Bearing Failure– Cause and Effect

If part of your day to day business operations involves machinery maintenance, then you know there’s always the potential for bearing failure. Bearing failure, or the malfunction of any part of your equipment can result in forced downtime, lost output, lowered productivity, and therefore less profit for your business. Regardless of the size of your facility or operation, be it a small manufacturing plant that produces a single item or a colossal assembly line, it’s likely that you’ve experienced component failure that led to either slowed or completely halted production. But what is it that causes bearings or other machinery components to fail? What exactly is responsible for bearing failure?

There are actually many things that can contribute to the overall health of your equipment or machinery. If you’re experiencing issues due to bearing failure, the cause of this is likely one of the following:

• Corrosion– Corrosion is a stealthy enemy of bearings. Chemical reactions from moisture, acids, and vapors attack bearing surfaces over time, causing damage that often goes unnoticed till it’s too late. It’s important to choose bearings that are best for the task at hand, the environment in which they’ll be expected to perform, and the contaminants they may come into contact with.
• Contamination– Foreign particles can find their way into bearing lubricants and/or cleaning solutions. Dirt, grit, dust, and flecks of steel from contaminated work areas, tools, or dirty hands, can cause issues with bearing performance.
• Improper installation or fit– When a bearing component is either ill-fitting or improperly installed, it cannot function as it should, and therefore its failure is inevitable.
• Improper maintenance or mishandling– Maintenance staff must be trained in the proper methods for handling, installing, and removing bearings. Even the tiniest nick or dent can dramatically reduce performance and viability of the part.
• Insufficient lubricant– Proper lubrication is paramount when it comes to bearing performance. Improper lubrication, ie. too much, too little, the wrong type of lubricant, mixing of incompatible lubricants, or even using old, deteriorated grease or oil can cause issues with bearing performance.
• Overload– Bearings become overloaded when they are forced to operate beyond their rated design limits for speed, temperature, and load. The greater the overload, the more impact it has on the life of the bearing.

Without the proper staff training and maintenance measures in place, bearings within your factory’s machinery can fail prematurely and unexpectedly. These bearing failures, more often than not, lead to forced downtime, reducing the plant’s efficiency and profits. They can also require expensive repairs as damaged bearings often contribute to the damage of adjacent components within your system. Worst case scenario, failed machinery can cause injury to employees. It is for these reasons that ensuring proper usage and maintenance of bearings is so critical in effort to mitigate their failure and all the problems that inevitably follow.

It’s important to plan ahead by using the right bearings for the right applications. If you need help in this arena, ProSource is here to support you. As a premiere bearings distributor based in Chattanooga, we carry a wide array of industrial products from a long list of brands– the best in the business. Find bearings, seals, and more from top brands like Timken, Bower, Browning, SKF, Fafnir, IKO, INA, Lovejoy, McGill, NTN, and many more. If you can’t find the product or part you need in our extensive catalog of items, we’ll make it our mission to find it for you! Get in touch today.