Bearing steels are intended primarily for manufacture of ball or roller bearings, an application which places high demands in terms of wear resistance, strength and resistance to fatigue. These steels can therefore also be used for other parts with similar requirements on the material.

Bearing steels contain about 1 % of carbon and are thereby suitable for parts that might otherwise be case hardened. By switching to bearing steels instead of case hardening, it is in many instances possible to reduce costs for heat treatment without compromising the properties of the finished part, which can either be through hardened or, if the application requires a softer, tougher core, induction hardened.