The present paper reports the unusual enhancement of endurance life of ball bearings subjected to carbonitriding treatment. The microstructure was characterized by scanning electron microscopy and correlated with hardness and X-ray diffraction analysis. Endurance tests at 90% reliability revealed that the carbonitrided bearings exhibit nearly ten times more life than the non-carbonitrided bearings. This is attributed to synergic combination of retained austenitic, fine martensitic microstructure and ultrafine carbide precipitates obtained by carbonitriding treatment.
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