Investigation of the Use of Ceramic Material in Aircraft Engine Bearings.

摘要

A program to initiate life factor correlation between hot-presded silicon nitride rolling elements and M-50 steel hybrid rolling elements has been completed. All materials for component fabrication have been procured and qualified. Retainers and test tooling are complete. Complications in rolling contact fatigue qualification of roller stock, traced to specimen preparation techniques did not allow completion of bearing fabrication. A considerable effort was dedicated to study of the RCF qualification for ceramic materials resulting in development of machining techniques to produce bearing quality silicon nitride surfaces without super-finishining. Static Hertzian indentation of silicon nitride surfaces, fracture energy measurements, and radioactive gas penetrant tracers were found to be potentially valuable evaluation techniques for ceramics in the rolling contact environment. (Author)