Can A Ceramic Bearing Look Like Steel

Like everything it is a tradeoff.

Can a ceramic bearing look like steel.

Typically all ceramic bearings are used in specialist high temperature high speed applications where the design requirements are very strict and hence can be costly. If anyone can enlighten or share. Ceramic vs steel bearing bb for durability. Can i replace ceramic bearings with steel ones.

They are incredibly nice for bicycle wheel and crankshaft bearings. Ceramic bearings versus steel bearings the debate has gone on for a long time. There are a number of commercially available ceramic bearing types grouped into one of two categories. For clarity i will be looking inside the hubs to check what actually needs replacing before making purchasing decisions however i want to know if it is technically possible to replace ceramic for steel and or if there might be any issues with the races used for ceramics accepting steel are they different materials etc.

The bearing balls are almost always either silicon nitride si3n4 which are black ceramic balls or zirconium dioxide zro2 which are white ceramic balls and due to their hardness burnish the stainless races and as such improve in performance over time. They cannot be hardened nor annealed although they can be de stressed but at a temperature significantly higher than steel. Ceramic balls are simply hard from their specific material properties. At face value that the ceramic bearings and races can handle the torque and pressure better than the standard sealed steel bearing bbs.

If there is one thing we see a lot in comments sections about ceramic bearings it is people claiming ceramic bearings do not offer benefits and are not worth their cost. I would average 250 a week through hilly. They are much like ss bearings in that the races and cage will be stainless but diverge by employing ceramic balls instead. I decided to test the capabilities of ceramicspeed enduro a cheap ebay bear.

Ceramic bearings vs steel bearings ceramic materials offer superior corrosion and heat resistance higher dimensional stability and lower density which facilitates high speed. I do know it wasn t earth shattering but by no means making me look like a wuss. In the humble opinion of kogel bearings outside of derailleur pulleys full ceramic. Hybrid bearings consist of ceramic rolling elements in steel races whilst all ceramic bearings have both races and rolling elements made from ceramic.

Gives you a much smoother feel. Let s analyze the pros cons and applications.