Bearing Tribology - Principles and Applications (Ming Qiu, Long Chen 2016)

MingQiu LongChen
YingchunLi JiafeiYan
Bearing
Tribology
Principles and Applications
Bearing Tribology
Ming Qiu Long Chen Yingchun Li

Jiafei Yan
Bearing Tribology
Principles and Applications
123
Ming Qiu Yingchun Li
School of Mechatronics Engineering School of Mechatronics Engineering
Henan University of Science Henan University of Science
and Technology and Technology
Luoyang Luoyang
China China
Long Chen Jiafei Yan

School of Mechatronics Engineering Schaeffler Greater China Corporation
Henan University of Science Jiading District, Shanghai
and Technology China
Luoyang
China
ISBN 978-3-662-53095-5 ISBN 978-3-662-53097-9 (eBook)

DOI 10.1007/978-3-662-53097-9
Jointly published with National Defense Industry Press, Beijing, China
Library of Congress Control Number: 2016947191
National Defense Industry Press, Beijing and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2017
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of the material is concerned, specically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations,
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Preface
Tribology is the science and engineering of interacting surfaces in relative motion.

It includes the study and application of the principles of friction, lubrication, and
wear. Tribology is an interdisciplinary subject and it covers many scientic disci-
plines, such as mathematics, physics, chemistry, mechanics, thermodynamics,
metallurgy, material and petrochemistry. Bearings are among the most important
components in the vast majority of machines and exacting demands are made upon
their carrying capacity and reliability. Therefore it is natural that rolling bearings
should come to play such a prominent role and that over the years they have been
applied in various elds such as mechanical equipment, instruments, home appli-
ances, electronic computers, vehicles, and aerospace. With the technological
development of the manufacturing industry, more and more bearings projects
should be solved by friction, lubrication, and wear. With the enhancement of theory
and applied research, tribology is recognized as the key factor to promote the
performance of bearings effectively, and nally to raise the whole level of
equipment.
The authors are engaged in research and application work on bearing tribology.
Many contents published in the book are results of our research group. The book
takes the friction, lubrication, and wear of bearings as the main themes, and
tribology theory on bearing is introduced systematically. In addition, we try to
describe a full view and introduce new research elds and development trend of
bearing tribology to the readers.
The book consists of ten chapters. Chapters 1, 2 and 9 are by Long Chen.
Chapters 3 and 4 are by Yinchun Li. Chapters 5, 6, and 10 are by Ming Qiu.
Chapters 7 and 8 are by Jiafei Yan. The whole book is drafted by Ming Qiu.
In the preparation for the book, we utilized many research results from various
experts and companies in this eld. Thanks for them. At the same time, we would
like to express our appreciation to our colleagues and graduate students who have
made contribution to the book.
The research results of the book are supported by National Natural Science
Foundation of China, the Outstanding Youth Science Foundation of Henan
v
vi Preface
Province in China, and the Universities Technological Innovation Plan of Henan

Province. It is funded by academic works publication fund of Henan University of
Science and Technology.
Owing to various structures of bearings and limited space of book, many con-
tents are not involved in the book. Furthermore, due to our limited ability, mistakes
are inevitable. Hope you are understanding and eager for your help.
Luoyang, China Ming Qiu

September 2015
Contents
1 Friction, Wear, and Lubrication in the Bearing Application . . . . . . 1

1.1 Basic Concepts of the Tribology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1.1 Basic Denition of the Bearing Tribology . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1.2 Objects and Tasks of the Bearing Tribology . . . . . . . . . 2
1.1.3 Subject Characteristics of the Bearing Tribology . . . . . . 4
1.2 Bearing Friction and Wear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.2.1 Sliding Friction and Rolling Friction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.2.2 Types of Bearings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.2.3 Friction and Wear in the Bearing Application . . . . . . . . 7
1.3 Bearing Lubrication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.3.1 Plain Bearing Lubrication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.3.2 Rolling Bearing Lubrication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2 Bearing Surface Contact . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.1 Surface Structure and Property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.1.1 Surface Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.1.2 Surface Property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.2 Surface Morphology Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.2.1 Surface Geometry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.2.2 Surface Morphology Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.2.3 Surface Morphology Statistical Parameters . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.3 Hertz Elastic Contact . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
2.3.1 Contact Between Two Cylinders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
2.3.2 Contact Between Two Balls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.3.3 Rough Surface Contact . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
2.3.4 Plasticity Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
2.4 Heating Effect of the Surface Contact . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
2.4.1 Static Heat Source . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
2.4.2 Dynamic Heat Source . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
vii
viii Contents
2.4.3 Sliding Heat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

