X-Life™ Single Row Angular Contact Ball Bearings from INA/FAG Achieve Up to 50% Longer Service Life

Used wherever high thrust loads, high speeds and elevated temperatures are part of operating conditions - as well as the need for high running accuracy, the new X-Life Single Row Angular Contact Ball Bearings utilize these latest advancements to increase the fatigue limiting load by more than 30%. Numerous applications will benefit from these enhanced bearings, including electrical machines, pumps, compressors, and air handling equipment, as well as textile and printing machinery, turbines and a multitude of gearboxes. Operational advantages include:

· Lower operating costs resulting from reduced friction, lower bearing temperatures and reduced lubricant stressing

· Quieter running

· Suitable for high speeds

· High rigidity

· Universal designs for mounting in pairs

· More efficient bearing arrangements for significantly longer life

· Sealed and lubricated for life

In early 2004, INA/FAG announced its commitment to a new line of anti-friction bearings called X-Life, which combine the experience, innovation and problem-solving capabilities of both companies. The X-Life program brought a new level of standards to rolling bearings and a significantly improved price/performance ratio, incorporating advancements in ball and raceway finishes, improved kinematics, special materials and other innovative processes. The results have meant lower noise, reduced maintenance, higher load capacity and longer service life.

The grinding and honing methods used in INA/FAG’s new Plateau Finishing production technology have significantly improved the quality of the bearing surface finishes and produced a greater profile accuracy of the raceways. Friction moment has been reduced by up to 10%, and the fatigue-limiting load has been increased by 30%, resulting in a dramatic improvement in service life of up to 50%.

Advanced Cage Design

The INA/FAG engineering team carefully evaluated the cage geometry in the angular contact ball bearings, and completely redesigned the contact area between the balls and the cage pockets. This helps achieve optimum contact and avoids wear in the cage pockets resulting from the backward and forward drifting of the balls. The newly optimized contact geometry leads to reduced friction and lower energy consumption and also results in less grease stressing and a reduction in grease contamination. In fact, tests show that grease life can be extended by up to 200%.

The X-Life Angular Contact Ball Bearings are available with the new pressed steel cage, and can also be sealed on one or both sides. The unsealed versions are heat resistant up to 150°C. Compared to bearings with brass cages, they are appreciably lighter, while offering the same excellent dynamic running properties. And since these new X-Life bearings are insensitive to synthetic lubricants and aggressive media, they are ideally suited for raising the productivity uptime in the chemical and mineral oil industries. They are also available in universal design and tolerance class P5 (Abec 5).

Existing brass and polyamide caged versions are still available with the improved X-Life raceway surface finishes for applications where they may be better suited than the steel cage variant.