Hybrid bearings extend performance and life, having more useful features than standard bearings. Hybrid bearings have steel rings typically made from AISI52100, 440C, or Cronodur. Hybrid bearings usually have a nonmetallic retainer such as polyamide and ceramic rolling elements. The combination of steel rings, polyamide retainers, and ceramic balls are free of maintenance, have reduced friction, and are lighter in weight than standard bearings. Hybrid bearings are available as ball bearings and cylindrical roller bearings. Many times, they can be customized for most applications, and as such are used in a wide range of applications.
Applications for Hybrid Bearings
Miniature hybrid ball bearings are commonly used at high speed in dental turbines, contra angle handpieces, and dental motors. These dental products reach speeds up to 500,000 rpm. Other ideal candidates for hybrid bearings are in Aviation, Aerospace, and Defense applications. The automotive industry, due to stricter emission directives, looks to increase motor efficiency. Turbochargers reach speeds of more than 250,000 rpm and can operate in temperatures from -40 to +320°C by applying hybrid bearings. In the machine tool industry, high-precision ABEC7 and ABEC9 hybrid angular contact bearings are being specified for high-speed machine tool spindles.
Ceramics was introduced in the 1960’s by the aerospace industry. Ceramics having high heat resistance properties and being light weight were a perfect solution. By the 1980’s, ceramic was becoming widely used. Hybrid bearings are used in many other applications including railway, electric vehicles, traction motors, compressors, pumps, vacuum pumps, and fluid machinery.
Silicon Nitride (ceramic) has properties that are much higher than steel. Interestingly, silicon nitride has double the hardness of AISI 52100 steel. With its coefficient of thermal elongation far lower than steel, it makes silicon nitride more accurate when calculating internal clearance values in low temperatures.
Speed ratings for hybrid bearings increase by around 10% merely by changing materials to silicon nitride versus AISI steel. In some industry tests, the lifespan of the lubricant in a hybrid deep groove ball bearing was twice to five times that of a standard steel and cylindrical bearings. The lubricant lasts longer because the heat generation in the hybrid bearing is so much lower than standard steel bearings.
There are a multitude of benefits to using hybrid bearings, and each application can be improved significantly with proper design and consideration to the operating environment. If you would like more information on hybrid bearings or full ceramic bearings, please contact Pacific International Bearing Sales Inc.
Our bearings are ideally suited for extremely arduous and hazardous environment in a typical cement plant.
KG Spherical and Cylindrical Roller Bearings have been specifically designed for high performance in conditions involving heavy shock loads, varying operating speeds and heavy contamination in applications such as rotary kiln, roller mill, ball mill, sand and gravel plant and conveyor belts.
