1 A Historical Perspective

At 1883s, Germany FAG created the world’s first ball mill. Its exterior is so primitive. The structure, though, is so simple. The size is so small. The size of it is just plain nondescript. But its birth created the pioneered of human steel ball. It is 121 years old.At 1883s, Germany FAG created the world’s first ball mill. Its exterior is so primitive. The structure, though, is so simple. The size is so small. The size of it is just plain nondescript. But its birth created the pioneered of human steel ball. It is 121 years old.

In which backward China in that time. No bearing industry. During the Second World War. NTN was adapted to the maintenance of ordnance. A bearing factory (the former of Wafangdian bearing company) was set up on the northeast railway in Wafangdian City. In order tocontaining the Chinese bearing production technology at that time. The steel balls used were all made in Japan. Shipment to China for assembly. At 1948s, The Wafangdian City was return to China. Mr. Kim, the owner of Wafangdian bearing company, is determined to change China’s failure to produce steel balls backward situation. In the absence of technology, without drawings. Make your own out-of-date equipment. The spirit of nothing you cannot achieve in the world. The cylinder was ground into a sphere. The first steel ball was made in China. The history of steel ball production in China was initiated. After the new government was founded, under the guidance of the government to restore the national economy as soon as possible. The state establishes the industrial system of new China. Number of large enterprises have been established. As an indispensable bearing in the metallurgy, agricultural machinery, chemical engineering, automobile, tractor, machine tool, Military industry. There is no doubt to be included. The Wafangdian bearing company is first listed as a key development enterprise. Later, because of the need of Korean war aid. We have set up the Harbin Bearing Manufacturing Co., Ltd. The two bearing companies all introduced steel ball manufacturing equipment from the Soviet Union. He sent Gong Zhaoliang Li Shiliang and other people to study in Soviet Union. At the same time, the Soviet Union steel ball manufacturing technology and supervisor mode was introduced.

The construction of the Luoyang Bearing Plant (including the steel ball workshop) was listed as one of 156 key projects built by the Soviet Union. The whole plant was built up by the Soviet Union. The construction of Harbin, Wafangdian, Luoyang three giant the beginning of the industrial production of the steel ball have stepped into a systematic and large-scale industrial production in China. Due to conditioned constraints and the impact of the Soviet Union production model transplantation. In the beginning, the bearing enterprise was kept from the ring rolling body until all the processes were completed by a single enterprise. Ball is an important part of bearing. To meet the needs of enterprises. With the help of Soviet Union experts, the Harbin, Wafangdian and Luoyang’s bearing company has built its own steel ball branch or steel ball workshop. Begin volume-produce of steel balls. And has cultivated a batch of steel ball manufacturing backbone strength. It can be said that Harbin, Wafangdian and Luoyang’s bearing company are birthplace of China’s steel ball. The processing adopted by the three factories are basically the same. Its process and equipment are:cold heading(A-148、др-5、A-142、A-141）→file the ball（Mщ-32）→soft grinding（Mщ-33）→tempering（Б-30，Б-70→hard grind→grind →polishing→separation→Artificial appearance→Oiling & PackingSmall steel ball process flow：molding→file away→soft grinding→Soft inquiry→Tempering→Hard grinding→polishing →Artificial appearance→Oiling & Packing

There was no national standard for steel balls. Adopt the standard of Soviet Union ГOCT3722. The accuracy level isⅠ,Ⅱ,Ⅲ (equivalent to the current G10, G20, G40). The actual production level is more than 95% are meet Ⅲ. Only a very small number of products are level Ⅱ. The above process cannot be produced Ⅰ. Special requirements for some military products. Can in the end add a procedure that is single groove lapping. To meet the accuracy requirements. But this method is cumbersome and inefficient. The size of each groove is so different and the production cost is high.

With the reform and opening-up policy, China’s bearing industry has developed rapidly. Especially the introduction of foreign capital and private enterprise. Accelerated the development of China bearing industry. Steel ball as an important part of bearing. Along with the bearing, it has entered the ranks of producing countries.

2 The development of Chinese steel ball manufacturing technology

The development of Chinese steel ball manufacturing technology can be divided into four stages

The first stage was before the 80’s. the Harbin, Wafangdian and Luoyang’s bearing company introduced the Soviet Union steel ball manufacturing technique in the 1950s. The history of China’s mass production of bearing steel ball is initiated. It laid the foundation for the development of steel ball technology in China. Until the 1980s, during these two decades. The Chinese steel ball manufacturing process is basically the Soviet model. The equipment was mainly Soviet Union or imitated Soviet Union. There are also German and imitation German. In the 1960s, the first batch of all domestic 3M4630 mills were developed by Shanghai Machine Tool Works Co,Ltd

