Objective. The steadily rising demands placed on the life of roller be
arings have led, in equal degree, to an improvement of the appropriate
steels. An essential factor in this respect is the cleanness, which c
an be influenced by various metallurgical measures. In many instances,
the main aim is the reduction of the steel's oxygen content. Saarstah
l AG, on the other hand, has chosen a different approach, namely the p
roduction of a steel with a very high degree of cleanness by way of Al
-free remelting. Summary. At Saarstahl AG a bearing steel with very go
od microscopic and macroscopic cleanness has been produced without usi
ng aluminium. The relationships between steel cleanness and bearing li
fe are described in an extensive evaluation Of Literature sources. The
metallurgical aspects of the practice are discussed and basic theory
explained. In the course of the production of some 75 000 t of bearing
steel using this practice, it was possible to attain very good macros
copic cleannes as excellent well as micro-cleanness conforming to spec
ification. Furthermore, it was found that the characteristics, such as
the processing properties and the life of the roller bearings. are at
least as good or better in comparison with aluminium-deoxidised steel
s.