Japan Seiko (NSK) gearbox tapered roller bearings adapt to new market countries

Recently, Japan's Seiko (NSK) has launched a gearbox tapered roller bearing that is easy to produce in emerging market countries. Gearbox tapered roller bearings have strict requirements on the accuracy of the raceway surface. Originally, they were mainly produced in Japan, but they also need to import components and materials from Japan when they are produced overseas. Recently, the production of automobiles in Asian markets such as China has been expanding, and with this trend, transmission manufacturers have accelerated their overseas expansion. The problem NSK faces is how to implement local production and procurement of materials and components in emerging market countries, which are a large demand for tapered roller bearings, and supply high-quality products. It is understood that bearing steel contains impurities generated by the combination of non-metallic elements and oxygen produced in the steelmaking process. Locally produced steel tends to contain a lot of impurities, so bearing life is short. NSK reduced the amount of oxygen in the steel with the assistance of the steel maker, and finally reduced the impurity content in the bearing steel to the same level as that of the Japanese-made steel, achieving the same life and strength as the Japanese-made bearing. The shape accuracy of the rolling surface of locally manufactured rollers is often unstable, so the load is easy to concentrate on part of the rolling surface, resulting in shortened bearing life. In addition, the shape accuracy of the roller ends is also unstable, so the friction torque increases, and the ablation phenomenon tends to occur earlier. NSK has improved the shape accuracy of rolling surfaces and ends by providing guidance on processing technology to local suppliers and implementing thorough quality control. Through this measure, the life, friction loss and ablation resistance finally reached the same level as the Japanese-made rollers. In addition, NSK also conducted a performance evaluation of locally-made cages and confirmed that the quality reached the same level as Japanese products.