Bearing (mechanical)

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A cutaway example of a four-point contact ball bearing A bearing is a device to allow constrained relative motion between two or more parts, typically rotation or linear movement. Bearings may be classified broadly according to the motions they allow and according to their principle of operation as well as by the directions of applied loads they can handle.

Contents
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1 Overview 2 Principles of operation 3 Motions 4 Friction 5 Loads 6 Speeds 7 Play 8 Stiffness 9 Service life o 9.1 L10 life o 9.2 External factors 10 Maintenance

11 History 12 Types 13 See also 14 References 15 External links

[edit] Overview
Plain bearings use surfaces in rubbing contact, often with a lubricant such as oil or graphite. A plain bearing may or may not be a discrete device. It may be nothing more than the bearing surface of a hole with a shaft passing through it, or of a planar surface that bears another (in these cases, not a discrete device); or it may be a layer of bearing metal either fused to the substrate (semi-discrete) or in the form of a separable sleeve (discrete). With suitable lubrication, plain bearings often give entirely acceptable accuracy, life, and friction at minimal cost. Therefore, they are very widely used. However, there are many applications where a more suitable bearing can improve efficiency, accuracy, service intervals, reliability, speed of operation, size, weight, and costs of purchasing and operating machinery. Thus, there are many types of bearings, with varying shape, material, lubrication, principle of operation, and so on. For example, rolling-element bearings use spheres or drums rolling between the parts to reduce friction; reduced friction allows tighter tolerances and thus higher precision than a plain bearing, and reduced wear extends the time over which the machine stays accurate. Plain bearings are commonly made of varying types of metal or plastic depending on the load, how corrosive or dirty the environment is, and so on. In addition, bearing friction and life may be altered dramatically by the type and application of lubricants. For example, a lubricant may improve bearing friction and life, but for food processing a bearing may be lubricated by an inferior food-safe lubricant to avoid food contamination; in other situations a bearing may be run without lubricant because continuous lubrication is not feasible, and lubricants attract dirt that damages the bearings.

[edit] Principles of operation

Animation of ball bearing There are at least six common principles of operation:

plain bearing, also known by the specific styles: bushings, journal bearings, sleeve bearings, rifle bearings rolling-element bearings such as ball bearings and roller bearings jewel bearings, in which the load is carried by rolling the axle slightly off-center fluid bearings, in which the load is carried by a gas or liquid magnetic bearings, in which the load is carried by a magnetic field flexure bearings, in which the motion is supported by a load element which bends.

[edit] Motions
Common motions permitted by bearings are:

Axial rotation e.g. shaft rotation Linear motion e.g. drawer spherical rotation e.g. ball and socket joint hinge motion e.g. door, elbow, knee

[edit] Friction
Reducing friction in bearings is often important for efficiency, to reduce wear and to facilitate extended use at high speeds and to avoid overheating and premature failure of the bearing. Essentially, a bearing can reduce friction by virtue of its shape, by its material, or by introducing and containing a fluid between surfaces or by separating the surfaces with an electromagnetic field.

By shape, gains advantage usually by using spheres or rollers, or by forming flexure bearings.

By material, exploits the nature of the bearing material used. (An example would be using plastics that have low surface friction.) By fluid, exploits the low viscosity of a layer of fluid, such as a lubricant or as a pressurized medium to keep the two solid parts from touching, or by reducing the normal force between them. By fields, exploits electromagnetic fields, such as magnetic fields, to keep solid parts from touching.

Combinations of these can even be employed within the same bearing. An example of this is where the cage is made of plastic, and it separates the rollers/balls, which reduce friction by their shape and finish.

[edit] Loads
Bearings vary greatly over the size and directions of forces that they can support. Forces can be predominately radial, axial (thrust bearings) or bending moments perpendicular to the main axis.

[edit] Speeds
Different bearing types have different operating speed limits. Speed is typically specified as maximum relative surface speeds, often specified ft/s or m/s. Rotational bearings typically describe performance in terms of the product DN where D is the diameter (often in mm) of the bearing and N is the rotation rate in revolutions per minute. Generally there is considerable speed range overlap between bearing types. Plain bearings typically handle only lower speeds, rolling element bearings are faster, followed by fluid bearings and finally magnetic bearings which are limited ultimately by centripetal force overcoming material strength.

[edit] Play
Some applications apply bearing loads from varying directions and accept only limited play or "slop" as the applied load changes. One source of motion is gaps or "play" in the bearing. For example, a 10 mm shaft in a 12 mm hole has 2 mm play. Allowable play varies greatly depending on the use. As example, a wheelbarrow wheel supports radial and axial loads. Axial loads may be hundreds of newtons force left or right, and it is typically acceptable for the wheel to wobble by as much as 10 mm under the varying load. In contrast, a lathe may position a cutting tool to 0.02 mm using a ball lead screw held by rotating bearings. The bearings support axial loads of thousands of newtons in either direction, and must hold the ball lead screw to 0.002 mm across that range of loads.

[edit] Stiffness
A second source of motion is elasticity in the bearing itself. For example, the balls in a ball bearing are like stiff rubber, and under load deform from round to a slightly flattened shape. The race is also elastic and develops a slight dent where the ball presses on it. The stiffness of a bearing is how the distance between the parts which are separated by the bearing varies with applied load. With rolling element bearings this is due to the strain of the ball and race. With fluid bearings it is due to how the pressure of the fluid varies with the gap (when correctly loaded, fluid bearings are typically stiffer than rolling element bearings).

