Bearings are manufactured to take pure radial loads, pure thrust loads, or a combination of the two kinds of loads.
Some types of bearings:
- Plain bearings are the simplest and operate on sliding friction.
- Hydrodynamic (journal bearings) have lubricant film formed by hydrodynamic pressure at high speeds
- Rolling element bearings including ball bearings and roller bearings
- Special bearings like air bearings (hydrostatic) and magnetic bearings