Rolling contact fatigue of alumina ceramics sprayed on steel roller under pure rolling contact condition

The rolling contact fatigue of sprayed alumina ceramics with a nominal composition of Al₂O₃–2.3 mass% TiO₂ was studied with a two-roller test machine under a pure rolling contact condition with oil lubricant. The influence of undercoating of sprayed Ni-based alloy on the rolling contact fatigue was investigated. The failure mode of all sprayed rollers was spalling caused by subsurface cracking. The undercoating did not contribute to the improvement of the rolling contact fatigue life. The elastic modulus of the alumina sprayed layer evaluated with the nano-indentation method was around 85 GPa. The depths of the observed subsurface cracks corresponded approximately to the depths where the orthogonal shear stress or the maximum shear stress calculated with two-dimensional FEM became maximum.     

Macroscopic and microscopic changes in the surface layers of annealed and case-hardened steel rollers due to rolling contact

Measurements of the residual stress and observations of the microstructure at the surface and in the subsurface of rollers were performed during rolling contact fatigue tests of annealed 0.45% carbon steel and case-hardened nickel-chromium steel rollers. Compressive residual stresses in annealed rollers were induced by the rolling contact. With case-hardened rollers they were induced by heat treatment prior to the rolling contact fatigue tests. After the rolling contact fatigue tests the compressive residual stresses on the surface of the annealed rollers and in the subsurface of the case-hardened rollers relaxed; a characteristic substructure was formed by the stress cycles, which caused surface failure. It was confirmed that the microcracks leading to surface failure initiate on the surfaces of annealed rollers and in the subsurface of case-hardened rollers.     

The effect of changing the rolling direction on the rolling contact fatigue lives of annealed and case-hardened steel rollers

The effects of changing the rolling direction and of repeated loading on the rolling contact fatigue lives of annealed 0.45% carbon steel rollers and case-hardened nickel-chromium steel rollers under conditions of sliding rolling contact were studied. The influence of plastic flow in the subsurface layer on the rolling fatigue life was examined. The increase in the rolling fatigue life of an annealed steel roller due to a change in the rolling direction was significant, especially when the rolling direction was changed just before the formation of macroscopic surface cracks and pits. The effect with case-hardened steel rollers was negligible. The varying effects of changing the rolling direction on the rolling fatigue life were due to differences in work-hardening and the extent of plastic flow in the rollers.     

Investigation on Wear Resistance and Fatigue Damage of Laser Cladding Coating on Wheel and Rail Materials under the Oil Lubrication Condition

The aim of this study is to investigate the wear resistance and fatigue spalling damage of wheel and rail materials with and without laser cladding coating under oil lubrication using a rolling–sliding machine. It illustrates that the laser cladding Co-based alloy coating improves the wear resistance of wheel and rail rollers. Serious spalling is dominant for untreated wheel and rail rollers. The wheel or rail roller undergoing laser cladding treatment takes on slight abrasive wear and visible ploughing. Furthermore, there are no cracks on the contact surface and subsurface. The laser cladding Co-based alloy coating exhibits outstanding resistance to wear and fatigue spalling damage due to its microstructure in the coating under oil lubrication.     

Influence of soft surface modification on rolling contact fatigue strength of machine element

Various surface modification methods have been employed in order to improve the tribological performance of machine elements. In this work, electroless Ni–P alloy plating and sulfurizing treatments were employed, and the surface modified steel rollers and ball bearings were fatigue-tested under a pure or free rolling contact condition. The fatigue lives of both rollers and bearings were improved by these surface modifications. The contact pressure and subsurface stresses of the surface modified rollers and bearings were analyzed. The reason why the rolling fatigue strengths of surface modified rollers and bearings were higher than those of the non-coated ones would be due to the smaller contact pressure and subsurface stresses by the smaller elasticity as well as the conformity of the plated layer.     

Wear and rolling contact fatigue of PEEK and PEEK composites

Wear and rolling contact fatigue were investigated on unfilled PEEK and on three PEEK short fiber reinforced composites. For this aim, roller-shaped specimens were subjected to rolling contact tests at different contact pressure levels. Wear rate-pv product and contact pressure-life diagrams were obtained, depending on material hardness. Microscopic observations of rolling contact surfaces and sections of the rollers highlighted damages at two different scales, surface and bulk, leading independently to wear and rolling contact fatigue. These damages were also of different typology for unfilled PEEK and composites: micro-pitting and deep transversal cracks occurred on unfilled PEEK rollers, while delamination and spalling phenomena where found on composite rollers.     