[edit] Service life

Fluid and magnetic bearings Main articles: Fluid bearing and Magnetic bearing Fluid and magnetic bearings can have practically indefinite service lives. In practice, there are fluid bearings supporting high loads in hydroelectric plants that have been in nearly continuous service since about 1900 and which show no signs of wear. Rolling element bearings Rolling element bearing life is determined by load, temperature, maintenance, lubrication, material defects, contamination, handling, installation and other factors. These factors can all have a significant effect on bearing life. For example, the service life of bearings in one application was extended dramatically by changing how the bearings were stored before installation and use, as vibrations during storage caused lubricant failure even when the only load on the bearing was its own weight;[1] the resulting damage is often false brinelling. Bearing life is statistical: several samples of a given bearing will often exhibit a bell curve of service life, with a few samples showing significantly better or worse life. Bearing life varies because microscopic structure and contamination vary greatly even where macroscopically they seem identical. Plain bearings For plain bearings some materials give much longer life than others. Some of the John Harrison clocks still operate after hundreds of years because of the lignum vitae wood employed in their construction, whereas his metal clocks are seldom run due to potential wear. Flexure bearings Flexure bearings bend a piece of material repeatedly. Some materials fail after repeated bending, even at low loads, but careful material selection and bearing design can make flexure bearing life indefinite. Short-life bearings

Although long bearing life is often desirable, it is sometimes not necessary. Harris describes a bearing for a rocket motor oxygen pump that gave several hours life, far in excess of the several tens of minutes life needed.[1]

[edit] L10 life

Bearings are often specified to give an "L10" life. This is the life at which ten percent of the bearings in that application can be expected to have failed due to classical fatigue failure (and not any other mode of failure like lubrication starvation, wrong mounting etc), or, alternatively, the life at which ninety percent will still be operating.The L10 life of the bearing is theoretical life and may not represent service life of the bearing.

[edit] External factors

The service life of the bearing is affected by many parameters that are not controlled by the bearing manufactures. For example, bearing mounting, temperature, exposure to external environment, lubricant cleanliness and electrical currents through bearings etc.

[edit] Maintenance
Many bearings require periodic maintenance to prevent premature failure, although some such as fluid or magnetic bearings may require little maintenance. Most bearings in high cycle operations need periodic lubrication and cleaning, and may require adjustment to minimise the effects of wear. Bearing life is often much better when the bearing is kept clean and well-lubricated. However, many applications make good maintenance difficult. For example bearings in the conveyor of a rock crusher are exposed continually to hard abrasive particles. Cleaning is of little use because cleaning is expensive, yet the bearing is contaminated again as soon as the conveyor resumes operation. Thus, a good maintenance program might lubricate the bearings frequently but never clean them.

[edit] History

Tapered bearings

Early Timken tapered roller bearing with notched rollers The invention of the rolling bearing, in the form of an object being moved on wooden rollers, is of great antiquity and may predate the invention of the wheel. Though it is often claimed that the Egyptians used roller bearings in the form of tree trunks under sleds[2] this is modern speculation.[3] They are depicted in their own drawings in the tomb of Djehutihotep [4] as moving massive stone blocks on sledges with the runners lubricated with a liquid which would constitute a plain bearing. There are also Egyptian drawings of bearings used with hand drills.[5] The earliest recovered example of a rolling element bearing is a wooden ball bearing supporting a rotating table from the remains of the Roman Nemi ships in Lake Nemi, Italy. The wrecks were dated to 40 AD.[6][7] Leonardo da Vinci incorporated drawings of ball bearings in his design for a helicopter around the year 1500. This is the first recorded use of bearings in an aerospace design. However, Agostino Ramelli is the first to have published sketches of roller and thrust bearings.[2] An issue with ball and roller bearings is that the balls or rollers rub against each other causing additional friction which can be prevented by enclosing the balls or rollers in a cage. The captured, or caged, ball bearing was originally described by Galileo in the 17th century.[citation needed] The mounting of bearings into a set was not accomplished for many years after that. The first patent for a ball race was by Philip Vaughan of Carmarthen in 1794. Bearings saw use for holding wheel and axles. The bearings used there were plain bearings that were used to greatly reduce friction over that of dragging an object by making the friction act over a shorter distance as the wheel turned. The first plain and rolling-element bearings were wood closely followed by bronze. Over their history bearings have been made of many materials including ceramic, sapphire, glass, steel, bronze, other metals and plastic (e.g., nylon, polyoxymethylene, polytetrafluoroethylene, and UHMWPE) which are all used today.

Watch makers produced "jeweled" pocket watches using sapphire plain bearings to reduce friction thus allowing more precise time keeping. Even basic materials can have good durability. As examples, wooden bearings can still be seen today in old clocks or in water mills where the water provides cooling and lubrication. The first practical caged-roller bearing was invented in the mid-1740s by horologist John Harrison for his H3 marine timekeeper. This uses the bearing for a very limited oscillating motion but Harrison also used a similar bearing in a truly rotary application in a contemporaneous regulator clock. A patent on ball bearings, reportedly the first, was awarded to Jules Suriray, a Parisian bicycle mechanic, on 3 August 1869. The bearings were then fitted to the winning bicycle ridden by James Moore in the world's first bicycle road race, Paris-Rouen, in November 1869.[8] Friedrich Fischer's idea from the year 1883 for milling and grinding balls of equal size and exact roundness by means of a suitable production machine formed the foundation for creation of an independent bearing industry. The modern, self-aligning design of ball bearing is attributed to Sven Wingquist of the SKF ballbearing manufacturer in 1907, when he was awarded Swedish patent No. 25406 on its design. Henry Timken, a 19th century visionary and innovator in carriage manufacturing, patented the tapered roller bearing, in 1898. The following year, he formed a company to produce his innovation. Through a century, the company grew to make bearings of all types, specialty steel and an array of related products and services. Erich Franke invented and patented the wire race bearing in 1934. His focus was on a bearing design with a cross section as small as possible and which could be integrated into the enclosing design. After World War II he founded together with Gerhard Heydrich the company Franke & Heydrich KG (today Franke GmbH) to push the development and production of wire race bearings. Richard Stribecks extensive research [9][10] on ball bearing steels identified the metallurgy of the commonly used 100Cr6 (AISI 52100) [11] showing coefficient of friction as a function of pressure. Designed in 1968 and later patented in 1972, Bishop-Wisecarver's co-founder Bud Wisecarver created vee groove bearing guide wheels, a type of linear motion bearing consisting of both an external and internal 90 degree vee angle.[12][non-primary source needed] In the early 1980s, Pacific Bearing's founder, Robert Schroeder, invented the first bi-material plain bearing which was size interchangeable with linear ball bearings. This bearing had a metal shell (aluminum, steel or stainless steel) and a layer of Teflon-based material connected by a thin adhesive layer.[13]

