What is a self lubricating sleeve bearing?

Self lubricating sleeve bearing provide self-lubrication without the need to reapply solid lubricants or lubricating oils to their components. For this reason, they are often referred to as maintenance-free bearings, which work by impregnating lubricants on their bearing surfaces or embedding solid lubricants on the matrix.

For example, the embedded self-lubricating sleeve bearing relies on the solid lubricant embedded in the matrix to be released during operation; the oil-containing bronze bearing relies on capillary action to form a lubricating film, thereby achieving low friction coefficients, high precision and high speed. This is in stark contrast to the lubrication systems on rotating bearings, including but not limited to ball bearings, roller bearings and linear bearings. These usually rely on external lubrication to operate.

Without external lubricants (mainly grease or graphite for ball bearings), the balls or rollers within the bearing will cause irreparable damage and catastrophic failure. Many manufacturers overcome this defect in bearing design by adding oil-containing seals at the end of the bearing seat.

Types of self lubricating sleeve bearing

There are two main types of self lubricating sleeve bearing, classified by the type of bearing material:

Metallic - Self lubricating bushings and plain bearings are usually made of sintered bronze, copper and aluminum alloys, lead, and sintered iron and copper. Also included are embedded self lubricating bearings with solid lubricants embedded in a metal matrix.

Non-metallic bearings - Includes a variety of polymer bearings (PTFE), including those made of polyacetal, polyethylene, resin-based plastics, Teflon compounds, woven fibers (such as composite bearings) and carbon graphite.

How does a self lubricating sleeve bearing work?

A liquid or solid lubricant is impregnated or embedded in the sliding layer of a self lubricating bearing. As the bearing performs its function, the bearing lubricant is released to the bearing surface, thereby reducing the coefficient of friction within the component.

Because the lubricant is evenly distributed throughout the sliding surface, the performance of the low friction bearing is not affected even if the sliding layer begins to wear. In order to provide low friction bearing performance at start-up before the impregnated lubricant reaches the bearing surface, a "running-in" surface is usually included on top of the sliding layer.

If you need any brand bearings or any models of bearings, please contact me! Contact: Grace Email: ntn@llhbearing.com Skype:+8618668903871 MP/Whatsapp: +8618668903871 Wechat:GraceXu1234