What new expectations does the bearing industry have for bearing steel?

At the 2021 Beijing International Wind Energy Conference and Exhibition held on October 17, a large number of wind power generation equipment independently developed by China was exhibited one after another.

Among them, the first domestic single-row tapered main shaft bearing of a 4MW-class onshore wind turbine developed by a Chinese bearing company was officially unveiled, marking a key progress in China's high-power wind power equipment technology.

Today, China's bearing industry has been able to produce bearings of various sizes as small as 0.6 mm in inner diameter and 12.37 meters in outer diameter, with more than 90,000 product specifications. This is inseparable from the exploration made by the two major industries of steel and bearing in the joint construction of the industrial chain ecosystem over the years.

During the Twelfth Five-Year Plan period, China's bearing industry has developed steadily, with an average annual growth rate of 4.45% in the main operating income of the bearing industry. During the 13th Five-Year Plan period, the development of the bearing industry fluctuated greatly, but the overall situation was still steady and volatile. During the five years, the main operating income maintained an average annual growth rate of 4.35%.

The technical quality of bearing steel continues to improve

First, the standard level of bearing steel has been significantly improved. There are 15 current bearing steel standards in China, including 12 Chinese standards and 3 metallurgical industry standards.

Second, the physical quality of bearing steel has been greatly improved. Due to the continuous improvement of technical equipment, especially the application of vacuum degassing technology and equipment, China's bearing steel has reached a new level in terms of purity and inclusion control, and key technical indicators have reached the international advanced level.

The research and development of high-end bearing steel still needs to be increased

From a technical perspective, one is to carry out a systematic study of the consistency of the metallurgical quality of bearing steel. The second is to carry out in-depth and systematic research on the production technology of super high-quality steel, based on breakthroughs in the production technology of super high-quality steel, to drive the overall quality improvement of high-quality steel and high-quality steel. The third is to promote the application of clean steel smelting technology, continuous casting mold flux technology, microalloying technology, and large-size bearing steel forging technology.

From a product perspective, the most important thing is to develop and apply new high-end special bearing steels that are required by strategic emerging industries and strategic key areas of manufacturing power, including the manufacture of bearings for wind power boosters, bearing steels for automotive gearbox bearings, suitable for manufacturing Bearing steel for main shaft bearings of wind turbines above 2.0 MW, bearing steel for main shaft bearings of shield tunneling machines, main shaft bearings for high-end CNC machine tools, bearing steel for quasi-high temperature working in the quasi-high temperature range of 150 to 180 degrees celsius, and for manufacturing high nitrogen stainless bearing steel for aero engine bearings.