Lubricants for bearings

Bearing Lubricants

Lubricants used on bearings are usually grease or oil and probably one of the biggest areas of application that we deal with. Here are some of the basics:

Failure on bearings may be due to the solid elements (fatigue), or mating parts not retaining their contact geometry (thermal distortion) or the breakdown of the lubricant properties.

Correct selection of the lubricant for bearings is essential for unit life and performance.

Design considerations for bearing lubricants

The factors affecting the design and usage of grease or oil lubricant in bearings is due to a variety of applications.

Fundamental, are the criteria of Contact Load, Speed, and Temperature. See operating conditions

Specific applications may introduce other factors relating to Safety, Health, and Environment etc.

The choice of bearing lubricant must satisfy all factors in a particular application.

Bearing life calculations from manufacturers assume adequate lubricant film formation.

Selection of the correct lubricant is based on laws of Elastohydrodynamic (EHD) theory, Conditions of Contact (Hertzian analysis of the contact geometry) and practical experience.

Lubrication in bearings

Grease, oil and solid lubricants are available.

Today, about 90% of rolling bearings are grease lubricated.

Grease has the advantages of being cheaper in the initial fill, maintenance, and easier to retain, giving less contamination to the surrounding area.

Only a small amount of the grease is active, the remainder acting as a reservoir.

Oils may be used with higher speeds and temperatures.

With oils, the viscosity is generally the most important consideration.

Mineral oils are commonly used, but synthetic lubricants may be required for extremes of high and low temperatures.

Please have a look at our industries page index to see all the various industries that we supply.

Kluber, our specialist 2009 lubricant supplier has these products in stock now. Call them now on 01422 205115 or Tell Us What You Want™
Ask for Sandy or Nick in the technical department.

We look forward to speaking with you