Today ball and roller bearings are used in many applications which include a rotating component. Examples include ultra high speed bearings in dental drills, aerospace bearings in the Mars Rover, gearbox and wheel bearings on automobiles, flexure bearings in optical alignment systems and bicycle wheel hubs.

[edit] Types
There are many different types of bearings. Type Notes Widely used, relatively high Rubbing Depends on friction, suffers surfaces, materials and Good, from stiction in usually with construction, provided some lubricant; some PTFE has wear is Low to very applications. bearings use coefficient of low, but Low to high - depends Depending pumped friction ~0.05- some very high upon application upon the lubrication and 0.35, slack is and lubrication application, behave depending normally lifetime can be similarly to upon fillers present higher or lower fluid bearings. added than rolling element bearings. Rolling coefficient of friction with steel can be ~0.005 Ball or rollers (adding Good, Moderate Moderate to high Used for higher are used to resistance due but some to high (depends on moment loads prevent or to seals, slack is (often lubrication, often than plain minimise packed grease, usually requires requires bearings with rubbing preload and present cooling) maintenance) lower friction misalignment can increase friction to as much as 0.125) Mainly used in low-load, high Off-center Adequate Low due precision work bearing rolls in Low Low (requires to flexing such as clocks. seating maintenance) Jewel bearings may be very Description Friction Stiffness Speed Life

Plain bearing

Rolling element bearing

Jewel bearing

Fluid is forced Zero friction Very Fluid between two at zero speed, faces and held high bearing low in by edge seal

small. Can fail Very quickly due to high Virtually infinite grit or dust or (usually in some other limited applications, contaminants. to a few may wear at Maintenance hundred startup/shutdown free in feet per in some cases. continuous use. second Often negligible Can handle at/by maintenance. very large seal) loads with low friction.

Zero friction at zero speed, but constant power for Faces of levitation, bearing are kept eddy currents separate by are often Magnetic magnets Low induced when bearings (electromagnets movement or eddy occurs, but currents) may be negligible if magnetic field is quasi-static

Active magnetic bearings Indefinite. (AMB) need No Maintenance considerable practical free. (with power. limit electromagnets) Electrodynamic bearings (EDB) do not require external power.

Very high or low depending on Limited range Material flexes materials and of movement, Very strain in Flexure to give and Very low Low no backlash, high. application. bearing constrain extremely movement Usually smooth motion maintenance free. Stiffness is the amount that the gap varies when the load on the bearing changes, it is distinct from the friction of the bearing.
Establishe d in 1952 Page: 2080

Ball Material Selection

What Material is this Ball Made of?

Ball Materials ( Click for more information )

Applications Ceramic
Ball Screw Repair Aluminum Oxide

Metal
02 Tool Steel Balls 06 Tool Steel Balls 1018 Soft Steel Balls Diamond Impregnated Brass Balls Gold Balls Hard Carbon Steel Balls HASTELLOY Balls

Plastic
Bakelite Balls

Plumbing and Valves

Silicon Nitride

Nylon

Pnuematics

Phenol Balls Phenol Formaldehyde Balls Polyethylene

Tap Water

17-4 PH Balls

Weldable Balls

316 Stainless Steel Balls 420 Stainless Steel Balls 440C Stainless Steel Balls A286 Aluminum Balls Bearing Balls Black Oxide Balls Black Phosphate Balls Brass

Hevimet Balls High Speed Steel Balls Inconel X Monel Balls MP35N Balls Niobium Balls Platinum Balls

Polypropylene

Teflon

Ren 41 Balls Stellite Balls

Brass Balls Brass Balls, Naval Brass Chrome Steel Balls ( most common ) Copper Balls

Tantalum Balls Titanium Balls Tungsten Balls Tungsten Carbide Balls Waspaloy Balls

You need some balls just like the sample, but how do you find out what it is? Or you may need help in choosing the right ball material for a particular application. The safest place to start is with the application itself. What does the ball do?

Bearing Balls
"Bearing balls" is the general term for any hard steel ball that will function in a roller bearing application. Common materials are hard chrome steel 52100, C/S, 440C hard stainless steel and carbonized high carbon steel. High speed steel might be added to this list for severe and high temperature applications.
Chrome Steel

If it is a ball bearing application, the most likely material is chrome steel which is 52100 chrome alloy steel. This is a relatively inexpensive material. This material is very hard, at about 62 HRC (Hardness on the Rockwell "C" scale). It is highly magnetic. It is not corrosion resistant, it will rust easily. Chrome alloy steel balls comprise about 90% of all balls manufactured. This material is a high carbon ( 1.00% ), chrome ( 1.36% ) alloy steel that will harden into the 60 - 65 HRC range when oil quenched from a soaking temperature of 1475 F. The hardness usually ends up at 62 HRC. The stress relieving or drawing temperature is 325 F. This does not mean that this steel can be used up to this temperature. We have run repeated tests where we elevated the temperature to 325 F. In the first three cycles, the samples dropped one point of HRC each time they were treated. It begins to lose its hardness at temperatures above 300 F. It is a fine grade material that can be precision ground and lapped spherical within a few millionths of an inch with a sub micro inch surface quality. It is highly magnetic in the sense that it will be attracted by a magnet. Chrome steel balls can be modified by grinding with conventional abrasives. Holes, shapes and threads can be generated by the Electrical Discharge Machine ( EDM ) process.

