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2014

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New Product
Development of “Sliding Bearing Unit for High Load Applications”
March 28, 2014New Products

[Industry first! Combining an outer ring made of a special plastic sliding material*1 and inner ring made of bearing steel to drastically improve friction and wear characteristics of sliding bearings!]

NTN Corporation (hereafter, NTN) has developed the “Sliding Bearing Unit for High Load Applications” that drastically improves friction and wear characteristics as well as load resistance compared to conventional plastic sliding bearings, by combining an outer ring made of a newly combined special plastic sliding material and inner ring made of bearing steel.

Various types of bearings are used in rotating parts of office equipment such as copiers and printers. Rolling bearings had been chiefly used in the past for their outstanding rotational precision and durability, however with growing demands for lower costs from office equipment manufacturers, NTN has been making improvements to plastic sliding bearings to replace these rolling bearings. Yet compared to rolling bearings, plastic sliding bearings traditionally have poor friction and wear characteristics, meaning they were limited to applications with relatively light loads.

The newly developed “Sliding Bearing Unit for High Load Applications” combines an outer ring made of PPS*2 plastic sliding material with a special filler and inner ring made of bearing steel, and also features a fluorine-based grease applied to the sliding surfaces between the outer and inner rings. These have reduced the level of wear to up to 1/3 and the coefficient of friction to up to 1/2 compared to conventional plastic sliding bearings. The load resistance has also been increased by up to 2-fold which allows the bearing to be used under higher load conditions. The structure differs to conventional sliding bearings where the bearing and shaft slide directly against one another, as now the outer ring and inner ring slide against one another, there is no need to take into account the impact that the material or surface roughness of the installed shaft has on rotating torque or durability, thus increasing the flexibility of design of the shaft.

With a self-aligning design*3 comprised of a convex curve on the outer ring inner diameter and concave curve on the inner ring outer diameter, deflection of the shaft and roll, as well as misalignment*4 is absorbed within the bearing itself for better bearing installation and maintenance characteristics.

NTN has already started proposing the newly developed product to manufacturers of copiers and printers as a bearing that can be used under high load conditions. In addition to office equipment, the product will be expanded for other applications including food machinery and medical equipment.

*1: Material used for the contact surfaces when parts slide against one another
*2: Abbreviation of Poly Phenylene Sulfide
*3: Absorbs installation tolerance by adjusting the angle of the outer ring with respect to the central shaft of the actual shaft and inner ring
*4: Tolerance against shaft and housing installation

Features (compared with PPS plastic sliding bearings)

(1) Combination of outer ring made of special plastic sliding material and inner ring made of bearing steel
  Improved friction and wear characteristics for up to 2-fold load resistance
  Increased flexibility with shaft design (no impact on shaft material or surface roughness)
(2) Self-aligning design for stable sliding
  Better bearing installation and maintenance characteristics

Inquiries about this release

Inquiry Form

Product photo

Product photo
Example of size: inner diameter 25 mm × outer diameter 37 mm × width 7 mm

Example of applications

· Office equipment, food machinery, medical equipment, etc.

Example of applications

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