Mathilde Lacombe

Bearings are playing a significant role in running almost every machinery whether it is your home appliance, car or industrial manufacturing units. In simple words, these components are meant to keep operational activities smooth and swift. Talking about the primary functions, they reduce friction, protect the supporting parts of the rotation and maintain the correct position. In order to execute various operational activities in a piece of machinery, we need different types of bearings such as:- 

• Plain bearing 
• Ball-bearing 
• Roller bearing 
• Magnetic bearing 
• Fluid bearing 

Their materials can be both metal or non-metal. For the best performance output, industrialists prefer bronze bearings. Bronze is an alloy known for excellent hardness and strength. Along with copper as the primary ingredient, industrial-grade bearing bronze also comprises aluminum, nickel, zinc and manganese. Moreover, some alloys also contain non-metals and metalloids including silicon, phosphorous and arsenic. Let’s understand the characteristics and benefits of bronze bearing in detail. 

Why Choose Bronze Alloy for Bearings?

While choosing a material for manufacturing bearings with high endurance, three factors need to be considered in priority i.e. mechanical properties, physical properties and processing cost. Bronze meets all these expectations and comprises some significant features that you need to know. 

• Capable of working smoothly in high-temperature conditions
• High corrosion resistance
• Soldering and brazing for fabrication is very convenient as compared to other alloy options
• Wear-resistant 
• Friction resistant 
• High machinability 

The best thing is, you can focus on enhancing a particular feature by giving special instructions. For instance, if you are expecting the best in class friction-resistance, some extra amount of lead can help in getting an alloy that perfectly serves the purpose. 

Whom to Approach For Customizable Alloys?

There are manufacturers in the market known for producing excellent-quality customizable engineering materials. You can expect both metal and non-metal compositions according to the requirement of an industry. Either your engineers can suggest the recipe of ingredients and their accurate percentage or the experts of the company will communicate and understand the exact requirement. Make sure that the manufacturer you are approaching has prior experience of making alloys for different purposes. 

Important attributes of a bronze bearing to consider

• Embed Ability to absorb and discard contaminated particles during the long run. 
• Adaptability in circumstances like misalignment and shaft roughness. 
• High fatigue and compressive strength. 
• Excellent corrosion resistance. 
• High wear resistance. 
• Low friction coefficient. 
• Low shear strength.
• Reasonable price for bulk industrial purchase. 

Considerable properties while selecting bronze alloys

1. Physical properties 

When it comes to checking the physical properties of bearing bronze alloy, you need to pay attention to multiple aspects. It should be corrosion resistant even in extreme oxidation conditions. Check thermal, magnetic and electrical properties according to the purpose of the application. 

2. Mechanical properties 

The technique of processing and material composition decides the mechanical properties of a bearing. Tensile, ductility, hardness, formability and toughness are some important factors to consider in mechanical properties. 

3. Fabricability 

Bearings must be easy to fabricate for the ease of stretching, bending and other processes of manufacturing. While selecting a bronze alloy, make sure that its fabricability is more convenient than steel alloys. 

4. Surface properties 

As we have already mentioned, friction resistance is among the primary objectives of bearings so, you have to pay attention to its surface properties. Choose a material with excellent surface smoothness as well as less requirement of lubrication. 

Whether it is a spherical plain bearing or complex ball bearing, bronze can serve all purposes efficiently. All you need is to visit driveshaft shop phoenix to find a reliable manufacturer capable of creating alloys exactly as per the need of current times.