Thrust bearings are special bearings used to bear axial force, that is, the bearings of force in the direction parallel to the shaft. Thrust bearings are divided into thrust ball bearings and thrust roller bearings, thrust sealed bearings (shell bearings) and thrust spherical plain bearings.
Thrust bearings are generally assembled by shaft rings, seat rings, cages and rolling elements. The shaft ring matches the shaft, and the seat ring matches the bearing seat hole, and there is a gap between the rings and the shaft; the rings is mostly made of bearing steel. According to market demand, there are also carbon steel, stainless steel materials, and Thrust bearings also have design made of ceramic materials; the cage is generally made of stamped steel cage, and there are also brass material, nylon cage and without cage design; the rolling body has two designs of steel ball and roller, the ball is made of bearing steel, carbon Steel material, stainless steel material and ceramic ball material; according to different applications, choose the corresponding product type. Thrust bearings are also designed with housing seals, we called clutch kingpin bearings.
1. Thrust Ball Bearings & Miniature thrust ball bearings
Thrust ball bearings are designed to take axial (thrust) loads at high speeds, but they cannot take any radial loads. These bearings feature bearing washers with raceway grooves in which the balls move.
Miniature thrust ball bearings with flat washers for shaft sizes from 2mm to 10mm,the other features are the same with thrust ball bearings, but miniature thrust ball bearings usually use the brass cage.
Features of Thrust Ball Bearings
Thrust ball bearings are classified into “flat seat” and “aligning seat” types, based on the shape of the housing washer (outer ring seat), and as single-direction or double-direction. Spherical and aligning seat washers help to provide tolerance for mounting errors.
Thrust ball bearings can only bear axial loads, and are mainly divided into miniature thrust ball bearings, thrust deep groove ball bearings, thrust angular contact ball bearings, one-way thrust ball bearings and two-way thrust ball bearings. One-way thrust ball bearings can only bear axial load in one direction, and two-way thrust ball bearings can bear axial loads in two directions; thrust ball bearings cannot limit the radial displacement of the shaft, and the limit speed is very low. The bearing can limit the axial displacement of the shaft and the housing in one direction, and the two-way bearing can limit the axial displacement in two directions. Such bearings are mainly used in automotive steering mechanisms, machine tool spindles and other mechanical equipment and automotive parts.
2. Thrust Roller Bearings
--- Thrust roller bearings are divided into thrust tapered roller bearings, thrust cylindrical roller bearings, thrust self-aligning roller bearings, thrust needle roller bearings, thrust crossed roller bearings, automobile steering system clutch kingpin bearings.
Spherical roller thrust bearings have specially designed raceways and asymmetrical rollers. The bearings can accommodate axial loads acting in one direction and simultaneously acting radial loads. The load is transmitted between the raceways via the rollers at an angle to the bearing axis, while the flange guides the rollers. The large number of rollers, which have an optimum conformity with the washer raceways, enables the bearings to accommodate heavy axial and simultaneously acting radial loads.
spherical roller thrust bearings are separable, making it possible to mount and dismount the housing washer separately from the shaft washer and roller and cage assembly. In addition this facilitates maintenance inspections.
Cylindrical roller thrust bearings are designed to accommodate heavy axial loads and impact loads. They must not be subjected to any radial load. The bearings are very stiff and require little axial space.
-- Separable design
Shaft washer, housing washer, cylindrical roller and cage thrust assembly can be mounted separately.
-- Extended bearing service life
To prevent stress peaks, the roller ends are relieved slightly to modify the line contact between the raceway and rollers.
Tapered roller thrust bearings are designed to accommodate heavy axial loads and peak loads. The bearings are very stiff and require little axial space.
The shaft and housing washers and the roller and cage thrust assemblies of tapered roller thrust bearings with cages can be mounted separately.
The optimized roller end design and surface finish on the flange promote lubricant film formation, resulting in lower friction. This also reduces frictional heat and flange wear.
Depending on the design, crowned or logarithmic raceway profiles optimize the load distribution along the contact surfaces, reduce stress peaks at the roller ends, and reduce the sensitivity to misalignment compared with conventional straight raceway profiles.
Needle roller thrust bearings
Features and benefits
-- Accommodate heavy axial loads and peak loads
The very small diameter deviation of the rollers within one assembly enables these bearings to accommodate heavy axial loads and peak loads.
Extended bearing service life
To prevent stress peaks, the roller ends are relieved slightly to modify the line contact between the raceway and rollers.
Thrust roller bearings are used to bear axial and radial combined loads dominated by axial loads, but the radial load must not exceed 55% of the axial load. Compared with other thrust roller bearings, this kind of bearing has a lower friction coefficient, higher speed and self-aligning performance. The rollers of the 29000 type bearings are asymmetrical spherical rollers, which can reduce the relative sliding between the rollers and the raceway during work, and the rollers are long, large in diameter, large in number and high in load capacity, and are usually lubricated with oil , Grease lubrication can be used for individual low-speed situations. In the design and selection, it should be preferred; 80000 type thrust cylindrical roller bearings, inch thrust tapered roller bearings and AXK type thrust needle roller bearings can withstand unidirectional axial loads, which are more axial loads than thrust ball bearings Much higher capacity with greater rigidity and less space in the axial direction. Thrust cylindrical roller bearings and thrust needle roller bearings are suitable for low-speed applications, and the speed of thrust tapered roller bearings is slightly higher than that of thrust cylindrical roller bearings.
