Experiments have been conducted on the application of a new type of gas lubricated self-acting journal bearing—plate-foil bearing to a high speed cryogenic turboexpander. The 25.0 mm diameter bearing consists of a rigid housing and a flexible foil element; different structure parameters of the bearing are selected in the experiments. Experimental results indicate the foil bearing presented here offers better system stability performance and high durability, and it confirmed that the application of this type of plate-foil bearing to the cryogenic turboexpander is feasible. The experiment results, including the effect of the plate-foil bearing structure parameters on the rotor-bearing system stability, are described in this paper. Presented at the 54th Annual Meeting Las Vegas, Nevada May 23–27, 1999