How to choose the best ceramic material for bearing bushing production?

There are several factors to consider when selecting the best material for the production of ceramic bearings

Firstly, the required operating environment needs to be considered, including temperature, speed, load and corrosivity.

Secondly, the physical properties of the material need to be considered, such as hardness, strength, thermal stability and coefficient of friction.

Finally, cost and machinability need to be considered.

For applications with high speeds, high temperatures, high loads and corrosive requirements, zirconia ceramics may be a better choice because of its higher hardness and strength.

For general industrial applications, on the other hand, alumina ceramics may be a more common choice because of its good resistance to wear.

Silicon carbide, though, has high hardness, strength and excellent wear resistance, which makes it a good choice for some high-load and high-speed bearing applications.

However, compared to other ceramic materials, silicon carbide may have lower toughness and impact resistance, which makes it potentially less suitable for some applications, in addition to the fact that silicon carbide is more difficult to machine and more costly to produce, which greatly limits its widespread use in bearing manufacturing. Therefore, despite some of the excellent properties of silicon carbide, alumina ceramics and zirconia ceramics are generally more common in the manufacture of bearing bushings, as they provide consistent performance under a wide range of operating conditions.