51100 steel is a very low alloy chrome steel that was widely used during WW II as a means of conserving chromium. It is more susceptible to stress cracking during the quenching cycle of heat treating than the more conventional 52100 chrome alloy steel. This material is highly magnetic. It will through harden in reasonable sections. It will harden to 60 to 65 HRC. With a 325 F draw, it will average 62 HRC. We carry a hugh inventory of thousands of sizes and different qualities of this material. Click here to view our available inventory of chrome steel balls in our shopping cart program. See page 2200, Bearing Steel, for more information.
Hard Carbon Steel

The third possibility is that, it is a case hardened carbon steel, i.e. hard carbon steel. For the most part, these less expensive balls are used in cheap bearings for casters, conveyors, bicycles and toys. This material is highly magnetic. It has a thin carbon rich layer, cooked into the surface, that is then hardened to the equivalent of 60 HRC. This material is extremely rust prone. These balls are manufactured from low carbon steel wire, i.e. type 1018 steel. The ball blanks are cold headed, flashed and ground. They are then heated to 1700 F in a very carbon rich, gaseous, environment to develop a high carbon case or shell in a rotary hearth furnace. Carbon is literally cooked into the outer surface of the steel balls. After cooling, they are re-heated and oil or water quenched, depending on size. Next, they are tempered at 325 F to relive the stresses and to reduce the hardness slightly, so that they won't be brittle. After carbonizing, this material may be heat treated to the equivalent of 60 HRC. Because of the thin hardened layer, a special micro hardness test must be used to evaluate the hardness. It should be remembered that the hard outer surface is only a thin case or shell. Finally, these balls are ground and polished.
Soft Steel Balls

Soft low carbon steel ( type 1018; 0.18% Carbon, 0.8% Manganese, balance Fe - Iron ) balls are produced commercially in most common fractional inch sizes, up to 1 inch ( 25.4 mm ). These balls are ground round with a highly polished decorative finish. We custom produce soft, low carbon steel balls in the entire size range from subminiature to 17 inches ( 432 mm ). These custom made balls can be supplied as: precision machined only, precision ground, or precision ground and polished.

This material can be easily drilled, threaded, and otherwise machined with conventional chip making machines. Type 1018, soft, low carbon steel, balls are very weldable. This material is strongly attracted by a magnet.

High Speed Steel Balls M 10 Balls M 50 Balls

The last common bearing material is high-speed extremely high temperature alloy steel. This is only found in hot bearing applications. High speed steel balls are usually produced from type M50 or M10 steel. Many of the "T" type high speed steels are almost impossible to purchase today, High speed steel's main property is its very high temperature resistance. High speed steel will remain hard even at red temperatures. High speed steels are generally harder than the standard, chrome steel. It is typically 65 HRC. This material is highly magnetic. We can usually grind this material with cubic boron nitride. It can be drilled, threaded and otherwise machined using the EDM process ( Electro Discharge Machine ). M10 High Speed Steel
C Mo Cr V Fe Carbon Molybdenum Chromium Vanadium Ferrite 1.0% 8.0% 4.0% 2.0% balance

02 Tool Steel

Precision balls can be produced from this material, but there is really no good reason to use it. The properties of this material have no advantage over the standard 52100 chrome alloy steel, which is less expensive and more readily available.
06 Tool Steel

06 Tool Steel finds frequent use for the production of large and very precision balls. It is reasonably machinable. It is readily available in large diameter, cylindrical form. It will

through harden, even in very large diameters. It can be ground and lapped to a very high quality.

06 Tool Steel
C Mo Si Mn Fe 1.5% 0.25% 0.8% 0.4% Balance

Ball Screws
Ball screws are very similar to ball bearings in that they generally use either chrome steel or type 440C hard stainless steel. A peculiarity of ball screws is that they typically have a load ball and the next ball is a .001-inch undersized spacer ball, and so on. One half of the balls are load balls and one half are spacer balls.

Exotic Applications
In exotic aerospace or life threatening situations, you should obviously not use homeopathic tests as sophisticated high-speed steel, Stellite or HASTELLOYmay test similar to other common materials, but in fact have extremely different physical properties. The Stellite alloys most most frequently used for balls are Star J or number three. They are very hard and wear resistant. See our page, /Radiations_Hardened_Kinematic_Systems.html, for more information on Stellite.

Plumbing and Valves

Another place where balls are widely used is in the plumbing of pneumatic and hydraulic systems. Ball check valves, flow control valves, pressure relief valves and pressure regulating valves all use ball and seat combinations to perform their functions. In pure hydraulic oil systems, the most common ball material is chrome alloy 52100 steel. This ball will be very hard, and highly magnetic, but it is not corrosion resistance and will test positive in any of the corrosion tests. In the grinding spark test it will be orange in color with many side burst, as the carbon burns with the oxygen in the atmosphere (incineration).

