Silicon Nitride Ceramic Balls

Silicon nitride ceramic balls are a type of bearing ball that is made from silicon nitride, a highly durable and wear-resistant material. Silicon nitride balls deliver outstanding wear resistance, crush strength, and fracture toughness – even in high temperature environments up to 1000°C. The self-lubricating properties also provide quiet, smooth performance.

Ceramic Ball Supplier

As an industry leader in technical ceramics, we supply premium quality silicon nitride ceramic balls for demanding bearing and sealing applications. With tight sphericity and surface finish tolerances, our SiN balls are ideal upgrades for hybrid bearings, high-speed spindles, automotive turbochargers, and other precision applications where steel fails.

Silicon nitride ceramic balls

Benefits of Si3N4 Ceramic Balls

Silicon nitride ceramic balls offer a number of benefits over other types of bearing balls, including:

  1. High hardness: ceramic balls are much harder than steel balls, making them more resistant to wear and tear.
  2. Low friction: ceramic balls have a very low coefficient of friction, which reduces energy consumption and heat generation.
  3. High temperature resistance: ceramic balls can withstand high temperatures without losing their properties.
  4. Chemical resistance: ceramic balls are resistant to a wide range of chemicals, making them ideal for use in corrosive environments.
  5. Lightweight: ceramic balls are much lighter than steel balls, which can reduce the overall weight of a machine or assembly.
Silicon nitride ceramic balls
HIP silicon nitride ceramic balls
HIP silicon nitride bearing balls

Performance Comparison of Ceramic Balls

Material Rolling Contact Fatigue Densities Hardness Three-point Bending Strength Fracture Toughness Thermal Shock Resistance
Unit – g/cm³ GPa MPa MPa·m1/2 –
Silicon Nitride Best 3.2 15 900 6 Best
Aluminum Oxide Ordinary 3.9 15 300 3 Ordinary
Zirconium Oxide Ordinary 6 11 800 8 Ordinary
Silicon Carbide Ordinary 3.16 15 400 4 Best

Ceramic Ball Accuracy Levels

Level Vdws ΔSPH Vdwl Roughness Ra
G5 ≤0.13 ≤0.13 ＜0.25 ≤0.014
G10 ≤0.25 ≤0.25 ＜0.5 ≤0.02
G16 ≤0.4 ≤0.4 ＜0.8 ≤0.025
G20 ≤0.5 ≤0.5 ＜1 ≤0.032

Ceramic Ball Capabilities

  1. Diameters from 0.4mm to 180mm, Grade 5, 10 or better
  2. Provide HIP silicon nitride balls
  3. Tight sphericity and diameter tolerances
  4. Optimized microstructure and fine grain size
  5. Surface finishes down to 1um Ra
  6. High purity SiN avoids contamination
  7. 100% inspection and sorting
  8. Custom engineering support

For your next bearing, valve, or seal project requiring the highest performing ceramic balls, get a quote from our engineering team!

Learn about aluminum nitride ceramic substrates

Aluminum-nitride-ceramic-substrate

Learn about laser processing of ceramic substrates

Laser-processing-of-ceramic-substrates

Learn about ceramic substrate metallization

Learn-about-ceramic-substrate-metallization