Frictional Characteristics of Stainless Steel Ball Bearings Lubricated with Hot Water

Frictional Characteristics of Stainless Steel Ball Bearings Lubricated with Hot Water

Water-lubricated frictional characteristics of a stainless steel ball bearings are not well known compared to the oil-lubricated frictional characteristics. Furthermore a study on friction at a high temperature is rare because the bearing maintenance strategy for water-lubricated or chemicals-lubricated bearings of equipment is generally based on the replacement of the failed bearings-and parts. Ball bearings and ball screw are installed in the power transmission for the newly developing integral reactor and these are lubricated with chemically-controlled pure water at a high temperature and a high pressure. Bearings and power transmitting mechanical elements for an atomic reactor requires high reliability and high performance during the estimated lifetime, and it should be verified. In this paper, experimental research results of the frictional characteristics for water-lubricated ball bearings are presented as a preliminary investigation.