How long is the service life of CSB-EPB® plastic plain bearings? Are they wear-resistant?

Are CSB-EPB® plastic plain bearings wear-resistant? How long can they last? Those questions are the most frequently asked by users who use plastic plain bearings for the first time, and they are also the most concerned questions by users. Improving the wear resistance of plastic bearing materials has always been the core of our material engineers' research and development work. Although we have decades of experience in the design and manufacture of self-lubricating bearings, and are supported by a large number of laboratory test data, we still cannot answer such questions directly. Because the service life of any kind of engineering plastic bearings is related to many factors, it does not entirely depend on the wear resistance of the bearing material itself. Only if we already have similar application cases in related industries, can we judge the service life of this kind of bearing relatively accurately. Because the actual life data is more reliable than any other technical data and laboratory test data.

The wear resistance and life of plastic plain bearings and other types of self-lubricating bearings are indeed mainly determined by the bearing material itself. However, in daily applications, the design PV value of the bearing and the actual application PV value, movement mode, load, speed, ambient temperature, material, hardness and surface roughness of the grinding shaft, housing hole material, running and dwell time ratio…… These are closely related to the actual service life of the bearing. In terms of bearing operation mode, some plastic bearings are suitable for continuous rotary motion, and some plastic bearings are suitable for swinging motion. For example, the service life of EPB12 bearings under high load swing is 1.5 times longer than that under continuous rotation; while the service life of EPB14A bearings under continuous high speed rotation is nearly 3 times longer than that under swing motion. The shaft material will also greatly affect the service life of the bearing. The service life of EPB13 bearings used on anodized hard shafts is much longer than that applied on non-hard chrome-plated steel shafts; EPB8 bearings are immersed in water and the wear resistance is improved by 3.5 times compared to dry friction......

The wear resistance of each plastic plain bearings material plays a decisive role in evaluating the material itself. However we can’t ignore other relevant factors that affect the final service life of bearings. We can only study the technical data and test data to select the correct bearing material so that it can reach the theoretical maximum service life as far as possible. The CSB inspection and testing center can simulate various actual use conditions for testing and estimate the life value of the bearing, but each user's design and use conditions are very different. We can only infer the service life of various materials under certain actual working conditions through a large amount of historical inspection data. Meaning while we cannot give the exact service life of plastic bearings, unless there are completely consistent actual use cases.