Ceramic Bearings Vs Stainless Steel

Stainless join date aug 2008 location californeeeah posts 1 529 post thanks like likes given 51 likes received 336.

Ceramic bearings vs stainless steel.

A set of fine quality ceramic bearings starts out at about 200 usd more than double what you would pay for comparable steel bearings. Stainless steel bearings and full ceramic bearings are both corrosion resistant but the ceramic bearings have greater corrosion resistance. In practice rolling friction cannot be eliminated so the likely figure is more like 10 of the 3 ie 0 3. They also have a much higher operating temperature range than stainless which will anneal soften at a much lower temperature.

As someone stated on the first page of this thread derailleur pulleys will make the largest dfference as their rotational speed is highest. The first thing that strikes the eye when looking at bicycle bearings is the difference in price between steel bearings and hybrid ceramic bearings. Or they call them ceramic hybrid bearings. They will both also cope with higher temperatures than chrome steel but ceramic bearings also win here.

I recently tested some derailleur pulleys with plain sleeve bearings vs some stainless steel ball bearings and found that under typical conditions the steel ball beairngs in your derailleur consume about 60 mw at full speed that figure is for two. Full ceramic bearings where the inner and outer bearings are made of ceramic material as well as the balls are super nice too but those can get very expensive. I was considering using ceramic bearings in a spindle i m building but i m concerned about the ceramic s impact resistance. This spindle could be turning a flycutter with interrupted cuts.

It takes weeks for a kogel ball to sit in a tumbler and be. Cost of purchase for ceramic and steel bearings. If you opt for full ceramic bearings bearings with ceramic cases in addition to ceramic balls you re looking at about 800 per set. Schaeffler s data is useful because it shows how small the potential gain by switching from steel to ceramic bearings is.

Ceramic bearings are more dimensionally stable at high temperature than stainless bearings. Stainless steel bearings win the prize for load and speed ratings. Because ceramic bearings are rounder with a smoother surface and more uniform size friction is reduced and that can contribute to a less energy required. Rolling resistance is the key trump card promoted by ceramic bearing fans.

There are many other differences but for turbo applications that is the main draw. This is mostly due to the additional time spent to perfect a quality ceramic ball. They have stainless steel inner and outer bearings and ceramic balls inside for increased speed.