Hybrid bearings:a developing technology

摘要

Phil Burge, Marketing and Communications Manager at SKF, explains the construction of hybrid bearings and reveals new research that is attempting to address issues surrounding the integrity of their ceramic components, which could open up their applications potential. Hybrid bearings comprise of steel rings and ceramic rolling elements - the latter generally produced from bearing grade silicon nitride. Similar to their all-steel counterparts, hybrid bearings come in a variety of types, including single row deep groove ball, single row cylindrical roller and angular contact ball bearings in sealed and non-sealed variants. While they may currently be a more costly alternative to all-steel bearings, a hybrid bearing does have some distinct performance advantages. The raceways of 'standard' hybrid bearings are constructed from regular carbon chromium bearing steels with rolling elements made from a silicon nitride ceramic. The latter is separated by conventionally designed cages constructed from standard cage materials. However, because of the severity of service that they are occasionally expected to endure, some hybrid bearings make use of more exotic materials.