INCREASED PERFORMANCE OF BEARINGS USING TIC-COATED BALLS

The main purpose of solid or fluid lubricants in ball-bearings is to s eparate the balls and races from contacting each other in so-called as perity collisions. Steel to steel contacts lead to microwelds which ro ughen functional rolling-contacting surfaces and deteriorate the lubri cant. By using balls with a ceramic TIC coating, two goals are achieve d. First, there are fewer asperity collisions because of the extreme s moothness of the high precision polished TiC coated balls. Second, if collisions do occur, there is practically no microwelding taking place , leaving the surfaces and the lubricant in good condition. Examples a re given where the bearing lifetime is increased up to 10 times if the steel balls are replaced by TiC-coated balls.