Some high-end hydraulic systems may use type 440C stainless steel. This material is highly magnetic, it is hard and it will not react to any of the corrosion tests. In the grinding spark test, it will have a short red spark with almost no side burst. In the plumbing for the food processing industry, HASTELLOY, Stellite and even Tungsten Carbide ( TC ) balls are often used. Stellite is very hard. It is almost non magnetic. It is extremely corrosive resistant. When spark tested, it will give off almost no indication at all, outside of a few red tracers. HASTELLOYis tough but not very hard. A file will cut it with ease. It is an extremely corrosive resistant material. The cylindrical bar stock to make these balls costs us $71.00 per pound in 2008. High quality balls of any size can be produced from this material. Tungsten Carbide is very very heavy. Many times all you have to do is to heft it to distinguish its enormous mass. It will not react to any of the corrosion tests. It will emit no spark at all when ground with a conventional abrasive wheel. It is the hardest of all synthetic materials. If you look at this material critically, it is not a silvery metallic but is a dark gray in color. Tungsten Carbide is only slightly magnetic and is usually easy to distinguish from steel. See our shopping cart for available stock. See our web page on Tungsten Carbide for more information.n

Tap Water Application

In tap water systems brass balls are often used although type 316 stainless steel will show up in high-end systems. The bright golden color of the brass will give it away. It is dead soft. It is entirely non-magnetic. The corrosion tests will only brighten the gold color.

Hardness Test

Is the ball hard? Measuring the actual hardness of a precision ball is a complicated and difficult procedure. To make a shop test of hardness; First, procure a brand new, flat, fine toothed, mill bastard file. Hold the ball to be tested in the jaws of a set of clamping pliers like Vise Grips. If the file glides smoothly over the surface of the ball, it is very hard (60 HRC). If it bites a little when it starts to move, it is quite hard at (50 HRC). If it cuts a flat on the ball then it is soft at (30 HRC) or less.

Stainless Steel Corrosion Test

Is the ball corrosive resistant? There are a number of fast tests that give a good indication of the corrosion resistance of a ball, but most of these tests require the use of caustic chemicals. One method that uses ordinary table salt can give a good indication, but it takes a full 24 hours to produce results. Take a cup of boiling water and stir in table salt, sodium chloride (NaCl), until no more will dissolve and salt crystals accumulate in the bottom of the cup. Clean the balls to be tested in a detergent soap solution and then with alcohol. Place them in the cup of salt water, for 24 hours. After soaking for 24 hours, Soft steel, chrome steel, high speed steel and hard carbon steel will all be brown with rust. 300 series stainless, HASTELLOY, Inconel, Monel and K-Monel will be untouched. Type 440C, 416, 410, 420 stainless steel will only show a few pits or not be affected at all.

Lab Testing Corrosion Resistance

A good fast test of corrosion resistance is to immerse pre-cleaned test balls in a 5 percent solution of Nitric Acid in Alcohol. This "Nitol" solution will turn all steels a light to dark gray in just 2 minutes. It won't change the color of corrosive resistant materials. An even better test is the copper sulfate test. This solution consists of copper sulfate crystals dissolved in a 6 percent solution of sulfuric acid and water. A drop of this solution on the surface of a clean steel ball will immediately form a bright golden spot of copper plating. This solution will not affect any of the corrosive resistant materials within a two-minute period, but may react to hard ferritic or Martensitic stainless steel after a long period of exposure. See our picture gallery page.

Magnetic Test

Is the ball magnetic? Here we must be a little careful. Many materials that most people consider totally non magnetic, like 300 series stainless steels can become slightly magnetic when it is cold work hardened. Remember that commercial balls are made by cold heading the blanks from wire. Then they are rolled between two hard steel plates to remove the cold heading flash from them. Both of these processes generate strains in the balls that will make them at least slightly magnetic. Look at our papers on "How Balls are Made." Use an ordinary pocket magnet to test for magnetism, not one of the very powerful rare earth magnets. If the magnet strongly attracts the ball, it is one of the steel materials. If it doesn't attract it at all, or if it only has a very slight attraction it is one of the corrosive resistant, or a totally nonferrous (without iron) material.

Coloration
It may sound obvious, but look at the sample ball. For many applications on board ships, it is not unusual to find brass, bronze, or Aluminum Bronze balls. It is also common to find these materials in plumbing and valve applications. Clean the ball with a strong detergent. Brassy materials will be a golden yellow color. Brass and Bronze are totally non-magnetic while Aluminum Bronze will be very slightly attracted by a magnet.

Plastics
You may find after cleaning that your ball isn't metal at all, but rather one of the plastic ball materials. Polyethylene and Polypropylene will float in water, while other plastic materials will sink. These ball materials are often used because they are inexpensive. Nylon is one of the most common plastic ball materials. It is hard, it is tough and it is dense enough so that it sinks in water. Nylon is slightly hygroscopic, so it isn't the best plastic to be used in water applications. Teflon is a fairly common plastic ball material. It is heavier than most plastics and quickly sinks in water. It is very white in color. It will actually feel slippery to the touch.

This material is the most corrosive resistant plastic material. This material will operate at the highest and the lowest temperatures of any plastic ball material. This is one of the most expensive plastic materials. Click to see our Teflon ball stock in our shopping cart.

Spark Test
The spark test can be a very effective test procedure to help identify a material. Use an ordinary off hand, shop grinder, for this test. Ideally use a course (40) grit grinding wheel. This test is more effective in an almost dark area. The grinding wheel should be dressed to remove any metal embedded in the surface. Hold the ball in the same Vise Grip pliers used for the file hardness test. Hold the ball lightly against the rotating grinding wheel.

Lets break the appearance of the spark coming of the grinding wheel down into three categories.

