The development of China's steel ball manufacturing technology

The development of China's steel ball manufacturing technology can be divided into four stages.

The first stage is before the 1980s, since the 1950s, Kazakhstan, Va, Luo fully introduced the Soviet Union's steel ball manufacturing technology, created the history of large-scale production

 of bearing steel balls in China, laid the foundation for the development of China's steel ball technology in the future, until the 1980s, in this period of more than 20 years, China's steel ball 

manufacturing process is basically the Soviet model. The equipment is mainly based on the Soviet Union and imitation of the Soviet Union, there are also Germany and imitation of Germany,

 into the 1960s Shanghai machine tool factory began to jointly develop the first batch of domestic 3M4630 ball grinding machine with Shanghai steel factory, Shanghai third machine tool

 factory a large number of imitation of West Germany SMS company SMS72 steel ball grinding machine. In the 1970s, the biggest technical improvement is to test and study the polishing 

process, when Sichuan Jintang Bearing factory introduced Romanian steel ball milling processing equipment, which attracted the attention of Wafangdian and Shanghai counterparts, under

 the care and support of the leadership of the bearing Bureau, the research on the processing of steel balls by two alloy cast iron was carried out. The two steel ball factories make use of 

their respective advantages and cooperation in casting, successfully tested for the smooth grinding board for the steel ball filing processing, after the success of the old equipment improve-

ment test, the design and manufacture of the smooth grinding machine, the breakthrough of this process greatly reduces the cost of steel ball blank processing, improve the surface quality

 and accuracy of the filing processing. This breakthrough is more important to give people a revelation: technology is in need of continuous development, there is development to have quality 

and efficiency.

The second stage is from 1981 to 1985, that is, during the "Six Five" plan period, because the quality of China's bearings, especially the noise, obviously lags behind foreign countries, bearin-

gs can not be exported, the motor to replace foreign bearings to export, the delegation to study abroad, a conclusive opinion is: Motor bearings must be subjected to vibration test, steel balls

 must be G10, and polishing technology must be used instead of polishing technology. To this end, the bearing Bureau organized the national steel ball factory engineering and technical pers-

onnel, to demonstrate and formulate the G10 steel ball research topic, the project is jointly undertaken by Shanghai Steel Ball Factory and Hubei Steel ball Factory, with a large cycle of super

 finishing process instead of the traditional polishing process, improve the surface quality and spherical precision of the steel ball, eliminate the polishing process, so that the quality of the 

steel ball on a new level. The matching requirement of low noise of bearing was achieved by using the combined sleeve method, and was commended by the Ministry. This result has been 

widely promoted in the industry, at the same time, in order to speed up the development of bearing and steel ball technology, as soon as possible to keep up with the international level, 

Shanghai bearing company stepped up contact with foreign bearing companies, exchange visits, negotiations, and in January 1985 sent the first group of inspectors to Japan NTN to study

 steel ball manufacturing technology. For a full grasp of the international advanced production technology and management experience, as soon as possible to catch up with the international 

level to create conditions.

The third stage is from 1986 to 1990, that is, during the "Seventh Five-Year Plan" period, at this stage, many domestic steel ball factories have introduced equipment from West Germany and

 Japan, including the introduction of the entire steel ball production line of Germany JUS Company, the entire steel ball production line of Japan NTN, the entire production line of Germany

 SMS, and the selective introduction of equipment and instruments. These equipment and instruments include high-speed steel ball cold heading machine, heat treatment production line,

 ball grinding machine, ball lapping machine, various cleaning machines, oil coating machine, steel ball vibration instrument, AVIKO steel ball inspection instrument, profile instrument, steel

 ball strengthening machine, etc., and has sent inspection and research personnel abroad. In order to make China's steel ball up as soon as possible and meet the requirements of bearings 

on steel balls, the Ministry of Machinery Industry organized the engineering and technical personnel of the relevant steel ball factories in the country to study the introduction of technology, 

and formulated the G5 steel ball research topic in combination with the national conditions, which includes the introduction of equipment digestion, process technology improvement, product

 quality improvement to the improvement of the entire steel ball manufacturing technology level. The research subject is undertaken by Shanghai Steel Ball Factory and Qingdao Steel Ball

