The Boca Bearing Company recently announced an expansion in its lineup of ceramic hybrid bearings. These bearings are best suited in applications including cryo-pumps, medical devices, semiconductors, machine tools, turbine flow meters, food processing equipment, robotics, optics and more.

Any application seeking to achieve higher RPM’s, reduce overall weight, or reduce the energy needed within a given application is benefited greatly by the use of ceramic balls over steel. Due to the fact that ceramic can weigh up to 40% less than steel, and in turn reduce centrifugal loading and skidding, the result is up to 50% faster operation compared to conventional bearings. 

This means that the outer race groove exerts less force inward against the ball as the bearing spins. This reduction in force reduces the friction and rolling resistance. The lighter ball allows the bearing to spin faster, and uses less energy to maintain its speed.

Ceramic silicon nitride balls exhibit much greater hardness than steel balls resulting in at least 10 times greater ball life due to the ability to hold the surface finish longer. The ball has dramatically smoother surface properties than the best steel ball resulting in less friction between the balls and bearing race surfaces. Thermal properties are also dramatically improved over steel balls resulting in less heat buildup at high speeds.

Additional information and product lines of Ceramic Hybrid bearings can be found here.