#1. The color of the spark. Don't look at anything but the color. 440c and high-speed steel will give a very red spark. Chrome steel will give a bright orange spark. Hard carbon steel will give a nearly white spark. 300 series stainless, Monel K-Monel and HASTELLOY will give almost no spark at all. If you use a heavy pressure you may get a few tiny red darts. #2. The length of the spark is the next characteristic to look at; 440c and high-speed steel will throw a short spark. Chrome steel will throw a medium long spark. Hard carbon steel will throw a much longer spark on the same wheel at the same pressure. #3. The nature of the spark will vary with the different materials. The free carbon in the steel incinerates or burns in the oxygen of our atmosphere. This forms a burst or side spark that comes off the main spark at an angle. In high alloy steels the carbon is tied up in high temperature combinations of chrome, cobalt, molybdenum or tungsten, so there is very little burst, if any. This group includes type 440C stainless steel and the high-speed steels.

In materials such as chrome steel, which only a small percent of alloy the incineration or explosion of the spark is much more pronounced and occurs closer to the grinding wheel. There will be a lot of side sparks.

High carbon steel basically has no alloy, except extremely high carbon content, so there are lots of sparks up and down the streamers leaving the wheel. There will be almost no spark with many materials like 300 series stainless, HASTELLOY, Monels or Stellites.

Synopsis
The best possible aid to spark testing is to have balls of known materials to compare the sparks with. Break the spark into the three characteristics of color, length, and incineration (side sparks or bursts). Add the information regarding the hardness, magnetism and corrosion resistance and you will be able to nail down ninety five percent of the ball materials. Please give our office a call at (323) 582-7348 with any questions.

Quality
To the quest of determining the material, we must add that of determining the required quality. For bearings and ball screws with balls from 1/16" (.0625 inch, 1.59 mm) to 5/8" (.625 inch, 15.9 mm), A.F.B.M.A. Grade 25 is a good commercialquality that is good enough for most commercial applications. Request a ball grade chart printed on plastic, from our office, to better understand the quality specifications and one will be sent to you free of charge. It is available as a download from our web site; or if your need is urgent, we will fax you a copy. For larger and smaller balls a lower quality grade may be used for economic reasons. Grade 50 or grade 100 are usually available as an economic alternative to grade 25. In valve and plumbing applications much softer, corrosive resistant materials, are often used. It is very expensive to produce the highest quality balls in these soft stainless steel and non-ferrous materials. The high quality balls in these materials are usually Grade 100 and good commercial quality balls are Grade 200. Call our office for technical assistance.

Ball Materials

1018 Soft Mild Steel

Type 1018 soft mild steel has a very low carbon content. This steel is not hard. It can be machined, drilled and tapped. This material is highly magnetic. It will be strongly attracted by a magnet. This is one of the most weldable steel alloys. Hardness is rated at 28 HRC.

17-4 PH
17-4 PH is one of the family of precipitation hardened nickel based alloys. It combines high strength and good corrosion resistance with moderate hardness. It is hardened by soaking at an elevated temperature for a period of time. The most common soaking temperature is 900 F. This heat treating is referred to as H900. In the solution annealed condition, this material has moderately good machining properties. 15-5 PH is another of the common PH alloys.

300 Series Stainless Steel

If the application isn't too severe, type 316 stainless steel may be used. The 300 series stainless steels are basically an alloy of 18% chromium and 8% nickel with the balance ferrite ( iron ). This material is dead soft, and is almost non magnetic in the annealed condition.

Pneumatic
In pneumatic systems, there is usually water or water vapor present. To prevent rust, type 316 stainless steel is used. The spark test will yield only tiny red tracers. This material will not respond to any of the corrosion tests. It is almost non-magnetic. It is dead soft at about 30 HRC (Hardness Rockwell "C" scale) and the file test will put an immediate flat on the ball.

420 Stainless Steel

Type 420 hard stainless steel is the material widely used in Europe. It is very similar to type 440C, which is more widely used in the United States. Type 420 is not quite as hard as the type 440C. One of the advantages of 420 over type 440C is that it has a higher magnetic permeability, so that it is attracted more strongly by a magnetic field.

440C Stainless Steel

440C Stainless Steel is one the most amazing standard ball materials. It is a very high chromium, high carbon, Martensitic stainless steel. Martensite is the very hard state of a high carbon steel. When heat treated from the Spherodize Annealed condition, it forms an extremely fine grain structure. For hardening, it must be raised to 1900 F. It will harden to 58 - 63 HRC. It is usually at the low end of this range, when tempered at 400 F If the bearing is used in a corrosive or wet environment, it may be a type 440C hard Martensitic stainless steel. This material is very magnetic and it is hard, but it is not as hard as chrome steel. It is about 58 HRC (Hardness Rockwell "C" scale). This material is only mildly corrosive resistant and will only respond to corrosion tests with slight pitting. It will eventually corrode in tap water and will not stand up to sea water at all. It is widely used as a premium bearing material and it is the top material for use in gaging products. See page 3261 for more information.

Aluminum Balls
1100 series aluminum is commercially pure aluminum. It is a very light weight material that is a silvery white color. It is one of the natural elements. It is very ductile. Balls made of 1100 series aluminum are often used as closures. They are squashed or upset to permanently close a hole ( an inside diameter ). It is difficult to locate this material in less than mill run quantities. 2017 aluminum is a copper alloy of aluminum that was originally developed for the manufacture of rivets. Its number one quality is that it can be safely cold headed, which makes it an excellent choice as a material for precision balls. This is the aluminum alloy specified by Mil-B-1083, the generally accepted military specification for precision balls. This alloy has also been chosen by the AFBMA ( Anti Friction Bearing Manufacturers Association as a standard ball material. This material is usually heat treated to the "T4" condition. This is not a good choice if the ball is to be anodized. High quality balls can be produced from this alloy. 2024 aluminum alloy is an aluminum copper alloy. It is a high strength material, widely used in aircraft. It can be cold headed. The tensile strength of this alloy can be improved by heat treating. This alloy is not a good choice for hard anodizing as segregation of copper will form voids and can even cause incineration of the metal during the anodizing process.

