Objective The most dominant obstacles preventing the full use of High Speed Cutting (HSC) are currently the performance limits of spindle bearing systems due to the speed and service limitations of conventional rolling bearings. Since angular contact ball bearings are most suitable for high speed applications the Brite EuRam project EuroBearing aimed to increase the speed and lifetime of this bearing type by combining ceramic balls with coated races. As a result of this project, the speed characteristic has been increased by a factor of 1.4. However, cylindrical roller bearings show several advantages in comparison with angular contact ball bearings: apart from the higher radial stiffness and the lack of boring, cylindrical roller bearings are excellent movable bearings because both the inner and the outer ring can be mounted tightly. Due to the high friction between rollers and rim and because of lubrication problems at very high speeds, the speed characteristic is limited to approx. 1.0 106 mm/min, which is about 60% of the speed characteristic achievable with conventional angular contact ball bearings. For this reason, cylindrical roller bearings are rarely used for high speed applications. Nevertheless, the advantages of this bearing type has been realized by Far East and American competitors resulting in significant higher market share due to their intensive R&D work carried out in recent years. In order to compensate for this delay in European bearing development, the REFINE project aims to develop reliable environmentally friendly spindle bearings for high speed applications. The experience of EUROBEARING will be exploited in REFINE to further optimise the tribological systems of angular contact ball bearings and to develop PVD coatings for cylindrical roller bearings. The combination of wear resistant hard coatings and solid lubricant coatings (e.g. diamond like carbon DLC) is a new approach which offers the capability to change the tribological characteristics. Simultaneously, new environmentally friendly lubricants will be developed and adapted to the new tribological system. High speed spindles and high frequency spindles with angular contact ball bearings as non movable front bearings and cylindrical roller bearings as movable rear bearings will be built and tested. This configuration combines high radial stiffness and the capability to compensate for thermal deformations with an optimal movable bearing. As a main result the speed limit and service life of this kind of spindle bearing system will be increased by a factor of about two so that it will become a preferable system not only for medium but also for high speed application. The consortium comprises experts in the field of coatings, tribology, roller bearings, spindle bearing design and machine tools. 6 industrial companies and 3 research organisations coming form 5 different member states are involved. Fields of science engineering and technologymechanical engineeringtribologylubricationengineering and technologymaterials engineeringcoating and films Programme(s) FP4-BRITE/EURAM 3 - Specific research and technological development programme in the field of industrial and materials technologies, 1994-1998 Topic(s) 0101 - Incorporation of new technologies into production systems Call for proposal Data not available Funding Scheme CSC - Cost-sharing contracts Coordinator Cemecon - Ceramic Metal Coatings GmbH EU contribution No data Address 21,Talbotstrasse 52068 Aachen Germany See on map Total cost No data Participants (8) Sort alphabetically Sort by EU Contribution Expand all Collapse all ARISTOTLE UNIVERSITY OF THESSALONIKI Greece EU contribution No data Address Research Committee of the Aristoteles University o 54006 THESSALONIKI See on map Total cost No data Fundacion Tekniker Spain EU contribution No data Address 20,Avda. Otaola 20600 Eibar See on map Total cost No data Gamfior SpA Italy EU contribution No data Address Corso Giulio Cesare 424 Interno 29 10156 Torino See on map Total cost No data Krafft Spain EU contribution No data Address S/N,Ctra. Urnieta 20140 Andoain See on map Total cost No data Meccanica Nova SpA Italy EU contribution No data Address Via Roma 54/A 40069 Zola Predosa Bologna See on map Total cost No data NICOLAS CORREA SA Spain EU contribution No data Address 09007 BURGOS See on map Total cost No data Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen Germany EU contribution No data Address 53B,Steinbachstrasse 52056 Aachen See on map Total cost No data SKF RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT COMPANY B.V. Netherlands EU contribution No data Address 16,KELVINBAAN 16 3439 MT NIEUWEGEIN See on map Total cost No data