Analysis of bearing steel exposed to rolling contact fatigue

The objective of this work is to characterize fatigue damage in roller bearings under conditions of high load and slippage. A test rig constructed for rolling contact fatigue tests of rings is described, and test results are presented for rings taken from two spherical roller bearings. The preparation of the rings and the loading situation are explained. Test conditions are chosen with the aim of achieving pitting formation at the contacting surfaces. During testing the contact pressure, torque and the rotational speed are monitored and recorded. After testing the tested rings have been characterized using X-ray tomography and scanning electron microscopy. The observations confirm that rolling contact fatigue testing at high loads leads to pitting failure at the contacting surfaces. The pitting mostly appears on one side of the contact, attributed to a non-uniform contact pressure in the axial direction.