Aluminum balls are often used as closures by compressing them to seal a close fitting hole. Aluminum 2017
Manganese Copper Magnesium Aluminum 0.7% 4.0% 0.5% balance

Aluminum Alloy 6061

6061 Aluminum alloy is a widely used, readily available, aluminum material. This material should never be cold headed. It can develop internal fissures that will lead to catastrophic failure. This alloy has much better machining qualities than 2017 alloy. This alloy is an excellent choice when the balls are to be hard anodized. The tensile strength of this alloy can be improved by heat treating. This aluminum alloy is relatively light at 0.098 lbs/ cu in.

Aluminum Bronze
It is very slightly magnetic. An aluminum bronze ball will roll towards a powerful magnet. This material is very resistant to sea water. Some alloys of this material can be heat treated to increase its hardness and tensile strength, but the hardening process reduces corrosive resistance. It is a very good electrical conductor.

A286 Balls
A286 is one of the exotic Space Age materials. It has good wear properties. It is corrosion resistant. This material must be heat treated to develop its best physical properties. This material is very expensive. Very high quality balls can be produced from this material.

Black Oxide Balls Black Phosphate Balls

High quality steel balls of both chrome steel and hard stainless steel can be treated chemically to color the surface black. This black iron phosphate actually penetrates the surface so that the original size and surface quality is not effected. The most common

application for this surface treatment is to provide identity for these balls. In some bearing and ball screw applications, two different size balls are used in the same device. The larger diameter balls are load bearing balls, and the smaller diameter black balls are used as spacer balls.

Brass Balls
We manufacture and stock a large variety of brass balls. Brass balls are gold or bright yellow in color. The Standard alloy is 70-30, which is 70% copper and 30% zinc. The only major problem with the metallurgy of brass is segregation. This is due to the high melting point of copper ( 3000 F ) and the low melting point of zinc ( 800 F). This material is quite ductile and very malleable. It is corrosive resistant to tap water, but does not stand up well in sea water. It is nonmagnetic. It is an excellent electrical conductor. This material has excellent solder ability with soft solder, but may require chemical cleaning to remove an oxide layer. Brass has a hardness of less than 30 HRC, is very machinable, and it may be drilled and tapped easily. Brass is a relatively heavy material at .275 - .316 lbs/cu in ( 7.60 - 8.75 g / cc ).
Navel Brass or Navel Bronze

Navel Brass or Navel Bronze is very similar to brass, but has an addition of 0.5% to 1.0% tin. This small addition gives to material good corrosive resistance to sea water. Navel brass or bronze is a relatively heavy material at .305 lbs/ cu in. We will custom manufacture special alloys if the material is commercially available. Brass balls are precision ground and polished. They can be produced to AFBMA standards when required. We produce brass balls in all sizes from the sub miniature to very large diameters.

Copper
We manufacture copper balls in the entire range of sizes from subminiature to several inches in diameter. Pure copper, as well as the many copper alloys can be used to produce highly accurate precision balls. Copper, usually oxygen free, has excellent electrical and heat conductivity, as well as good corrosion resistance in many harsh environments. It is nonmagnetic. It is sometimes annealed after all forming and machining is completed, to enhance its electrical properties. It is extremely malleable and ductile. It is very soft, but it is gummy and very difficult to machine. It is very solderable, and it is very corrosive resistant to sea water. Copper has a distinctly red color.

Diamond Impregnated Brass Balls

Diamond impregnated balls are used to lap the spherical radius in ball valves. They usually have a stem or handle attached to facilitate holding during the lapping process. See our page, ball_valve.php, for more information.

Gold
An obvious use for gold is for jewelry. The Nobility of gold or its resistance to corrosion and its good electrical conductivity leads to its use in electrical applications. Gold has a high level of X ray opacity and good bio-compatibility, which leads to its use as X-ray markers in medical applications. As gold is such an expensive material, we don't maintain a stock of gold balls.

Hevimet
Hevimet is usually sintered from powdered tungsten and powdered copper. It is machinable. Unlike lead, it is a biologically safe, very heavy material. Ball's made of this material are used as counter weights, and to add mass to mechanical structures.

High Speed Steel

High speed steel such as M50 and M10 or T15 are usually reserved for hot end bearings and high temperature ball screw applications. These materials are not corrosive resistant and will react to any of the corrosive tests. These materials are very hard. They will test up to 65 HRC. They will be strongly attracted by a magnet. When spark tested, they will give short red tracers with almost no side bursts. These balls are often supplied in very high quality grades, up to A.F.B.M.A. Grade 10.

Inconel X Balls
7-18 Inconel is of one the exotic space age metals, a trademark of Special Metals Corp. Inconel 7-18 is truly an Aerospace metal. Inconel is hard and strong. It will perform at high temperature. It will perform at temperatures so cold that hydrogen is a liquid. These low temperatures are so cold that there is a special word for it, cryogenic.

The highest quality is required for these aerospace oriented balls. In many cases, every single individual ball must have its own pedigree accompanying it. This will include the physical and chemical analysis of the individual bar of material, an ultrasonic examination and the heat treating process that was performed on it. Along with this, will be the diameter of the ball on three orthogonal axii and three polar charts of the roundness taken on three orthogonal axii. The integrity of an entire rocket launch depends on each individual ball as they are crucial parts of the rocket engine. In addition, Inconel is highly corrosive resistant. It is precipitation hardened. This metal alloy must be heat treated to develop its good physical properties. Care should be exercised in specifying the desired heat treatment as the furnace time for some processes may be very long and therefore, very expensive. We manufactured Inconel balls for the Apollo and Space Shuttle programs. Inconel is a very expensive material, and it may require considerable lead time to procure the raw material. To see our stock of Inconel balls, click here.

