Proper Bearing Lubrication to Avoid a Slippery Slope Towards Damage with Ryan Evans

Join us this week as we talk to Ryan Evans, one of the interviewees for this month's feature article that appears in TLT: "The Future of Bearing Lubrication."

Ryan D. Evans is the Manager of Bearing Fundamentals & Tribology at The Timken Company. He joined Timken in 2002, first contributing as a researcher in the areas of wear, surface engineering, thin film coatings, lubrication, and advanced surface characterization. Since 2009, he has lead a team of engineers that apply expertise in bearing fundamentals and tribology to enhance Timken’s analytical methods and products.

The article covers key issues like when to use an oil or a grease, main reasons for premature bearing failure, advances in bearing technology and bearing lubricants, advantages and disadvantages of self-lubricating bearings, and future types of bearings.

In the interview, Ryan covers the different types of bearings, how to approach lubrication of these components and how it differs with the type of bearing, best practices and tips in greasing or lubricating a bearing including the role that additives play, identifying failures and the reason behind the failure, and how to prevent failures. He argues that a large portion of bearing damage is caused by improper lubrication and he goes into detail on how that happens. He also provides some insight into what he thinks the future looks like for bearings and their lubricants, as well key take-aways.

If you're looking for more information on bearings, visit our website - we have a newly introduced Weekly Technical Feature, which provides articles, podcasts, webinars, and a number of other resources in one place for easy reference. Each week has a different topical focus and the month of April will focus on bearings. Check back each week for more information and feel free to submit resources you think should be included or make suggestions on which topic we should cover next.