1.Contact fatigue strength
Under the action of periodic loads, bearings are prone to fatigue damage on the contact surface, resulting in cracking and peeling, which is an important damage situation for bearings. Therefore, in order to improve the service life of bearings, bearing steel must have high contact fatigue strength.

2.Wear resistance
During the bearing task, not only rolling friction occurs between the ring, rolling element, and maintenance bracket, but also sliding friction, resulting in continuous wear of the bearing parts. In order to increase the wear of bearing parts, maintain bearing accuracy and stability, and extend service life, bearing steel should have good wear resistance.

3.Hardness
Hardness is one of the important qualities of bearing quality, which indirectly affects contact fatigue strength, wear resistance, and elastic limit. The hardness of bearing steel under operating conditions should reach HRC61~65, which enables the bearing to achieve high contact fatigue strength and wear resistance.

4.Rust prevention performance
In order to avoid corrosion and rusting of bearing parts and finished products during processing, storage, and use, it is requested that bearing steel should have good rust prevention performance.

5.Processing performance
In the consumption process of bearing parts, there are many cold and hot processing processes. In order to meet the requirements of small quantities, high efficiency, and high quality, bearing steel should have good processing performance. For example, cold and hot forming performance, cutting performance, hardenability, etc.
In addition to the basic requirements mentioned above, bearing steel should also meet the requirements of appropriate chemical composition, average external structure, less non-metallic impurities, compliance with specifications for external surface defects, and non exceeding the regular concentration of decarburization layer on the surface.