Surface fatigue failure of nitride-hardened aluminium-chromium-molybdenum steel rollers under pure rolling and sliding-rolling contacts

To study surface failures of nitride-hardened gears, rolling fatigue tests were performed using nitride-hardened steel rollers as gear-tooth surface models. Surface failure of nitride-hardened rollers was by subsurface-initiated spalling under all contact conditions, nitriding depths and Hertzian stresses used. Cracks leading to spalling initiated at the case/core boundaries. White etching areas (WEA) were observed along spalling cracks. Electron probe microanalysis revealed that the WEA material was carbide. It is considered that there is a relation between the initiation of spalling cracks and the formation of WEA.     

Influence of undercoating on rolling contact fatigue performance of Fe-based coating

The aim of this paper was to address the influence of undercoating on the rolling contact fatigue (RCF) performance of coatings. The Fe-based alloy and Ni/Al alloy were deposited on substrates as surface coating and undercoating by plasma spraying. The failure modes were investigated for two kinds of coatings. RCF performances were compared using Weibull distribution plot. The results showed undercoating played an important role on increasing RCF life of coating for the higher bond strength, and decreasing the scatter of RCF life data. The deposited undercoating could influence the failure mode of coating and prevent the occurrence of catastrophic delamination.     

Evaluation of Hot Pressed Silicon Nitride as a Rolling Bearing Material

A series of tests has been conducted to evaluate the suitability of silicon nitride as a bearing material for rolling contact applications. The ability of silicon nitride to be lubricated by some conventional lubricants was found to be satisfactory. This was determined by wettability studies, lubricant film thickness and traction coefficient measurements on the optical EHD rig and friction coefficient measurements by the pin-on-disk method. The abrasive wear coefficient, measured on a lopping machine using 600 grit SiC abrasive, was found to be high compared to other ceramics. It was also dependent on the composition of the silicon nitride. Comparative rolling contact fatigue tests on steel and silicon nitride flat washers were conducted using steel rollers and balls. A high wear rate leading to grooving in the rolling track on silicon nitride was observed. The spalling resistance of silicon nitride was found to be higher than that of steel under the test conditions used. Surface interactions in the Si₃N₄-M50 steel contacts, detrimental to the life of the steel rolling elements, were recognized. Attempts were made to reduce the severity of these interactions and prolong the life of bearings containing ceramic elements.     

VOLUME DEFECT FATIGUE FAILURE OF CERAMIC BALLS UNDER ROLLING CONDITION

A newly developed pure rolling fatigue test rig with three contact points is used to test the rolling contact fatigue properties of silicon nitride ceramic balls. Ball surfaces are examined after failure with optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The failure cause,fatigue phenomenon and mechanics are analyzed. The research shows that subsurface cracks play a dominant role in the formation of spalling failure. These cracks originated from volume defects of the material and propagate,to form elliptical fatigue spalls under the action of principal tensile stresses. The principal tensile stress increases with increasing contact load,causing spall formation and reduction of rolling contact life. The greater the principal tensile stress is,the more severe the peeling of near surface is. Under the same condition,the closer volume defects are to the surface,the more likely failure occurs,the shorter the rolling contact life is.     

Surface durability of powder-forged roller treated by shot peening

To investigate the influence of shot peening on the surface durability of powder-forged rollers, the case-hardened powder-forged rollers with a forging density of 7.5 g/cm³ treated by the single shot peening and the double shot peening were fatigue-tested under a sliding-rolling contact condition. The surface roughness, the surface hardness and the surface compressive residual stress of the rollers were increased by the shot peening. In addition, the pores near the roller surface were deformed by the shot peening. The failure mode of all the test rollers was spalling due to subsurface cracking. The fatigue lives of all the test rollers were improved by the shot peening, and that of the test roller S08, which was shot-peened with the hardest steel shots in this experimental range, was especially improved. The surface durability of the test roller S08 was also most improved by the shot peening. Cracks became difficult to occur and propagate under the roller surface since the pores near the roller surface were deformed by the stronger shot peening. In this study, double shot peening, which generally restrains the increase in surface roughness, was not particularly effective for the improvement in the surface durability of the powder-forged rollers, because the influence of tangential force on fatigue was not always great in a case of subsurface cracking.     

