Different materials of bearings

Bearing steel is a steel used to manufacture balls, rollers, and bearing rings. Bearings bear great pressure and friction during operation, so it is required that the bearing steel has high and uniform hardness and wear resistance, as well as high elastic limit. Strict requirements are placed on the uniformity of chemical composition, content and distribution of non-metallic inclusions, and distribution of carbides in bearing steel, making it one of the most stringent steel grades in all steel production.

Different materials of bearings

Bearing alloy

Bearing alloys (Babbitt alloys) are widely used. They usually come in two types: tin based bearing alloys and lead based bearing alloys, which have the characteristic of fast running in and easy to make the surface very smooth. They are usually attached as bearing liners to the steel bearing substrate. Babbitt alloy bearings have good adaptability and automatic adjustment characteristics for small misalignment or defective shafts. Because the appropriate amount of dust or external debris entering the lubricant can be absorbed by this soft material to prevent shaft adhesion damage, this embeddedness makes them excellent bearing materials. The journal material can be soft steel, hard steel, or cast iron.

bronze

Bronze bearings are suitable for low speed and heavy load situations where shafts and bearings have good alignment. They can be made of various alloy components to achieve various physical properties.

Lead copper

This type of bearing has a higher load-bearing capacity than the bearing alloy, and its adaptability is poor. Therefore, it is used in situations where the shaft has good rigidity and is neutral.

cast iron

Cast iron bearing materials are widely used in situations with less stringent requirements. The hardness of the journal must be higher than that of the bearing shell. The working surface should be carefully blended with a mixture of graphite and oil using a resin. It is required that the journal and bearings be well aligned.

Porous bearing

Firstly, the metal powder is sintered and then immersed in oil to produce so-called "self-lubricating" or "porous" bearings. Bronze with various compositions is widely used in porous bearings, with less use of iron. Due to its self-lubricating properties, porous bearings are mainly used in situations where reliable lubrication is difficult or impossible for bearings when using general lubrication methods.

Carbon and plastics

Pure carbon bearings can achieve satisfactory results in high-temperature situations or when traditional lubrication methods cannot be used. Polytetrafluoroethylene is a very common plastic. The bearings made from it have extremely low friction coefficients and are used in oil-free lubrication situations. They can work under low speed or intermittent oscillation and heavy load conditions. Experiments have shown that some combinations of materials can work well together, while others cannot. Materials that cannot work well together will experience excessive wear and tear.