Does bearing research and development technology determine a country’s scientific and technological strength?

1. Restrictions on bearing manufacturing

Although my country's manufacturing industry is relatively developed, the manufacturing technology of many small parts is still lacking. For example, bearings, the core components of many machines, have not yet fully achieved self-sufficiency in the country. In particular, relatively high-end bearings used in high-speed railways need to be imported from abroad. This has also led to a sharp decline in the net income of my country's high-speed railway groups in recent years. Annual revenue is hundreds of billions, but a large amount of money is spent on imported bearings.

Compared with many machines, bearings are very small, but they play a vital role. If there are problems with the performance or accuracy of the bearings, then the machine may have safety hazards and cannot be put into the market in large quantities. Although bearings are small, it is difficult to develop technology. Therefore, in the eyes of many countries, bearing research and development technology also determines a country's scientific and technological strength.

According to the type of bearing, it can be divided into ten categories. The most commonly used one is roller bearing. According to the size of the bearing, it can be divided into micro, small, medium and small, medium and large, large and extra large bearings. Now our country can independently develop and put into use the vast majority of small and medium-sized bearings.

It is understood that my country can currently manufacture 21 billion sets of bearings every year, including bearings with an inner diameter as small as 0.6 mm and as large as 11 meters. According to data, my country's bearing production and sales have reached third place in the world, but in fact, the quality of my country's bearings is not outstanding. Because it has been difficult for my country to break through the manufacturing technology of high-end bearings, especially the bearings used in high-speed rail, which have always required a large amount of imports. This has also contributed to almost all of the profits of the high-speed rail group being contributed to foreign companies.

Bearings may look simple on the outside, but those high-end bearings test the selection of raw materials and the experience and skills of workers. For example, automobile engine bearings need to rotate at least tens of thousands of times per minute. Under such high-speed rotation, the bearings need to withstand the extrusion and friction of external objects, as well as a series of problems such as a large amount of heat caused by friction. If the quality is not up to par, , then there will be certain security risks.

2. In what aspects do we lag behind?

Not only that, once the bearings of many machines are selected, they will not be replaced for a long time. For example, in the military field, during the production process of many military machinery, all parts will be repeatedly demonstrated and finalized. Even those relatively small bearings may require a finalization period of 3 to 5 years, and they play a major role in Bearings in certain parts may take more than 15 years to finalize.

All components combined take at least ten years to be finalized, so once a bearing in a certain part is determined, it will not be changed at a later stage. If there are no problems with the bearing during the finalization period, but problems occur with the bearing during subsequent use, it will be difficult to solve, and it is likely to impose restrictions on the entire series of military machinery.

Many people think that if there is a problem with a bearing, then it can be replaced with a bearing made of other materials, but the fact is not that simple, because changing one bearing is likely to lead to changes in other machines. If a problem occurs later, the entire machine needs to be replaced with parts and then enters a new finalization period.

Although our country has achieved independent production of some bearings, the quality of the bearings produced by most domestic companies is poor compared with foreign countries. If the quality is poor, its service life will naturally not be too long. After a period of use, it will inevitably need to be replaced.

When bearings are first produced, relevant companies will calculate the service life of the bearing. However, in subsequent use, the actual service life of the bearing may be about 3 to 5 times the calculated service life, while the service life of foreign bearings has reached The computing life span is 8 to 30 times. This technology has not yet been broken through in China.

Although our country has been able to achieve independent production of all parts of high-speed rail, some core parts still need to be imported from abroad. The bearing production technology of Germany and Japan has always been recognized globally, so our country will also choose to import bearings from these two countries when needed.

Most of the bearings used in steel are sliding bearings, which are divided into five grades. The fourth and fifth grade bearings mean that the material selection is more stringent, and the workers are not only highly skilled but also experienced. The bearings used in my country's high-speed trains and aircraft are all grade four or above. It is a technical field that cannot be broken through in China at present, so it needs to be imported from abroad at a high price.

After decades of development, my country's science and technology has led most countries, but there are still many key parts that cannot be broken through and are relatively lagging behind. However, domestic professionals have been developing high-end bearings and believe that they will be successful in the near future and become self-sufficient in bearing manufacturing.