The ability of precision hard turning to increase rolling contact fatigue life

In this paper, precision hard turning is proposed for the finishing of the AISI 52100 bearing components to improve rolling contact fatigue life. This finishing process induces a homogenous microstructure at surface and subsurface layers. Fatigue life tests performed on a twin-disk machine show that rolling contact fatigue life increases as R_a value decreases. The bearing components reached 0.32 million cycles for R_a=0.25 μm and 5.2 million cycles for R_a=0.11 μm. In comparison, the bearing components achieved 1.2 million cycles with grinding (R_a=0.2 μm) and 3.2 million cycles with grinding followed by honing (R_a=0.05 μm) respectively.     

Rolling contact fatigue performance of detonation gun coated elements

Rolling contact fatigue performance of thermal spray coatings has been investigated using an experimental approach. A modified four ball machine which simulates a rolling element bearing was used to examine the coating performance and failure modes in a conventional steel ball bearing and hybrid ceramic bearing configurations. Tungsten carbide (WC-15% Co) and aluminium oxide (Al₂O₃) were thermally sprayed using a super D-Gun (SDG2040) on M-50 bearing steel substrate in the geometrical shape of a cone. A coated cone replaced the upper ball that contacts with three lower balls. The rolling contact fatigue (RCF) tests were performed under immersed lubricated conditions using two different lubricants. Fatigue failure modes were observed using a scanning electron microscope. Microhardness measurements of the coating and the substrate and elastohydrodynamic fluid film thickness results are included. The results show the requirement for significant optimization of the coating before use in rolling element bearing applications. The coating was fractured in a delamination mode. Test results show an optimization in coating process is required before these coatings can be used for rolling contact applications. WC-Co coatings perform better than Al₂O₃ coatings in rolling contact.     

Durability of plasma-sprayed Cr3C2-NiCr coatings under rolling contact conditions

The aim of this paper was to address the rolling contact fatigue (RCF) failure mechanisms of plasma-sprayed Cr3C2-NiCr coatings under different tribological conditions of contact stress. Weibull distribution plots of fatigue lives of the coated specimens at different contact stresses were obtained. The failure modes of coatings were identified on the basis of wore surface observations of the failed coatings. Results showed that the RCF failure modes can be classified into four main categories, i.e., surface abrasion, spalling, cohesive delamination, and interfacial delamination. The probabilities of the surface abrasion and spalling type failures were relatively high at low contact stress. When the coatings were subjected to abrasion and spalling type failures, the failure of the coating was depended on the microstrcture of the coating. The stress concentration near the micro-defects in the coating may be the may reason for the formation of spall. The coatings were prone to fail in delamination under higher contact stresses. However, the delamination of coating may be related to distribution of shear stress amplitude within coating. The location of maximum shear stress amplitude can be used as a key parameter to predict the initiation of subsurface cracks within coating in rolling contact.     

Optimum carburization in external spur gears

In order to determine the surface durability of case-hardened gears and the optimum design conditions required to prevent spalling fatigue, an analytical model was developed which correlates the subsurface shear stress produced by the transmitted load with the material strength of the gear. Consequently, it was made clear that there is an optimum case depth for the required surface durability and that the crack initiation depth of spalling coincides quite well with the depth where the subsurface shear stress exceeds the material shear strength. The implications of the model for optimizing the carburizing process and preventing gear spalling fatigue are discussed.     

