Focusing on the characteristics of rolling bearings

the types of bearing steels

and the gap between bearing steels at home and abroad

this paper summarizes the art of the status of the requirement of the bearing steel of the high-end equipment

the types of the bearing steels

the processing equipment and metallurgical quality of the bearing steels

the heat treatment technologies

and the evaluation technologies for both metallurgical quality and performance. It is put forward that the important role to improve the rolling contact life of the bearing steel by ultra-purification technologies among different melting routes

the new heat treatment technologies and the new bearing steel developments. This paper pointed out that it needs to be done in the future through the refinement

the homogenization and the stabilization of the inclusions

carbides and the matrix of the bearing steel to improve the quality and performance of existing bearing steels

to develop the high performance heat treatment technologies

to innovate the high performance bearing steel and to strengthen the basic research on the mechanism of the fatigue-resistance of the bearing steels

which would finally enhances the rolling contact fatigue life of the bearing steel significantly.