As a key part of rolling bearings, steel balls play a role in bearing, transmitting loads and motions in the bearing, and have a greater impact on the life and vibration and noise of the bearing.

Any point on the surface of the steel ball is the working surface that bears the load. It bears the variable load with indefinite period. The contact area is small and the contact stress is large. The stress condition of the steel ball is relatively bad, and it is easy to cause fatigue damage. The entire surface of the steel ball is both a processing surface and a supporting surface. Therefore, the steel ball processing technology is also very unique and specialized in the machinery industry. It has very high requirements on raw materials, process technology, processing equipment, tooling and abrasives, and grinding fluids.

At present, the domestic steel ball technology level, equipment level, quality control level and tooling and abrasive level have reached or approached the international advanced level; management has become more refined and perfect; large-scale production and operation have been highlighted, and the total production volume has continued to expand. Steel ball quality level: mass production tolerance grade G5. Single particle vibration reaches 26 dB. The life K value reaches 12 or more.

1. processing methods

There are two main processing methods for steel balls, the water cycle processing process and the resin grinding wheel grinding process.

2. Raw materials

Due to its moderate price and easy heat treatment, GCr15 is the most widely used raw material, accounting for more than 85%. For applications where corrosion resistance is more important than durability, stainless steel balls are used. Special applications such as airplanes require the use of high-speed tool steel (tungsten steel) and heat-resistant steel (M50) with better heat resistance. Steel balls for special applications usually have higher material costs and higher processing costs due to the implementation of complex heat treatment processes (such as high temperature quenching, multiple tempering, cold treatment, etc.).

3. Process equipment

A complete set of steel ball processing equipment has been formed in China, including Z32, Z32G series steel ball cold heading machines and high-speed cold heading machines, 3M49, 3M79 series light ball machines, 3M46, 3M76 series ball grinding machines, protective atmosphere heat treatment furnace, steel ball surface strengthening machine, cleaning machine based on brush cleaning and high-strength sponge rotary extrusion cleaning, etc. The testing equipment mainly includes the visual inspection instrument for the surface quality of steel balls based on the vision system, and the eddy current photoelectric visual inspection instrument with optics and vibration channels based on the principle of eddy current flaw detection. The grinding plate diameter of the main processing machine tool for polishing, grinding and researching is φ300~950(1000)mm, and the ball load is 20~1000kg. The machining accuracy of the machine tool can meet the requirements of G5 steel balls.

ZYS can offer steel balls with wide size range. Please visit https://www.zys-bearing.com/bearing-ball/zgcr15-steel-ball.html or send email to sales@zys.com.cn.