Because of the continuous quests for high performance and compact structure of automobile and machine in recent years, rolling bearings are required to work under harder conditions of high speed and heavy load than before. The applications of hard condition may lead to a greater likelihood of happening of bearing malfunctions such as flaking, wear, creep, fracture etc. In this paper, the phenomenon called outer ring creep occurring in bearings subject to non-rotating load is discussed. Outer ring creep is referred to that bearing outer ring rotates relatively to the housing in certain applications. Outer ring creep may result in such problems as unusual noise and vibration and may cause wear of housing and outer ring. If abrasive particles caused by wear of the ring and housing enter the raceway, the bearing may be damaged and destroyed. Conventionally, the problem of outer ring creep was considered to be a result of rotating bearing load. However, even if the direction of radial load remained relatively unchanged, outer ring creep is observed in many cases. The generation mechanism of this kind of outer ring creep has not yet been made clear till now. With FEM simulation and test verification, we analyzed the phenomenon of outer ring creep under non-rotating load. We concluded that outer ring creep under non-rotating load is a result of localized strain and rippling deformation caused by rolling elements. In this paper, only outer ring creep is discussed below, but the similar result can be obtained for inner ring creep.
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