*4.3.1 Reliability improvement solutions*

Reliability improvement of bearing relates to bearing performance and service life in the actual application. Reliability improvement of bearing means increasing the mean time between failure of bearing.

Bearing reliability can be improved by implementing special consideration to demanding operating conditions with special heat treatment, better materials, lesser intervention from the operator by unitized bearings, increasing wear resistance, implementing the better lubricants, tighter manufacturing tolerances.

Bearing life can be increased by multifold by right selection of heat treatment like compare to through hardening heat treatment, case hardening heat treatment (CN) can give 2 to 5 times more life to bearing in contaminated working environment. In addition to base material bearings can be coated to increase resistance of

#### **Figure 14.** *Modern automobile "Voice of Customers" for bearings requirements.*

#### **Figure 15.**

*Means of achieving intended bearing functions for modern automobiles.*

bearing in specific working condition. Carbide based coatings are popular in some application, alumina material coatings are used for electrical insulations.
