Hello! I am looking for some advice from a structural engineer for a truss I am designing and fabricating. I have a stainless steel compression strut that is bearing down on a block of stainless steel. The forces in the compression strut are 4,900 pounds and the bearing surface area is rectangular and 3.8 square inches.

The bearing surface was machined to be perfectly flat. The compression strut was fabricated from parts and is not perfectly flat. I want to place some kind of rubber/plastic gasket/bearing between the compression strut and the bearing surface to ensure that the forces are being distributed evenly across the entire bearing face.

Can anybody recommend which kind of rubber/plastic gasket I could use? I was thinking PTFE might be appropriate here, but I wanted to get a second opinion. Additionally, what kind of adhesive could I use with the suggested plastic to adhere it to the stainless steel bearing surface?

Thanks in advance!