The biggest technical improvement in the 1970s was the experiment and study of the polishing process. At that time, the Sichuan Jintang bearing factory introduced Romanian steel ball milling equipment. It has attracted the attention of the Wafangdian and Shanghai peer. With the care and support of government leaders. The research on the steel ball of two alloy casting plates is carried out. Two local steel ball mills have successfully used their advantages and foundry cooperation experiments to use the steel ball file to process the polishing plate. After the old equipment improvement test succeeded. Design and makes the mill. The breakthrough of this process has greatly reduced the cost of steel ball roughing. Improve the surface quality and precision of file cutting. This breakthrough is more important to give people a revelation. Technology needs to be developed continuously, and it has development to have quality and benefit.The second stage was 1981-1985. That’s the sixth five-year plan period. Because of the quality of Chinese bearings, especially noise. Obviously lagged behind abroad, our bearing cannot be exported. The motor will be exported by replacing the foreign bearings. The delegation investigation trip abroad. A conclusive opinion is that: Motor bearing must be tested for vibration. The ball must be G10. Replace the polishing process with the precision technology. The government sector has organized and gathered the national team of engineers of the steel ball. The research of G10 steel ball is proved. Replacing the traditional polishing process with a large circulation ultra-precision technology. Improve the surface quality and spherical precision of steel ball. The old polishing process was eliminated. Make the steel ball quality great progress. The advanced assembly method is used to meet the requirements of low noise. And was rewarded with leadership. Eventually, it was widely promoted into bearing industry. At the same time, to speed up the development of bearing and steel ball. Keep up with international standards as soon as possible. Shanghai bearing company has stepped up contact with foreign bearing companies. In January 1985, the first group of delegation went to Japan NTN to study steel ball manufacturing technology. To catch up with the international level as soon as possible.

The third stage was 1986-1990. The seventh five-year plan period. During this time, a number of Chinese steel ball company introduced equipment from west Germany and Japan. The German JUS company’s production line has been introduced to China, and the Japanese NTN steel ball Inc., and Germany SMS Inc. There are also imported equipment and instruments. These devices and instruments include high speed steel ball cold header, Heat Treatment Production Line, ball crusher, ball lapping machine, cleaning machine, Oil coating machine, Ball vibrator, contourgraph, Ball strengthening machine. And sent abroad the investigation and research team. To improve the quality of Chinese steel ball as soon as possible. Meet the requirement of bearing for steel ball. The ministry of machinery has organized a national team of engineers to study the introduction of technology. In combination with the national conditions, G5 steel ball has been developed. It includes the introduction of equipment digestion, technological improvement. The product quality improves to the whole steel ball manufacturing technology level.

Here are the conclusions.(1) High speed cold heading machine to realize localization. enhance productivity and semi-finished product precision.(2) According to the national environment, retrofit rolling furnace, and promote atmosphere protection heating. Solve the steel ball surface oxidation decarburization. Improved heat treatment quality. Create environment for compressed steel ball retention.(3) Research and development steel ball reinforcement machine. Strengthen the steel ball, And introduce the reinforcement process research. In order to effectively improve the fatigue life-span of steel balls. (4) Research and application of automatic grinding technology for large grinding wheel of grinding machine. It improves the working environment, ensures the accuracy of machine tools and improves the quality of steel balls.(5) The introduction of 2000# resin grinding wheel has been successfully applied to the initial grinding process, greatly improving the environment and improving the quality of products. (6) Application of water soluble fine grinding liquid in super finishing of steel ball. The surface quality of the steel ball is further improved.(7) Localization of single grain steel vibrometer. Play an important role in the overall control of the dynamic performance of steel ball products.(8) Therefore, through G5 tackle key problem of steel ball. The make great progress of steel ball manufacturing equipment in our country. The processing of steel ball finishing allowance is reduced and productivity increased. The surface quality of the ball has improved further. The influence of bearing noise is further reduced. The higher authorities accept the G5 steel ball. Two experience sessions of the overcome steel ball difficulty of G5 were held. To promote this result to the whole industry, the results obtained the second prize of the science and technology progress of the machinery departmentIn addition, the steel ball eddy current testing technology has also been successful. And in the industry to promote, this project national science and technology progress three prize. Faced with a large number of old equipment, how to combine with advanced technology, equipment transformation? In the period of some old enterprises, have achieved more satisfactory results. Not only has solved the temporary investment difficulty, but also obtains the practical effect quickly. Therefore, this stage can be said to be the fastest period in the history of steel ball technology, and the distance from the international advanced level is obviously closer.

The fourth stage is after 1991, on the basis of G5 research, a large number of introduc technology, equipment and instruments. China’s steel ball manufacturing technology has been improved significantly, and the output has also been significantly expanded. The great development of China’s bearings has led to the great development of steel balls. And it has further promoted the development of related industries. The degree of specialization is becoming stronger and stronger, and the categories are becoming more and more thin. They have become their own system, forming a vigorous situation, which is conducive to promoting the improvement of the level of steel ball.

Through the “Eighth five-year plan ” and ” Ninth five-year plan ” efforts.A lot of job has been done on the localization of related technologies. Some rely on imports, has gradually achieved localization. The manufacturing process of steel balls has get new progress, especially in Japan in the early 90s. Fine grinding technology of superfine resin grinding wheel and steel ball for mass production. Since the beginning of 97, Shanghai has organized the penetrating hard targets, and has succeeded in three years. It has added radiance to the manufacturing process of China’s steel balls. The progress of the steel ball technology is obvious to all, and the current production volume is the first in the world. However, there is still a lot of gap between the domestic quality level and the international. In 1997, the Ministry of machinery organized the《National Conference on the quality of steel balls in Qingdao》. According to the current situation of the industry, it was pointed out that the problem of China’s steel ball is not the quantity, but the improvement of the quality is the focus of the revitalization of it. The target should aim at the most advanced level in the world today. Since then, sounded the Chinese steel ball to the most advanced level in the world of Clarion call. We should have full confidence and determination, and through sustained efforts, China’s steel ball quality level can certainly be an invincible position in the international arena.