Current insulated bearing components and bearings

摘要

Disclosed is a bearing component having at least one layer having a high hardness and a high current insulation property, the layer comprising a nonconductive oxide layer selected from the group comprising an Al2O3 layer, a TaO layer, an SiO2 layer, a mixed layer comprising two or more of the foregoing oxides, a multilayer structure comprising alternating layers of two or more of the foregoing oxides and a DLC layer such as a ta-C layer, there being at least one ALD layer comprising at least one layer of a material deposited by an ALD (atomic layer deposition) process on the at least one layer having a high hardness and a high current insulation property, the ALD layer itself having a high current insulation property and comprising a material or layer structure selected from the said group of materials.

主权项

1. A bearing component of steel, the bearing component having:
at least one layer having a high hardness and a high current insulation property applied by at least one of a PVD (physical vapor deposition) process, a CVD (chemical vapor deposition) process, and a PECVD (plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition) process (but excluding an ALD (atomic layer deposition) process or a plasma enhanced ALD process) at at least one surface region of said component, said at least one layer comprising a non-conductive oxide layer selected from the group of materials comprising an Al2O3 layer, a TaxOy layer, an SixOy layer, a mixed layer comprising two or more of the foregoing oxides, a multilayer structure comprising alternating layers of two or more of the foregoing oxides and a DLC (diamond-like carbon) layer; and at least one ALD layer comprising at least one layer of a material deposited by an ALD process on said at least one layer having a high hardness and a high current insulation property, the ALD layer itself having a high current insulation property and comprising a material or layer structure selected from the group of materials comprising an Al2O3 layer, a TaxOy layer, an SixOy layer, a TiO2 layer, an HfO2 layer, a mixed layer comprising two or more of the foregoing oxides, and a multilayer structure comprising alternating layer of two or more of the foregoing oxides.