2.4.4 Rolling Heat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
2.5 Contact Problems in the Bearings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
2.5.1 Rolling Bearing Contact . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
2.5.2 Plain Bearing Contact . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
2.5.3 Contact Stress Between Rolling Element
and Raceway . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... 37
2.5.4 Contact Stress Between Rolling Element and Rib . .... 37
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
3 Mechanism of Bearing Friction and Wear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
3.1 Sliding Friction Mechanism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
3.1.1 Sliding Friction Characteristics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
3.1.2 Basic Friction Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
3.1.3 Adhesion Friction Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
3.1.4 Friction Binomial Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
3.2 Rolling Friction Mechanism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
3.2.1 Micro-Slip Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
3.2.2 Elastic Hysteresis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
3.2.3 Plastic Deformation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
3.2.4 Adhesion Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
3.2.5 Rolling Friction Calculation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
3.2.6 Rolling Friction Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
3.3 Wear Mechanism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
3.3.1 Wear Classication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
3.3.2 Wear Mechanism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
3.4 Wear Calculation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
3.4.1 Wear Representation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
3.4.2 Abrasive Wear Calculation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
3.4.3 Adhesive Wear Calculation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
3.4.4 IBM Wear Calculation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
3.5 Wear Law in the Practical Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
3.5.1 Friction Pair Material Selection Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
3.5.2 Protective Layer Principle and Wear-Resisting
Layer Design Criteria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... 73
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... 76
4 Materials for Bearing Frictional Pairs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
4.1 Sliding Bearing Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
4.1.1 Babbitt Alloy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
4.1.2 Copper Alloy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
4.1.3 Aluminum Alloy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
4.1.4 Gray Cast Iron, Wear Resistant Cast Iron
and Nodular Graphite Iron. . . . . . . . . . . . . . ......... 84
4.1.5 Porous Metallic Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ......... 84
Contents ix
4.1.6 Nonmetallic Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

4.1.7 GraphiteMetal Alloy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
4.2 Rolling Bearing Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
4.2.1 Steels for Rings and Rolling Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
4.2.2 Other Materials of the Rolling Bearings . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
4.2.3 Bearing Steel Selection Principle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
5 Sliding Bearing Lubrication Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
5.1 Lubrication Condition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
5.2 Hydrodynamic Lubrication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
5.2.1 Fluid Lubrication Basic Equation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
5.2.2 Reynolds Equation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
5.2.3 Flow Equation and Shearing Stress Equation . . . . . . . . 110
5.3 Design and Calculation of Hydrodynamic Sliding Bearing . . . . . 112
5.3.1 Tapered-Land Thrust Bearing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
5.3.2 Ladder Bearing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
5.3.3 Journal Bearing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
5.4 Fluid Dynamic Instability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
5.4.1 Oil Film Instability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
5.4.2 Half-frequency Whirl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
5.4.3 Oil Oscillation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
5.4.4 Oil Film Instability Restraint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
5.5 Hydrostatic Lubrication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
5.5.1 Working Principle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
5.5.2 Design Principle of Capillary Throttling Journal
Hydrostatic Bearing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
5.6 Special Sliding Bearings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
5.6.1 Gas Bearing Lubrication Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
5.6.2 Magnetic Suspension Bearing Principle . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
6 Rolling Bearing Lubrication Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
6.1 Rigid Contact Lubrication Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
6.1.1 Geometric Analogy and Clearance Equation . . . . . . . . . 146
6.1.2 Martin Line Contact Lubrication Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
6.2 Elastic Hydrodynamic Lubrication Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
6.2.1 Approximate Solution for Line Contact EHL . . . . . . . . 150
6.2.2 Numerical Solution for Line Contact EHL . . . . . . . . . . 155
6.2.3 Key Inuencing Factors on Loads Distribution
and Oil Film Shape for EHL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... 160
6.2.4 Line Contact Lubrication Equation and State
Diagram. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... 161
6.2.5 Point Contact Lubrication Equation and State
Diagram. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... 163
x Contents
6.3 EHL Theory in the Bearing Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167

