Numerical and Experimental study of tribological properties of glass/polymer-based micro ball bearings

Abstract A comprehensive investigation was conducted on the tribological properties of micro ball bearings comprised of borosilicate glass balls and polymer guide. Experiments were performed to assess the friction and wear behavior of the micro ball bearings with respect to operating conditions. Also, the effects of guide shape on the rolling resistance of the balls were investigated using FEM simulation. It was found that even under high load conditions the glass/polymer-based micro ball bearings showed a sufficiently low friction coefficient of ∼0.028. In addition, 10 million cycle durability test confirmed the excellent wear resistance of the micro ball bearings. Through FEM simulation, it was confirmed that the tribological properties of the micro ball bearings may be further enhanced by using ball guides with a U-groove rather than a V-groove shape. It is expected that the numerical and experimental results presented in this work will aid in development of micro ball bearings that would be useful for various practical applications.