Does the material affect the bearing performance?

Bearings play an indispensable role in our daily life and modern industry. However, regarding its performance, especially its stability, durability and carrying capacity, there has always been a hot topic - that is, is the performance of the bearing really subject to the properties of the metal material itself?

First of all, we must make it clear that the chemical composition of the metal material itself, the crystal structure, and the process steps such as heat treatment will have a decisive impact on the performance of the bearing. For example, bearing steel is a kind of high-carbon chromium steel that has been carefully adjusted to the ratio of carbon to chromium, and the purpose of doing so is to improve hardness and wear resistance to ensure that the metal has excellent performance in bearing applications.

For example, if we change the bearing material from high-quality bearing steel to softer copper material, you will find that the wear resistance and compressive strength of the bearing are suddenly reduced. In other words, when copper bearings are used for high-speed rotation or heavy load, loss may soon occur, affecting the operating life of the whole machine.

However, this does not mean that bearing performance is completely limited to metal materials. The progress of modern science and technology allows us to greatly improve the local properties of metals through a variety of surface treatment technologies, such as coating, surface hardening, etc. These technologies can effectively improve the wear resistance of the metal surface and reduce friction, so as to improve the service performance and extend the service life of the bearing without changing the overall material.

In summary, it can be said that the performance of the bearing is related to the metal material, but is not completely limited by the material itself.