Certain sectors and applications place particularly challenging demands on bearings. Steelmaking is one such example, where the aggressive operating environment means potential bearing failures present a genuine threat to production. Extreme temperatures, particle contamination, shock/heavy loads, water, vibration, high speeds and rapid acceleration/deceleration are just some of the daily hazards that steel plant bearings have to endure. However, the NSK RHP Self-Lube^® range of bearing housings and inserts can overcome these issues, as confirmed by a major steel plant.

NSK ball screws with nut cooling are setting new standards in the precision of machine tools with mechanical drive components. Confirmation comes not only from NSK’s own testing, but from machine tests conducted with CHIRON Group, a well-known manufacturer of machining centers. NSK ball screws contribute to the outstanding surface quality of milled parts produced by CHIRON Group’s new CNC machining centers.

For the past four years a hot rolling mill at a steel plant in Spain had been experiencing unexpectedly short bearing life, leading to costly production stoppages. As a result, the plant worked closely with the Technical Department at leading bearing specialist NSK to assess the application and propose and implement a solution based on high-performance spherical roller bearings. By adopting the recommendations set forward by NSK, the steel plant is now saving €69,803 per annum in reduced costs for downtime, maintenance, bearings and lubrication.

Euromac, a global specialist in the design and manufacture of punching and bending machines, is benefitting from NSK ball screws, linear guides and bearings in two high-profile recent projects. In fact, Euromac has been taking advantage of NSK motion control technology since 1995 as part of a long-standing and highly successful partnership.

NSK has developed a third-generation ultra-high speed ball bearing for electric vehicle (EV) motors that is capable of operating at over 1.8 million dmN(1). The new bearing is in fact the world's fastest grease-lubricated deep groove ball bearing for EV applications, enabling longer vehicle range and higher energy economy. Additionally, the bearing facilitates motor and component downsizing for space gains within vehicle interiors.

The popular NSK academy online platform now features a new training module: continuous casting. Added to the steels & metals section of the portal, the latest module will appeal to anyone involved in specifying bearings to withstand the harsh working environments found in continuous casting applications. As with all training modules available at NSK academy, registered users completing the course will require an 80% pass mark to receive a certificate.

A new series of NSK spherical roller bearings with a patented cage design is set to provide general industry with new levels of productivity, reliability and load capacity. The optimised cage reduces internal stress and eliminates the need for a guide ring, providing just two of many benefits over existing solutions. Potential applications for the new ECA series extend from conveyors, gearboxes and steelmaking machinery, through to presses and machines used in mining.

By replacing plain-bush bearings with NSKHPS spherical roller bearings from NSK, a steel plant has eliminated six bearing failures a year on its walking beam to deliver savings of €15,556 per annum.

Effective 1 March 2021, Brüel & Kjær Vibro (B&K Vibro) became a company of NSK Ltd. On that day, the Darmstadt, Germany, headquarters of B&K Vibro staged an online welcome event to explain the purpose of the acquisition, especially to employees.

High-precision linear guides are an important product group for NSK's Linear Motion Technology (Seiki) management unit. As a specialist in this field, the company meets the requirements of many demanding market sectors, including the machine tool industry. Many of the linear guides supplied to European customers operating in high-precision, high-quality sectors are application-specific or adaptations of standard units.