Radial spherical plain bearings have an inner ring with a sphered convex outside diameter and an outer ring with a correspondingly sphered but concave inside surface. Their design makes them particularly suitable for bearing arrangements where alignment movements between shaft and housing have to be accommodated, or where oscillating or recurrent tilting or slewing movements must be possible at relatively slow sliding speeds, often accompanied with heavy loads.

Radial spherical plain bearings have an inner ring with a sphered convex outside surface and an outer ring with a correspondingly sphered but concave inside surface. Their design makes them particularly suitable for bearing arrangements where alignment movements between shaft and housing have to be accommodated, or where oscillating or recurrent tilting or slewing movements must be permitted at relatively slow sliding speeds. They are available with different sliding contact surface combinations, i.e. the sliding surfaces of inner and outer rings are made from different materials. There are two main groups: spherical plain bearings requiring maintenance (steel-on-steel) and maintenance-free spherical plain bearings.