Effect of Lubricant Film Thickness on Ball Bearing Life under Contaminated Lubrication (Part 3): Reciprocal Action of Contamination and Film Thickness

摘要

As described in Part 2, dents formation is strongly dependent on lubricant film thickness. Therefore, closely controlling the film condition is necessary in performing life tests to study the effects of debris features or applied load on bearing life. In this part, a simplified test method which can obtain results equivalent with those of life tests under constant film thickness is proposed. Then this method is applied to the life tests in the two regions of failure modes: (1) typical flaking initiated at the dent edge and (2) surface distress made of micro-spalls similar to peeling. Other authors have proposed two types of equations to reflect the effect of debris contamination on bearing life calculation. Based on the results in this study, proprieties of their methods for accurate bearing life predictions are discussed.