Key Technology for Bearing Manufacture(2)

Lubrication technology

Technology summary

Rolling bearings lapse because resistance makes the bearings be continuously worn in movement. Different lubricating grease (oil) and lubricating method result in different effect on reducing bearing frictional wear. Therefore, lubricating technology has become an important component of bearing technology research. Somebody regards lubricating grease (oil) as "the fifth component of bearing"( others are inner race, outer race, rolling element and holder).

The resistance prevent rolling bearing rotating consists of rolling friction, sliding friction and lubricant friction. Rolling friction appears when the rolling element rolls on the raceway; sliding friction appears on the guide face of the rolling element in the holder, the rib face of the holder and the roller end face in rolling bearing and ferrule rib. Lubricant friction comprises the inner friction of lubricant on the contact position and lubricant agitation and extrusion. The total friction of a set of bearing, namely the summation of rolling friction, sliding friction and lubricant friction, is the resistance preventing bearing moving. The assignment of lubrication technology research is to develop different lubricating grease (oil) and lubricating modes to make the bearing resistance the least and the bearing life the longest.

Development trend at home and abroad

For advanced industrialized countries, bearing lubricating grease (oil) under common working condition has completely passed a barrier in both technology and production. Serial breeds and batch throughput have been formed. Current major trend is doing research to enhance the property of lubricating grease in particular cases. For instance, how to enhance the vacuum stability, fluidity and viscosity-temperature property of perfluoro ether grease for space navigation is being researched. Take low temperature grease for example, it is provided with good effect in application, but there is no good theoretical exposition for the lubricating mechanism. Besides, use gaseous lubricant in high temperature£¨200-4000C£©is being researched. Research on bearing lubrication in our country currently is a heavy task. If expenditure permits, the following problems should prior to be solved. First, enhance the serve life of sealed bearing grease in normal temperature; second, enhance the vibration performance of noise-free bearing lubricating grease; third, research and develop new products of bearing lubricating grease under common working condition to fill the gap in our country.

Primary research coverage and objectives

According to the gap between bearing lubricating grease in our country and abroad, the research coverage and objectives of lubricating grease within next decade is that: research on methods to enhance lubricating grease life; for sealed bearings for household appliances (such as washing machine, dust collector, computer and air-conditioner etc.) and sealed bearings provided with positions easily destroy operating precision and hard to repair or disassemble (like precision machine tool main shaft, precision meter rotation shaft and drive system of deep water operating machine etc.), make the lubricating grease life equal to the machine life. Research on lubricating grease denoise, and make noise-free bearings (such as v3/z3 and v4/z4) obtain denoise values greater than 3-5dB. Research and develop 15-20 new products of lubricating grease to form the basic pattern of bearing lubricating grease series in our country. Wherein, high temperature, normal temperature and low temperature lubricating grease is about 8-10 breeds, average or top level electric machine bearing lubricating grease is about 5-8 breeds, and bearing lubricating grease for special working condition like space flight and navigation is about 5-8 breeds.