How Are Bearings Made with Centrifugal Casting?
Key Takeaways:
- Bearings manufacturing at Delta Centrifugal® starts with centrifugal casting and finishes with in-house machining to meet exact specifications.
- The centrifugal casting process produces a dense, uniform tube shape well suited to bearing bodies, bushings, and sleeves.
- Cast bearings can be delivered as cast, rough machined, or finish machined, depending on what a customer’s process requires.
- Bearings produced this way are used across oil and gas, aerospace, marine, defense, and industrial equipment.
A bearing is a component that supports and guides moving parts within machinery, reducing friction between surfaces so equipment can rotate or slide smoothly under load. Bearings come in several forms, including sleeve bearings, bushings, and thrust bearings, each suited to different load types and directions of motion. Regardless of the type, the metal a bearing is made from needs to be dense, pure, and structurally consistent to hold up under constant friction and heat. So how are bearings made? At Delta Centrifugal®, bearing manufacturing brings together centrifugal casting and precision machining to produce components that meet those demands.
How the Bearing Manufacturing Process Works
The bearing manufacturing process starts with molten metal poured into a spinning mold. Centrifugal force drives the metal outward against the mold wall as it solidifies, forming a dense, uniform tube. Impurities and lighter oxides migrate toward the inside diameter as the casting forms, where they’re easily removed during machining. This produces cast bearings with higher mechanical strength and material purity than many other casting methods allow, at a lower cost than forging in most cases.
From there, machining brings each casting to its final specifications. Delta Centrifugal® delivers bearing components ‘as cast,’ ‘rough machined,’ or ‘finish machined,’ depending on what a customer’s downstream process calls for. Machined bearings are cut, turned, and bored to the precise bore, outside diameter, and surface finish an application needs.
The Industry Applications of Bearings
Bearings manufactured this way show up across a wide range of heavy-duty and precision equipment, including:
Oil and gas: pumps, valves, and drilling equipment operating under high pressure and heat
Aerospace and defense: components requiring certified, traceable quality documentation
Automotive: high-performance and emission control components requiring precision and thermal stability
Marine: propulsion and shaft systems exposed to corrosion and continuous load
Industrial machinery: rotating equipment, gearboxes, and heavy equipment components
Because bearings in these industries often run continuously and are costly to replace, manufacturers prioritize material consistency and strength over material cost alone.
Delta Centrifugal®’s Manufactured Bearings
With more than 50 years of experience, Delta Centrifugal® has built the foundry, machine shop, and quality systems needed to support bearing programs from start to finish. Our team works in over 200 alloys, including stainless steel, nickel, cobalt, and copper-based options. We produce castings in a wide range of sizes and have an inventory of more than 350 molds for fast turnaround. We hold ISO 9001 / AS9100 and PED 2014/68/EC certifications and are ITAR registered, giving customers in aerospace, defense, and other regulated industries the documentation and consistency their programs require. Reach out to Delta Centrifugal® to discuss your bearing specifications, or explore our Alloy Reference Guide for material options.