Advantages of ceramic ball bearings

There are an endless number of advantages that the ceramic ball bearings have provided over the steel bearings though at a substantially higher cost.

Man invented wheel thousands of years ago and it became one of the most important inventions till date. This evolved from the logs that were used to move such objects which were too heavy to move. After many years and various other modifications, modern day ball bearings came into being. These are being used in a number of modern day machines. Initially, steel balls were used in majority of the machines. However, these too are being replaced by ceramic ball bearings due to a large number of advantages that these have over the steel balls.

The earliest known modern day use of such bearings was done in the eighteenth century by a person named Philip Vaughan in Wales who designed a machine to support the carriage axle. The manufacturing industry has got benefited a lot from the use of such bearings due to the various advantages offered by them. These are increasingly being used in such machines which operate at high speeds and thus a problem of lubrication is faced in them.

Further, the ceramic ball bearings do not get contaminated as compared to steel ball bearings. These help in reducing the heat generated and vibrations produced in such machines. This is because of their comparatively lower density and higher strength. As the ceramic ball bearings are not prepared from any metal; these have an added advantage of electric insulation. Further, these do not suffer from the problems related with magnetism.

These have better abrasion resistance and can be used to work in tougher conditions. Due to various advantages, these last really long and have longer lives as compared to the steel ball bearings. These have lighter weight than any other ball bearings and can operate at much higher speeds. We would see a bigger use of such bearings in future.