills. With pursuit of higher efficiency high-precision machining there an increasing demand for high-performance ATBs. Much effort has been spent on study ATBs, improvements load stiffness, enhancement stability. Some significant progress achieved. this paper, research developments ATBs summarized from several aspects, theoretical models experimental methods, performance, dynamic applications. addition, insights breakthrough development trends put forward. It hoped that paper can provide some guidance design application