The Boca Bearing Company has expanded its line of full ceramic balls, full ceramic deep groove radial bearings, full ceramic thrust bearings, and full ceramic insert bearings. Ceramic bearings are suitable for use in many specialty applications. Ceramic is a good material for any application seeking to achieve higher RPM’s, reduce overall weight or for extremely harsh environments where extreme temperatures and corrosive substances are present. Ceramic is also non-magnetic, and non-conductive, and can operate without any lubrication. The Boca Bearings Company offers several ceramic material options including, Silicon Nitride (Si3N4), Zirconia Oxide (ZrO2), and Alumina Oxide (Al203).

Ceramic silicon nitride balls exhibit much greater hardness than steel balls resulting in at least 10 times greater ball life due to the ability to hold the surface finish longer. The ball has dramatically smoother surface properties than the best steel ball resulting in less friction between the balls and bearing race surfaces. Thermal properties are also dramatically improved over steel balls resulting in less heat buildup at high speeds. Ceramic has 35% less thermal expansion, 50% less thermal conductivity, are lighter weight and are non-corrosive.

The inner and outer races of antifriction bearings often become frosted, fluted, or can get a corrugated pattern imprinted on them. These are not mechanical scars but are due to electromagnetic forces and can lead to bearing failure. They are usually found in modern systems that routinely feature pulse-modulated adjustable-speed motors and inverters with high switching frequencies and short rise times. A solution is to substitute ceramic bearings for the more traditional, chrome steel counterparts to eliminate scarring and also run cooler due to less micro-weld adhesion.

Full ceramic bearings can continue to operate under extreme temperatures and are capable of operating from -100 C to 900° C. Ceramic is much lighter than steel and many bearings are 1/3 the weight of a comparable steel bearing. Full ceramic bearings are highly corrosion resistant and will stand up to most common acids, they will not corrode when exposed to moisture or salt water.

Suitable applications for full ceramic bearings include cryo-pumps, medical devices, semiconductors, turbine flow meters, food processing equipment, canning and seaming equipment, robotics and optics.

The Boca Bearing Company stocks a full range of ceramic balls, ceramic hybrid bearings and full ceramic bearings. With over 8000 different bearings and well over 10 million bearings in stock, The Boca Bearing Company offers the largest stock of replacement bearings for all industrial, medical, and specialty applications. Boca Bearings has consistently led the industry in bringing advanced ceramic technologies to market. The Boca Bearing Company is one of the most trusted names in ceramic bearing technology.

Boca Bearing
www.bocabearings.com