 Factory. After the research of G5 steel ball, the following conclusions are reached:

(1) High-speed cold heading machine to achieve localization, improve production efficiency, improve blank accuracy. (2) According to the national conditions, the rolling heating furnace is

 reformed, the atmosphere protection heating is implemented, the oxidation and decarbonization of the surface of the steel ball is solved, the heat treatment quality is improved, and the 

retention of the compressed steel ball is created. (3) Develop a steel ball strengthening machine, strengthen the steel ball, and introduce strengthening process research to effectively improve

 the fatigue life of the steel ball. (4) The research and application of automatic dressing technology of large grinding wheel, improves the working environment, ensures the accuracy of the

 machine tool, and improves the quality of the steel ball. (5) The introduction of 2000# resin grinding wheel has been successfully applied to the initial grinding process, greatly improving the

 environment and product quality. (6) The application of water-soluble finishing liquid in the super finishing of steel balls further improves the surface quality of steel balls. The localization of the 

single steel ball vibrometer plays an important role in fully controlling the dynamic performance of the finished steel ball. Therefore, through the G5 steel ball research, China's steel ball manufa-

cturing equipment and process technology have reached a level, the processing amount of steel balls has been reduced, the production efficiency has been improved, the surface quality of steel

 balls has been further improved, and the impact on bearing noise has been further reduced. After the acceptance of the G5 steel ball, the Ministry of Machinery held two G5 steel ball research

 experience exchange meetings to promote the results to the whole industry, and the results won the second prize of science and technology progress of the Ministry of Machinery. In addition, 

the steel ball eddy current testing technology has also been successful and promoted in the industry, and this project has won the third prize of National Science and Technology Progress. 

In the face of a large number of old equipment, how to combine with advanced technology and carry out equipment transformation, in some old enterprises in this period, they have obtained ideal

 results, which not only solved the temporary investment difficulties, but also quickly obtained practical results. Therefore, this stage can be said to be the fastest progress of steel ball technology in history, and the distance with the international advanced level is significantly closer.

The fourth stage is after 1991, on the basis of the G5 research and the introduction of a large number of technologies, equipment and instruments, the manufacturing technology of China's

 steel ball has been significantly improved, and the production of steel ball has also been significantly expanded. The great development of China's bearings has driven the great developmen

t of steel ball, and the great development of steel ball has driven the great development of related industries, and the degree of specialization has become stronger and stronger. The 

categories are getting finer and finer, engaging in equipment, grinding wheels, grinding plates, abrasives, grinding fluids, trimmers, oil agents, ball blanks... They have their own system and

 formed a vigorous situation, which is very good for promoting the improvement of the level of steel balls. Through the "eighth Five-Year Plan" and "ninth Five-Year Plan" efforts, a lot of work 

has been done in the localization of related technologies, some dependent on imports have gradually realized localization, and the steel ball manufacturing process has new development,

 especially Japan was successful in the early 1990s, for mass production of ultra-fine resin grinding wheel steel ball grinding technology, Shanghai began to organize process research since

 the beginning of 97, It took three years to achieve success, adding a glorious page to China's steel ball manufacturing process. The progress of steel ball technology is obvious to all, the 

current production is the world's first, but the overall quality level compared with the international advanced level is still a lot of gaps, in 1997, the Ministry of Machinery in Qingdao organized

 the "National steel ball quality on the next step", the relevant leaders according to the status of the industry pointed out that the problem of China's steel ball is not the quantity, Improving

 quality is the focus of revitalizing China's national industry, and the goal should be aimed at the most advanced international level today. Since then, the horn has sounded for China's steel 

ball to advance to the most advanced international level. We should have full confidence and determination, through continuous efforts, China's steel ball quality level can be invincible in the

 international stage.