What are the trends in aerospace bearing materials?

The basic and most widely used materials for the manufacture of bearing components used in aerospace applications include bearing steels 52100, HSS M50, HSS M50Nil. The trend nowadays is a gradual transition to the production of aerospace bearings exclusively from HSS M50 and HSS M50Nil steel. AKE Skalica has aerospace bearings included in its production programme, which are manufactured from all of these steels. We follow this trend and actively copy it when designing construction solutions for our new projects. It could be said that currently the production of HSS M50 and HSS M50Nil materials accounts for up to 80% of the total production of our production plant.

Hybrid bearings

The bearings made of HSS M50Nil in combination with ceramic rolling elements are a special theme. (Si3N4 – Silicon Nitride). This design of bearings is called hybrid. The combination of these materials in the bearing design is ideal for use in high speed rocket engines, whether with solid or liquid fuel, due to its low coefficient of friction. We currently have both hybrid ball bearings and hybrid roller bearings in production.

Cages made of polyamide

The current trend in materials for the production of cages is polyamide blanks. One of the top materials is Ketron PEEK 1000 (Polyetheretherketone natural black), which can be used in environments with increased radiation, high temperature and chemical impacts due to its properties. Bearings with cages made of Ketron PEEK 1000 are therefore used in the  aerospace manufacturing industry as well as in the nuclear power industry.

Trends in materials in AKE Skalica

For the development, design and production of its products, AKE Skalica uses all of these materials. It is expected that in the future the number of types of AKE bearings, where these trendy materials will be used in various combinations, will increase. All of the trendy materials are suitable for the aerospace manufacturing industry, but they are also significantly more demanding in terms of processing and adherence to strict parameters. For this reason, we have implemented new state-of-the-art technology centres in our technological infrastructure.    The combination of current material trends is used today in the manufacture of all design groups of aerospace bearings, in particular:

• deep groove ball bearing,
• ball bearing,
• radial ball bearing,
• pillow block ball bearings,
• spherical ball bearings,
• linear ball bearings.

We consider bearings made of the above mentioned materials to be "best bearings".