6.3.1 EHL Theory Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
6.3.2 EHL Calculation in the Rolling Bearing . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
6.4 Boundary Lubrication Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
6.4.1 Boundary Lubrication Mechanism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
6.4.2 Boundary Film Types and Characteristics . . . . . . . . . . . 171
6.4.3 Inuencing Factors on Boundary Lubrication Film . . . . 173
6.5 Recearch Development for the Rolling Bearing
Lubrication Mechanism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
6.5.1 EHL Simulation Study in the Rough Surface . . . . . . . . 175
6.5.2 Grease Lubrication Mechanism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
6.5.3 Grease Lubrication Migration Mechanism . . . . . . . . . . . 178
6.6 Genetic Algorithm in the Cylindrical Roller Bearing
Thermal Elastohydrodynamic Numerical Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . 181
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
7 Bearing Lubrication Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
7.1 Lubricant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
7.1.1 Oil Lubrication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
7.1.2 Grease . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
7.1.3 Solid Lubricant and Gas Lubricant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
7.2 Sliding Bearing Lubrication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
7.2.1 Sliding Bearing with Boundary Lubrication . . . . . . . . . 194
7.2.2 Sliding Bearing with Dynamic Lubrication . . . . . . . . . . 194
7.2.3 Lubrication Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
7.2.4 Lubricant Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
7.2.5 Lubrication System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
7.3 Rolling Bearing Lubrication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
7.3.1 Lubrication Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
7.3.2 Lubricant Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
7.3.3 Lubricant Dosage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
7.4 Bearing Lubrication for the Typical Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
7.4.1 Auto Bearing Lubrication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
7.4.2 Mill Bearing Lubrication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
7.4.3 Large Size Motor Bearing Lubrication . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
8 Friction and Wear Testing Technology in the Bearing . . . . . . . . . . . 213
8.1 Friction Torque Measuring of the Bearing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
8.1.1 Twisted Shaft Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
8.1.2 Balance Moment Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
8.1.3 Energy Conversion Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
8.2 Wear Loss Measuring of the Bearing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
8.2.1 Weight Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
8.2.2 Length Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
Contents xi
8.2.3 Radioisotope Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216

8.2.4 Precipitation or Chemical Analysis Method . . . . . . . . . . 217
8.2.5 Proler Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
8.2.6 Displacement Sensor Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
8.3 Friction Temperature Measuring of the Bearing . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
8.3.1 The Thermocouple Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
8.3.2 The Thin Film Sensor Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
8.3.3 The Infrared Thermometry Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
8.3.4 The Thermal Resistance Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
8.3.5 The Optical Fiber Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
8.4 Traction Force Measuring of the Bearing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
8.4.1 Line Contact EHL Traction Force Method . . . . . . . . . . 222
8.4.2 Point Contact EHL Traction Force Method . . . . . . . . . . 224
8.5 Bearing Tribo-tester of the Bearing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
8.5.1 High-Speed Tribo-tester . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
8.5.2 Heavy Load Sliding Friction Tester . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
8.5.3 Spherical Plain Bearing Tribo-tester . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
8.5.4 Bearing Life Tester . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
8.5.5 Bearing Friction Torque Tester . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
8.5.6 Journal Bearing Tribo-tester . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
9 Fault Diagnosis and Status Monitoring of the Bearing . . . . . . . . . . . 239
9.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
9.2 Basic Theory of the Condition Monitoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
9.2.1 Status Signal and Characteristic Parameter . . . . . . . . . . 241
9.2.2 Signal Processing and Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
9.2.3 State Recognition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
9.3 Oil Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
9.3.1 Oil Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
9.3.2 Ferrographic Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
9.3.3 Magnetic Plug Inspection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
9.4 Vibration Diagnosis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
9.4.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
9.4.2 Discriminant Standard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
9.4.3 Signal Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
9.5 Plain Bearing Working Condition Monitoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
9.5.1 Failure Types. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
9.5.2 Diagnostic Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282
9.5.3 Cases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286
9.6 Rolling Bearing Working Condition Monitoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288
9.6.1 Diagnostic Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288
9.6.2 Basic Process and Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
9.6.3 Vibration Analysis in the Fault Diagnosis . . . . . . . . . . . 295
9.6.4 Fault Signal Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295
xii Contents
9.6.5 Rolling Bearing Fault Vibration Diagnosis . . . . . . . . . . 296

