Disassembly and Reassembly Procedures for Precision Ball Bearings

摘要

Bearings are lubricated to eliminate metal-to-metal contact and also to reduce friction between the races, balls and cage. Since conventional lubricants like grease/oils cannot withstand the harsh environment of space, bearings have provided with thin solid film lubrication on races, balls and cage by means of physical vapour deposition technique for vacuum applications. Bearing manufacturers supply bearings in assembled condition to the end-user with liquid/grease lubrication or without lubrication. The manufacturer only ensures the class and precision of the bearings in as-assembled condition as supplied. Space qualified dry lubricated bearings costs much higher than conventional lubricated bearings and in particular cases they even cost 100 times more.