Plain bearings on different shaft materials

Alongside the plain bearing itself, the shaft is the most important variable in a bearing system. It has direct contact with the bearing and, like the bearing, is stressed by the relative movement. In principle, the shaft will also wear, but modern bearing systems are designed in such a way that the wear of the shafts is so low that it cannot be measured using conventional methods. Shafts can be categorised according to their hardness and surface roughness as the most important parameters.

The hardness of the shaft also plays an important role. With less hard shafts, the shaft is smoothed more quickly during the running-in phase. Grinding peaks are removed and the surface is reformed. This effect has a positive impact on some materials, increasing the wear resistance of the polymer bearings.

The low wear of the systems with a hard chrome-plated shaft is particularly impressive. This very hard, but also smooth shaft has a favourable effect on the wear behaviour in many bearing pairings. The wear of many iglidur® bearings is lower on this shaft than on any other mating partner. However, it should be noted that due to the typically low surface roughness, the risk of stick-slip on hard chrome-plated shafts is particularly high.