Plastic Bearings Market

Plastic Bearings Market: Introduction

There are different elements in machines, bearings being one of them, which allow the movement of the machine components along each other. Bearings are an important integral part of any object, to emphasize this, bearings support sky scrapers during earthquakes by offering them some movement. In fact even human beings whose joints involve sliding contact bearings, would come to a stop if they stop working. There are two main categories in bearings, namely, contact type bearings and non-contact type bearings. The plastic bearings are a contact type bearings which involve mechanical contact between machine elements, and they also involve sliding or rolling or flexural bearings. The plastic bearings are also referred to as self-lubricated bearings. The composition of plastic bearings has been modified and altered to achieve the needed bearing features which could be favourable to different types of machines. There are different materials types for plastic bearings – phenolics, ultra high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE), nylon, Acetal, polysulfone, polyimide, PTFE and polyphenylene Sulfide. Plastic bearings are largely used in toys, appliances, general machinery and in various applications in automobiles and other industrial applications. They can be attractive owing to their economic nature and light weight, if designed in the correct manner. The plastic bearings are widely used in conveyor systems, pool cleaners, in medical applications (in the MRI system as they have anti magnetic properties) and in semi-conductor manufacturing industries.

Plastic Bearings Market: Growth Drivers and Restraints

Many industrial manufacturers are opting for plastic bearings owing to their cleanliness, economic nature and versatility. They are made of alloy which is thermoplastic in nature coupled with solid lubricants and a fibre matrix, which provides low friction coefficient and greater strength. The adoption of plastic bearings on a large scale is driving the growth of the plastic bearing market globally. This adoption is mainly due to the advantages of the plastic bearings. Plastic bearings are self-lubricating and hence no additional lubrication is required. They have good resistance to corrosion, thus they can be used in hostile environments where corrosion is bound to happen; these bearings are not affected by such environments and hence are a favourable choice of designers in such environments. They are lightweight and offer design flexibility. This enables them to become fuel efficient as less energy is needed to move them from one position to another position owing to their light weight factor. They provide manufacturers to design the bearings based on their creativity and the designers are not compelled to go for limited patterns as in standard bearings. Owing to less friction, the heat dissipation is reduced. They are good shock and noise absorbers. They reduce the noise generated by the engine to a large extent. Plastic bearings can be placed on other machine elements like pulleys and plastic wheels, thereby enabling product integration which reduces the time of assembling and effectively increasing the affordability. The high elasticity of plastic enables the bearings to bear higher loads than other metal bearings. They are non-magnetic in nature, when coupled with polymer or glass. Their low weight contributes to low inertia. They are economical and have low maintenance costs involved. These aspects propel the use of plastic bearings thereby driving the growth of the plastic bearings market.

The main limitation of plastic bearings is they cannot function in very high temperatures and cold flow under high loads. Cold flow is the distortion or dimensional change that occurs in material which are under continuous load at working temperatures. This limitation can be a challenge to the growth of the plastic bearings market.

Plastic Bearings Market: Key Players

The key specialist companies in plastic bearings include Lily Bearing Manufacturing, Igus, KMS Bearings Inc., SKF, TPI Bearings, Pobco Inc., AST Bearings, Yisheng Bearing Company and BNL Ltd.

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