Abstract

Premature bearing failures due to white etching cracks (WECs) occur when the rolling contact is subjected to a so-called additional load such as an electrical current flow through the bearing in addition to the pure rolling load. Tests with oil-lubricated roller bearings and greased ball bearings showed that high electrical currents are a very critical WEC trigger. The influence of current intensity, electrical polarity, and load type (stationary ring load or rotating ring load) on WEC formation was proven by the performed bearing tests, whereas the influence of lubricant was relatively low. Based on the findings, the failure hypothesis “energetic WEC fatigue” was extended for high electrical currents.

摘要

当滚动接触承受所谓的附加载荷（例如除了纯滚动载荷之外的电流流过轴承）时，会发生由于白色蚀刻裂纹 (WEC) 导致的轴承过早失效。对油润滑滚子轴承和润滑球轴承的测试表明，高电流是非常关键的 WEC 触发因素。进行的轴承测试证明了电流强度、电极性和负载类型（固定环负载或旋转环负载）对 WEC 形成的影响，而润滑剂的影响相对较低。根据研究结果，故障假设“高能 WEC 疲劳”扩展到高电流。