The Progression of Surface Rolling Contact Fatigue Damage of Rolling Bearings with Artificial Dents

TLDR: In this article, the surface rolling contact fatigue (SRCF) in rolling bearings is investigated by means of dedicated experiments and numerical simulations of the damage progression in pre-indented inner ring raceways in roller and ball bearings.

Abstract: The mechanism of surface rolling contact fatigue (SRCF) in rolling bearings is investigated by means of dedicated experiments and numerical simulations of the damage progression. Pre-indented inner ring raceways in roller and ball bearings were extensively endurance tested. It is observed that spalls originated from indentations in ball bearings develop initially at the trailing edge of a pre-indented raceway with a typical V-shaped spall. In this location, the raceway material first detaches at the edge of the dent, forming a V-shaped damaged area, before growing at fast rate along the raceway. Roller bearings, however, follow the well-known behavior of slowly growing the spall directly across the raceway, before continuing along the rolling path. An existing physically based rolling contact fatigue model able to predict (1) material particle detachment by surface rolling contact fatigue and (2) the effect of the elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) in such a process is adapted and used to simulate the surface damage growth in the two rolling bearing configurations. It is found that the model is able to describe well the experimental results, shedding some light on the developing mechanism of the two SRCF configurations. The difference between ball and roller bearing damage inception and progression is explained and discussed in detail.