With technological advancements, bronze bearings have aced up the game in technical equipment. These are best suited for industrial purposes as they serve sheer strength and high-quality performance. However, most people are less familiar with bronze and its application in modern industries such as aircraft, automobiles, vehicles, shipments, and others. Thus, here is a basic guide involving the range of materials and their capability in providing mechanical grip in today’s time.
Type Of Copper Alloys Available As Bearing Materials
There are plentiful materials that one may come across when looking for bronze-made bearings. A few of the popular ones comprise copper lead, leaded bronze, aluminum bronze, and beryllium copper.Â
- Copper Lead
They act like white metals and are metallurgical in nature. The hardness of copper-lead materials is nearly the same as that of babbitt at normal room temperature. It is usually higher at temperatures close to 300°F. Corrosion of both lead or copper can be managed by introducing additives in high-quality automotive and industrial lubricating oils.
- Leaded Bronze
Leaded bronze bearings have better compatibility than other bronzes as the lead particles smear over the bearing to help when lubrication conditions are poor. The associated alloys contain tin, lead, and copper as the main constituents and with the blend of zinc and nickel. They provide good performance in the form of intermediate loads and efficient speeds for machine tools, farm machinery, pumps, and rolling mills.
All the lead bronzes can continuously cast as LB1, LB2, LB3, and LB4. Their most common application of leaded bearings in bronze material is pump casings, valve bodies, miscellaneous housing, and water pump fittings. The characteristics such as pressure tightness and corrosion resistance play a great role in the incredible application of leaded bearings.
- Aluminum Bronze
Aluminum, iron, manganese, silicon, and nickel are used as alloying elements to create high-quality bronzes. These kinds of bearings provide excellent shock and wear resistance. They deliver high strength at higher temperatures, thus are used in equipment that is operated above 500°F.
- Beryllium Copper
The blend of 1.8% of beryllium and 0.2% cobalt results in an alloy as strong as steel. This being the reason, bearings made of beryllium copper are used under circumstances such as occasional overload, high temperature, and high impact. The impeccable example of the industries pumping for such bearings are electrical and aircraft.
How To Choose The Best Bearing Material?
Since there are various types of materialistic components used in making bearings, the below-mentioned are a few factors that help to choose the best for industrial applications.
- Compatibility or anti-scoring characteristic
- Fatigue resistance
- Embeddability
- Corrosion resistance
- Load capacity
- High thermal conductivity
- Conformability
Conclusion
Bearings are a key solution to boost the performance of industrial tools and equipment. Considering bronze bearings help in reducing friction during the low-lubrication conditions, thus heading towards higher efficiency. Interestingly, the availability of several bearing materials allows industries to pick the most suitable for the best of operations. Thus, for those who are looking to shop for bronze-made bearings for their business process, do not forget to mull over the aforesaid factors to make the suitable choice.
