Hybrid and Ceramic Bearings

Hybrid and Ceramic Bearings are on the cutting edge of technology. They offer mechanical benefits that were otherwise thought impossible. Carter Manufacturing has decades of experience pushing these bearings to their limits and has gained unrivaled engineering experience in the process. Carter’s novel bearing materials can better cope with a combination of reduced lubrication, higher speeds and higher loads.

Explore to find benefits such as: extremely high temperatures, cryogenic temperatures, corrosion resistance, extremely high-speed, non-magnetic, lightweight, lubrication-free, low-torque, nuclear compatible, electrical-insulated, long-life, among many other advantages. There is a ceramic or hybrid bearing from Carter that can provide a solution to your application requirements if they involve extreme environments.

Hybrid bearings are constructed of steel inner and outer rings with ceramic rolling elements in place of steel.

As technology has advanced and machinery speeds and loadings have dramatically increased, it has been discovered that conventional, all-steel bearings can sometimes limit design. As a result of these new demands being made on machinery, Carter has been involved in the evolution of new bearing technology to meet it. Hybrid bearings using Silicon Nitride balls (Si₃N₄) meet and exceed today’s requirements and offer a long list of characteristics which are far superior to those of conventional all-steel bearings. As the bearing components are produced from dissimilar materials, many of the issues associated with metal to metal contact between the races and the balls are now either reduced or completely eliminated, offering significant new advantages and opportunities in the design of industrial and other machinery. Leading manufacturers of space and satellite equipment were amongst the first to experience the benefits due to the extreme environments that these applications require bearings to work in.

Ceramic bearings are perfect for many applications where standard bearings are unable to operate or survive, for example Ultra High Vacuum (UHV) and caustic chemical environments, or in instances where lubrication is an issue, as in pharmaceutical and ultra-clean environments. Renowned for their resistance to heat, ceramic materials have long been used for applications where temperatures exceed those of standard bearing steels. Ceramic bearings have proved to be the ideal solution where superior insulating properties (for example in applications where electrical conductivity problematic) or for environments where lubricants can’t be used (for example downhole pumps for the oil industry).

Carter Bearings has been involved in the specification of ceramic bearings for its customers since 1999. As a result, we have a vast wealth of knowledge and experience immediately available to all customers.

If you are looking for a product that may need a little more discussion, do not hesitate to contact us for assistance.