Relative fatigue life estimation of cylindrical hollow rollers in general pure rolling contact

Solid and hollow cylindrical rollers in pure rolling contact have been modelled. The two rollers are subjected to a combined normal and tangential loading. The tangential loading is one‐third of the normal loading value. The finite element package, ABAQUS, is used to study the stress distribution and the resulting deformations in the bodies of the rollers. Then the Ioannides–Harris fatigue life model for rolling bearings is applied on the ABAQUS numerical results to investigate the fatigue life of the solid and hollow rollers. Using the fatigue life of the solid rollers as the reference fatigue life, the relative fatigue lives of hollow rollers are determined. Four main different hollowness percentages are been studied: 20, 40, 60 and 80%. The hollowness percentage is the ratio of the diameter of the hole to the outer diameter of the cylinder. For each of those hollowness percentages, two cases are studied – when the two rollers in contact are hollow and when one hollow roller is in contact with a solid roller. This study includes two main models: Model 1, where the two cylindrical rollers in contact are of the same size, and Model 2, where the two rollers in contact are not of the same size. The estimated relative fatigue lives of hollow rollers showed a great improvement of the fatigue life compared with solid rollers under the same loading conditions. This was a result of the redistribution of stresses in the contact zone in the case of hollow rollers. Redistribution of stresses over a larger volume of the roller body decreased the peak stress and reduced the volume under risk. Increasing the hollowness percentage from 20 to 60% increased the flexibility of the roller, and better stress distribution was achieved, which resulted in improving the fatigue life. Although 80% of hollowness rollers have more flexibility than 60% of hollowness rollers, the bending stresses (σ_b) on the inner surface of the rollers tend to decrease the fatigue life. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Experimental investigation on the effect of tangential force on wear and rolling contact fatigue behaviors of wheel material

The study aims to explore the effect of tangential force on wear and rolling contact fatigue (RCF) behaviors of wheel material using a JD-1 wheel/rail simulation facility. The normal, tangential and lateral forces between the wheel/rail rollers are controlled, and the magnetic power brake was used to generate the tangential forces (16–330 N). The results indicate that the surface hardness and wear loss of wheel rollers increase with the tangential force increasing. The surface cracks mouths are perpendicular to the resultant directions of the frictional forces. There are visible secondary cracks and multilayer cracks and the interlayer material of multilayer cracks are easy to break. The compositions of wear debris consist of Fe₂O₃, Fe₃O₄ and iron.     

Effect of hardness difference on the surface durability and surface failure of steel rollers

Experiments with pairs of rollers of different hardnesses designed to assess the effect of hardness difference on surface durability and surface failure are described. Sliding-rolling contact fatigue tests were performed with combinations of thermally refined, through-hardened and induction-hardened 0.45% C steel rollers. The mode of failure is discussed in relation to the hardness difference between the rollers and the presence of residual stresses. The effect of hardness on the modulus of elasticity was also examined. An empirical equation was devised to describe the relationship between the rolling contact fatigue limit under hertzian stress and the surface hardness.     

The Variation of Film Thickness in Highly Loaded Contacts

Systematic measurements with a disk machine of the thickness of the lubricating film separating the surfaces of heavily loaded rollers have been made, and the variation of film thickness with applied load and rolling speed has been studied. It was found that the results can be expressed by:

H = h_p + 0.2 = 0.7 W^?0.2 (ηU)^0.83

where H is the minimum film thickness in the contact in microns, W is the applied load per unit width in dynes per centimeter, and ηU is expressed in dynes per centimeter.     

水润滑条件下转速对车轮钢滚动接触疲劳和磨损性能的影响

为探究水润滑条件下转速对车轮钢滚动接触疲劳和磨损性能的影响,利用滚动接触摩擦磨损试验测试不同转速下车轮试样的剥离寿命、摩擦因数和磨损率,并结合磨损形貌和裂纹扩展形貌观察,对比分析不同转速下摩擦磨损和剥离寿命的影响因素。结果表明:随转速提高,车轮材料氧化程度加剧,导致摩擦因数逐渐增加;当转速由250 r/min增至500 r/min时,摩擦因数增幅较小,应变速率增加导致磨损率下降,当转速由500 r/min增至1000 r/min时,摩擦因数急剧增加,导致材料磨损率增加;随转速提高,剖面塑性流动层厚度、裂纹扩展角度、裂纹分叉深度和最大扩展深度均呈现减小趋势。转速增加带来的摩擦因数的增加,一方面缩短裂纹萌生寿命,另一方面减小了裂纹发生向上转折的深度,最终导致滚动接触疲劳寿命随转速的增加而减小。