Thrust cylindrical roller bearings are mainly used in oil drilling rigs, iron and steel machinery. Thrust spherical roller bearings are mainly used in hydraulic generators, vertical motors, propeller shafts for ships, tower cranes, extrusion machines, etc. Thrust Tapered roller bearings are mainly used for such bearings: one-way: crane hooks, oil drilling rig swivels; two-way: rolling mill roll necks. Plane thrust bearings mainly bear axial loads in assemblies and are widely used. Although the installation and operation of thrust bearings is relatively simple, errors often occur during actual maintenance, that is, the installation positions of the tight ring and loose ring of the bearing are incorrect, resulting in the failure of the bearing and the rapid wear of the journal. The tight ring is installed on the end face of the stationary part, that is, it is incorrectly assembled. The inner ring of the tight ring and the journal are in a transitional fit. When the shaft rotates, the tight ring is driven and rubbed against the end face of the stationary part. When the axial force is applied, the friction torque will be greater than the matching resistance torque of the inner diameter, resulting in the tight ring and the shaft. The forced rotation of the mating surface will aggravate the wear of the journal.
3. Steering King Pin Thrust Bearings
King pin or roller thrust bearings are incredibly used in automobile industry. King pin bearings support the movement of high speed running front wheels with manipulation of steering process. TKW manufacture the king pin bearings for four wheelers and other machines also. We design, manufacture and fabricate with perfect finishing for cars, trucks, autos, tractors, earth movers and other types of machinery where it is to be used. Roller thrust bearings are design, engineered in many sizes and capacity according to the type of functionality of it.
Our king pin bearings are of high quality, corrosion resistive and durable. We fabricate the various roller thrust bearings with the help of best quality raw metal material which provide a good lifetime to the bearings and better lubricant preventing facility. We design it according to the needs of our customer and custom sizes. TKW offer full range of king pin bearings for all type of automobile machines and heavy duty vehicles at affordable rate.
4. Spherical plain thrust bearings
Thrust spherical plain bearings have a convex spherical surface on the shaft washer and a corresponding concave spherical surface in the housing washer. These bearings are intended to accommodate axial loads primarily, but can also accommodate combined (radial and axial) loads. The radial load component of a combined load should not exceed 50% of the axial load component. When radial loads are larger, thrust bearings should be combined with radial bearings in the GE dimension series.
Thrust spherical plain bearings can be separated, enabling shaft and housing washers to be mounted separately.
TKW manufactures maintenance-free thrust spherical plain bearings with a steel/PTFE FRP sliding contact surface combination in the GX series as standard. Other designs and series are available on request.
5. Angular contact thrust ball bearings
Angular contact thrust ball bearings are separable, i.e. the washers and ball and cage assemblies can be mounted independently of each other. Although originally designed to support the rotary tables of drilling rigs, they are also suitable for other applications.
-- Accommodate axial and radial loads
-- High load carrying capacity
-- High axial stiffness
-- Low friction
-- High-speed performance
6. Thrust Cross Roller Bearings
Crossed Roller Bearings consist of an outer ring, an inner ring, and a plurality of rollers and spacers. The roller lies between the inner and outer ring with the spacers placed between the rollers to prevent the mutual friction between them thereby decreasing the torque resistance for rotation. There are six types of Hiwin Crossed Roller Bearings comprising of, the split outer ring type (CRBA), the split inner ring type (CRBB), the high rigidity type (CRBC), the split outer ring with mounting holes (CRBD), the high rigidity with mounting holes (CRBE) and the customized type (CRBX).
Most of the rings of thrust bearings are made of bearing steel, and the bearings made of chrome steel are the most used in the market, and this design are widely used in general industry and automobile industry; the rings of thrust bearings material are also designed with stainless steel and ceramic materials according to special requirements. The stainless steel thrust bearing is characterized by corrosion resistance. Moisture-proof and anti-rust, mainly used in food processing, chemical machinery, medical equipment and high-speed high-temperature machinery, etc.; ceramic thrust bearings have the characteristics of high temperature resistance, cold resistance, wear resistance, corrosion resistance, anti-magnetic and electrical insulation, oil-free self-lubrication, high speed, etc. Mainly used in aviation, aerospace, railway, navigation, petroleum, chemical industry, automobile, electronic equipment, high-speed motor, etc.
When shopping for thrust bearings, there are a few things you should know. Thrust bearings are available in different sizes JUST like above mentioned. You'll need to choose a size that matches the application for which you intend to use it. If a thrust bearing it too big or too small for a machine's moving parts, you may not be able to use it. Fortunately, you can order thrust bearings in a variety of standard sizes and metric sizes.
Something else to consider when choosing thrust bearings is the ball material. Thrust bearings featuring cheap balls tend to degrade quickly. Over time, the balls may lose their clean and smooth texture, resulting in increased resistance and reduced performance. But you can find thrust bearings with many high-quality ball materials. Some of them have glass balls, whereas others have stainless steel balls. Both glass and stainless steel are high-quality ball materials that last a long time.
