Steel versus brass cages in spherical roller bearings

I was about to offer 24040 for an steel mill customer being used in rolling mill stands and my option from was brass cage and what he was using currently was with steel cage.

When I started my career in bearing industry in 2009, I understood this is a very old controversial topic in this business even older than my age !

So I gathered my knowledge in below to my customer letting him decide for his good on his own good:

Bearing companies often recommend bearings with brass cages as they are a prerequisite for very demanding applications. 

It is also a fact that steel is stronger than brass. The simple reason why brass cages are so big (voluminous) is that they must have such dimensions to stand the dynamic forces.

They are problem solvers in applications subjected to very heavy impact loads

The reason for this favorable feature is that brass is softer (lower Young’s modulus value) 

Let us review cage selection area in new NTN NTN “Ball and Roller Bearings Catalog” Issue of CAT.No.2203/E published recently.

Select cage type and material based on :

Rotational speed (refer to page insert···A-106)

Noise level

Vibration and shock load

Momentary load

Lubrication type and method ( (refer to page insert···A-111)

Recommending you to download this publication and have a look:

https://www.ntnglobal.com/en/products/catalog/pdf/2203E.pdf