Monel
There are a number of different Monel alloys, a trademark of Special Metals Corp.. The basic alloy has a minimum of 23% copper and minimum of 60% nickel with small amounts of iron and manganese. This material is very tough but not very hard. It is not heat treatable. Monel is used in very corrosive environments. It is excellent in salt water applications such as valves for sea water. It is also used in the food processing industry. We make Monel balls in a wide range of sizes. Due to its relatively soft nature, AFBMA grade 200 is the normal quality specification, although grade 100 can be achieved with some difficulty. It is relatively soft at about 38 HRC, and it is difficult to drill and tap.

MP35N
MP35N finds use for check valve applications where no other metal could ever survive. In down hole control valves where the chemistry of the environment would eat a stainless steel ball, balls made of this material will last indefinitely.

This material is so tough that producing precision balls from it is a major problem. It cannot be cold headed at all. The forging temperatures are extreme. Like many of the exotic metals, MP35N can be lapped to a very high level of quality, once the spherical blank has been produced. The word expensive was coined to describe this material. Delivery is also a problem as the material has to be special ordered.

MP35N Composition
Ni, Nickel Co, Cobalt Cr, Chrome 35% 35% 20%

Mo, 10% Molybdenum

Niobium
Niobium, a high density material, is very malleable and ductile. It is widely used in body jewelry.

Platinum
Platinum balls are widely used in high reliability electrical contacts. For this application, the platinum is alloyed with a small percentage of other elements. In the United States, it is usually alloyed with iridium; and in Europe, it is alloyed with nickel. These toughening and hardening metals have only a slight effect on the properties of the platinum. Platinum is the most nobel of metals, and is impervious to attack by most acids and bases. Platinum has one of the highest melting points of any metal ( 1768.3 C, 3214.9 F ). As platinum is an expensive material, we do not maintain any platinum items in stock .

Phenol Balls

Bakelite Balls Phenol Formaldehyde Balls

Unlike most other plastic balls, this material is a thermosetting plastic. This means that once this material has been heat cured in the mold, it will not melt again. You can raise the temperature of this plastic until it incinerates, but it will not melt. This material is much harder than any other commercially available plastic ball. It must be compression molded or catalyzed in a mold at high temperature, which makes it much more expensive than thermo plastics that can be injection molded.

Ren 41
This is an extremely tough high temperature alloy. The machinability of this material is the very lowest of any commercially available alloy. Once the blank is formed, grinding and lapping are no problem. High quality balls can be produced from this material.

Tantalum Balls / Tantalum Beads

Tantalum balls or beads find frequent use as radiographic markers, because of their biocompatibility. These balls balls or beads can be implanted to form three dimensional markers for orthopedic evaluation after surgery. A ring of these radio graphically opaque markers are used at both ends of stints and shunts, providing a well defined address for the implanted devices. This material is used as an X-ray opaque tracer in medical implants. An attached ball will define the position of a catheter. Tantalum is a very dense heavy metal ( Ta ) atomic weight is 180.947, density: 16.6g/cm^3. Unlike tungsten, it is very ductile and malleable. There is no reaction with either hydrochloric acid ( HCL ) or nitric acid ( HNO3 ). When Tantalum is implanted in a patient, it must be processed according to specification ASTM F560 ( Medical Grade ). See our sister site, www.tantalumbeads.com, for more information. See our shopping cart for available stock.

Titanium
Titanium Balls are made in two popular titanium materials. The first is basically pure titanium. This material, grade 2, is widely used in medical applications, where it is frequently used in body implants because it is very bio-compatible. The second, and by far the most frequently used alloy is 6AL4V ( 6 % Aluminum, 4% Vanadium ) titanium.

This alloy is available in a variety of wire and bar forms for easy processing into precision balls. Satin finished titanium balls are used as calibration devices for optical inspection devices. Titanium has an unusual hexagonal close pack atomic structure, as contrasted with a face centered or a body centered cubic of most metallic elements.

Tungsten Balls
Tungsten has one of the highest melting points of any available metal. This is one of the heaviest metals. It is hard, tough and non-magnetic. This metal is expensive and it is very difficult to machine, grind or lap. Very high quality balls can be produced from this material.

Waspaloy Balls
Waspaloy is one of the older exotic alloys used in high temperature applications. This material is very expensive and is only available in a limited number of shapes.

Aluminum Oxide ( Ceramic Ball )

Aluminum Oxide is an almost white ceramic. Chemically it is Al2O3, also known as, alumina balls or aloxite balls . This material is extremely hard. It has excellent electrical insulation properties. It is one of the least expensive and most widely used ceramic ball materials. It is very wear resistant, and it is very stiff with a Young's Modulus ( YM ) of elasticity of approximately 45,000,000 pounds per square inch. It can only be used in bearings at low speeds and very light loads Star J and #3 are the alloys most frequently used for balls. They are very hard and wear resistant.

Silicon Nitride ( Ceramic Ball )

Si3N4 ceramic has become the standard ceramic ball material for hybrid Ball Bearings. This material is very hard, over 2000 Knoop, and very wear resistant. The weight of silicon nitride balls in only 40% of steel at 3.2 grams per CM^3 ( cubic centimeter ) . This material is hot isostatic pressed from 1 to 3 micro powder. This material has excellent fracture toughness even at elevated temperature. Ball quality as good as AFBMA Grade 5 can be achieved on this material.

Silicon nitride has excellent dielectric properties and extremely high resistivity (insulating properties).

More Information
For more information on engineering materials, see the site matweb.com .
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