Engineering Capability

Barden's design engineers work closely with customers to develop unique bearing solutions with specialised features to meet application requirements and solve functional problems. Barden's innovations in special bearings range from nearly standard bearings with slightly modified dimensions to intricate assemblies which integrate the bearing function into a complete mechanism.

In many cases, the overall cost of equipment can be reduced by incorporating special or customised bearings. Hybrid bearings (with ceramic balls) in particular save costs by improving performance. For applications such as aerospace bearings, mating components can be integrated into the bearing, for example mounting flanges, gear teeth, spring carriers and integral O ring grooves. The performance and installation benefits to be gained from using custom-designed bearings include:

• Improved assembly reliability
• Enhanced rigidity or stability of the system
• Better location control through proper bearing orientation
• Reduction in handling operations and contamination
• Improved alignment of the rotating assembly
• Weight reduction
• Improved resistance to temperature extremes 
• Reduction in tolerance stack up

To contact us about a bespoke bearing design just click here.

Surface engineering

Engineering surfaces are neither flat, smooth or clean and when two surfaces come into contact, only a small percentage of the apparent surface area is actually supporting the load. This can result in high contact stresses, which lead to increased friction and wear of the component. Engineering the surface to combat this is desirable and can offer benefits including lower running costs and longer service intervals.

The use of surface engineering processes can effectively reduce the amount of wear on components. Common treatments include:

• Hard chrome coating
• Electroless nickel plating
• Hard anodising
• Arc evaporated titanium, nitride
• Carburising and carbo-nitriding
• Plasma nitriding

Anti-corrosion processes produce a surface that is less chemically reactive than the substrate material. Examples include:

• Hard chrome coating
• Galvanised zinc
• Zinc/nickel plating
• Titanium carbide
• Electroless nickel plating
• Titanium nitride
• Passivation treatments

In summary, a large number of coatings and surface treatments are available to combat friction, corrosion and wear. It is often difficult for designers to select the optimum process for a particular application and there may be a wide range of options offering reasonable solutions.

Working with recognised leaders in advanced coatings and surface treatments, Barden can provide specialised guidance on the selection of suitable treatments and processes to meet and surpass the demands of extreme environment bearing applications.