A ball bearing is a type of rolling-element bearing that uses balls to maintain the separation between the bearing races.
The purpose of a ball bearing is to reduce rotational friction and support radial and axial loads. It achieves this by using at least two races to contain the balls and transmit the loads through the balls. In most applications, one race is stationary and the other is attached to the rotating assembly (e.g., a hub or shaft). As one of the bearing races rotates it causes the balls to rotate as well. Because the balls are rolling they have a much lower coefficient of friction than if two flat surfaces were sliding against each other.
Ball bearings tend to have lower load capacity for their size than other kinds of rolling-element bearings due to the smaller contact area between the balls and races. However, they can tolerate some misalignment of the inner and outer races.
SKF is the world's largest bearing manufacturer, [3] and employs 44, 000 people in 108 manufacturing units. It has the largest industrial distributor network in the industry, with 17, 000 distributor locations encompassing 130 countries.[1]: 4 SKF is one of the largest companies in Sweden and among the largest public companies in the world.
