Bearings are like chips. They exist in every corner of our lives and work. In fact, this industry, like many areas of Chinese industry, has overcome the low-end and mid-end and is moving toward the high end. If there are only China and foreign countries in the world, then foreign countries are indeed ahead of us at a certain distance, and this gap is being shortened at a visible rate.
Is the bearing difficult to build?
Bearings exist in almost every corner of our life, from shared bicycles on the ground to the civil aviation aircraft passing over the head, from the shallow submarine of Yuxiang to the space station overlooking the sky, refrigerators, washing machines, computer cooling fans, Range hoods, vibration motors in mobile phones... bearings are everywhere.
The types of bearings are extremely complex and can be written in many thick manuals. In the simplest way, it can be divided into two types, rolling friction and sliding friction. Regardless of the friction, the vibration is required to be as small as possible, the less the wear, the better, and the lower the heat, the better.
China's bearing industry, like many industrial sectors, has a large capacity and a medium level of technology. A few core areas have broken through the Western blockade, and a large number of high-end products still rely on imports.
China is able to manufacture high-end bearings for many extreme conditions. For example, the 99A tank seat is an oversized rolling friction bearing, which not only makes the turret of more than ten tons heavy, but also bears the horrible recoil of the 125mm smoothbore. The 155mm self-propelled gun has a greater recoil and its turret seat is equally powerful. Such bearings are not touched by most countries.
A compact machine requires another concept of bearing. For example, the solar panels on a satellite need to adjust their angle with respect to the sun at any time to obtain suitable lighting conditions. But the satellite did not have the opportunity to send people to lubricate the bearings. Therefore, the so-called solid lubricant bearing is used here, and a thin substance of molybdenum disulfide is sprayed into the bearing to allow it to work normally in a distant and cold space for several years. This kind of bearing is also not available in several countries.
Domestically produced military bearings
In order for such bearings to work properly, it is necessary for a country's industrial system to smelt suitable materials, to produce suitable lubricants and other lubricants, to have proper mechanical analysis and processing capabilities, and to maintain perseverance. Test and accumulation.
Bearing, China is very powerful and not very strong
China is an undisputed super-bearing country. As early as 2014, China's bearing production has reached 19.6 billion sets, ranking third in the world. Our bearing output can support the decompression toy of the fingertip gyro, which accounts for one-fifth of the world's production. The smallest bearing diameter produced in China is 0.6 mm, and the largest diameter is 11 meters. It is omnipresent.
Can such a China not be called a bearing power?
Yes, no.
Our bearings, like other mechanical products, have a considerable gap with Western developed countries in terms of cutting-edge products, reliability, and longevity. In terms of high-speed bearings, the axle boxes used in the EMUs produced by domestic OEMs are from Europe, Japan, and China's own vacuum degassing bearing steels, regardless of quality stability or fatigue life, with high-quality vacuum abroad. There is a certain gap in the degassing steel.
Even the most common deep groove ball bearing is the bearing of a ring of steel balls in the middle of two steel rings. The actual life of foreign advanced products is generally more than 8 times the calculated life, up to 30 times, and reliability is 98%. the above. The life of domestic bearings is generally 3 to 5 times the calculated life and the reliability is about 96%. The gap is still very significant. This is not a big problem for ordinary sports machines. However, it is difficult to accept in the high-end field. Therefore, domestic aviation bearings, high-speed rail bearings, and robot bearings are mainly imported bearings. Regardless of the 20, C919, it is difficult to fly away from the imported bearings.
As a mechanical product, bearings are fundamental components that are unforgettable. The performance of the bearing depends mainly on the material properties and processing. As the world's largest steel country, although we have crushed the world on most steel products, it still lags behind Europe, America and Japan in the smelting of high-strength and high-wear bearing steel. The gap in high-precision machining is also significant.
High-end products determine the value of enterprises, the lack of high-end bearings, but also let Chinese bearing companies miss the world famous brand. Among the top 10 bearing manufacturers in the world, there is a Swedish company, five Japanese companies, two German companies, and two American companies. There is no Chinese company.
2025, we are working hard
Where do high-end bearings come from? This is not a problem for foreign countries. The mighty United States, the Marine Corps will also introduce combat rifles from Germany, and the Army will also introduce pistols from Switzerland and anti-ship missiles from Norway. Germany, the artisan spirit, also wants to buy various chips from the United States. In the Western world, the division of labor between countries is normal. Every developed country has some excellent enterprises, each of which has a throne. Few people break the situation and grab someone else's job.
If you only discuss the bearings, you can find that the top ten international bearing manufacturers belong to the West. However, we are Chinese. Since we do not intend to succumb to the American-led international order, we must face the risk of being caught in key areas. The chip is so, of course, the high-end bearings.
The government has always attached great importance to the localization of high-end bearings. As early as 2011, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology listed the bearings as the basic parts and foundations of the basic manufacturing process and basic materials industry of machinery and the 12th Five-Year Development Plan. The first of the manufacturing process and basic materials, planning and definition: ; mechanical basic parts are non-separable units of the machine, including bearings, gears, hydraulics, hydraulic components, pneumatic components, seals, chain and sprocket, transmission coupling Parts, fasteners, springs, powder metallurgy parts, molds, etc.
Focus on the development of high-speed, precision, heavy-duty bearings, including: medium and high-end CNC machine tool bearings and electric spindles, high-power wind turbine bearings, large transport aircraft bearings, heavy-duty helicopter bearings, long-life high-reliability automotive bearings and bearing units, high-speed Railway train bearings, heavy-duty railway truck bearings, new urban rail transit bearings, large-scale thin-plate hot and cold rolling equipment bearings, large construction machinery bearings, high-speed long-life textile equipment bearings, ultra-precision medical equipment spindle bearings.
It can be noted that in addition to high-speed rail bearings, aviation bearings account for two of them, in addition to large transport aircraft, there are heavy-duty helicopters. The key models of national defense are extremely significant for the driving action of the basic components.
It should be pointed out that China's gap in the bearing field is much smaller than that of the chip, and the industrial base is much better. In the foreseeable future, it is fully capable of catching up with the world's advanced level in most areas. According to the plan, by 2020, the wind turbine bearing autonomy rate will reach 90%. By 2025, the high-speed precision CNC machine tools and high-speed EMUs will have an autonomy rate of 90%. By 2030, the autonomous rate of large aircraft bearings will be Up to 90%.
The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has planned 8 national-level technology platforms and units in the bearing field, including Wafangdian Bearing Group Co., Ltd., Wanxiang Group, Luoyang LYC Bearing Co., Ltd., Harbin Bearing Group Co., Ltd., Northwest Bearing Co., Ltd., Hubei New Torch Technology Co., Ltd. Xiangyang Automobile Bearing Group Co., Ltd. and Tianma Bearing Co., Ltd. There are countless companies supporting the development of various types of high-end bearings. Recently, the localization of high-speed rail bearings has made substantial progress. The localization of automotive bearings has also been rolled out.
Some second- and third-tier cities also regard bearing as the direction of their own industrial upgrading. For example, Linxi County in Hebei and Fuyang in Hubei. There are even three counties in Zhejiang that have established a strong bearing industry and their products are sold overseas. The cabbage scene is gradually becoming clear.
In another ten years, perhaps not only the Western people, but also the Western arms dealers have to come to buy high-end bearings in China.