9.6.6 Rolling Bearing Vibration Monitoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305
10 Applied Tribology in the Bearing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307
10.1 Applied Tribology in the Railway Bearing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307
10.1.1 Material Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308
10.1.2 Processing Quality Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309
10.1.3 Lubrication and Sealing Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309
10.1.4 Structure Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310
10.2 Applied Tribology in the Auto Bearing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311
10.2.1 Engine Bearing Tribology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311
10.2.2 Differential Side Bearing and Transmission
Bearing Tribology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314
10.2.3 Clutch Bearing Tribology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315
10.2.4 Steer Bearing Tribology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315
10.2.5 Hub Bearing Tribology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316
10.2.6 Constant Velocity Universal Joint Tribology . . . . . . . . . 316
10.3 Applied Tribology in the Lathe Bearing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317
10.3.1 Wear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318
10.3.2 Lubrication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318
10.4 Applied Tribology in the Mill Bearing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
10.4.1 Rolling Bearing Tribology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320
10.4.2 Sliding Bearing Tribology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321
10.5 Applied Tribology in Aerospace Bearing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322
10.5.1 Aerospace Rolling Bearing Tribology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323
10.5.2 Aerospace Sliding Bearing Tribology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325
10.6 Applied Tribology in the Precise Instrument Bearing . . . . . . . . . 327
10.7 Applied Tribology in Heavy-Duty Bearing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329
10.7.1 Heavy-Duty Rolling Bearing Tribology . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329
10.7.2 Heavy-Duty Sliding Bearing Tribology . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331
Chapter 1
Friction, Wear, and Lubrication
in the Bearing Application
Friction is a common phenomenon in our daily life and production activities, and
exists between two objects when they contact and move in relation or relative trend.
The influence of friction can be divided into two aspects. On the one hand, it is an
indispensible and important factor for our life, for example the walking of people
and traction for the engine both depend on friction. Even in machinery and
equipments, belt drive, brake, clutch and friction welding, etc., are all closely
related to ction. On the other hand, friction also has some negative effects, since
some power will be wasted as unavailable energy being released. Some wear
caused by friction leads to failure of machine parts and labor instruments [14].
Bearing is a kind of machine part that is used to support shaft and the load
transmitted from shaft. There are movements and interaction among bearing parts
during operation, such as the rolling between the rollers and raceway of inner ring
or outer ring, and the contact under external load; so friction also exists in bearings
[57]. In this chapter, the general concept of the Bearing Tribology and related
topics will be introduced.
1.1 Basic Concepts of the Tribology
Tribology is a complex and integrated course and has been influencing peoples life
for a long time. In this sector, in order to supply a general understanding of friction,
wear and lubrication, the basic denition of tribology will be introduced rst; then
research objects, missions, and characteristics of tribology will be introduced.
1.1.1 Basic Denition of the Bearing Tribology
Friction, wear, and lubrication are old words. After the industrial revolution,
research and development of tribology came into a new phase with the increasing
National Defense Industry Press, Beijing and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2017 1
M. Qiu et al., Bearing Tribology, DOI 10.1007/978-3-662-53097-9_1
2 1 Friction, Wear, and Lubrication in the Bearing Application
demand of the common utility of machine. In 1966, H. Peter Jost from England
published an epoch-making reportA Report on the Present and Industrys
Needs. Jost mentioned the word Tribology in his report, which comes from
ancient Greek word Tribos and means the science of friction. Tribology is the
science and engineering of interacting surfaces in relative motion. It includes the
study and application of the principles of friction, lubrication, and wear [1].
Under external force resistance, the interaction of the two objects impeding
movement from their relative motion is called friction force, and the phenomenon is
known as friction. The generation of friction should meet the following three
conditions:
a. two objects (or two parts of an object);
b. the contact;
c. the relative motion (or relative motion trend).
According to the status of two objects in contact, friction can be divided into
three types: solid and solid, solid and liquid, and sold and gas.
Wear is a process of material shifting or peeling off from the contact surface
when movement happens between friction pairs. Friction heat is always produced
with friction. Wear and friction heat are the reasonable results of friction. It is the
same as that wear often coexists with friction, but sometimes the wear is too small
to be considered. Lubricants will be used to decrease the wear and friction between
contact surfaces, which is named as lubrication. Lubrication is different from
frication and wear as a factitious and purposeful action in order to decrease the
friction and wear (or control the friction and lubrication).
Bearing is a part that is used to conrm the relative motion location of the
rotating shaft and other parts, and support and lead shaft or other parts, which is
important for modern mechanical equipments. Bearing can be divided into rolling
bearing and plain bearing according to the difference of friction character of
movement parts. Bearing tribology includes the friction, wear and lubrication
related in the bearing. It is a course to research the traction and variety between two
surfaces of bearing in relative motion, including the related theory and practice.
1.1.2 Objects and Tasks of the Bearing Tribology
Many countries have spent lots of human resource and money on researching it
from many aspects since Jost proposed to establish a new discipline tribology.
Bearing tribology is paid enough attention in the tribology eld because of the
important role of bearing on the modern mechanical equipments. In recent years,
the researches about bearing tribology mainly focus on the following parts:
1.1 Basic Concepts of the Tribology 3
1.1.2.1 Bearing Friction and Wear Mechanisms
Bearing friction and wear mechanisms mainly study the physical, chemical, met-
allurgical, and mechanical action between the interaction surfaces in relative motion
of the bearing elements, and the friction and wear mechanisms between the bearing
material surfaces, and physical and chemical properties transformation in the pro-
cess of friction between the bearing surfaces are further researched, in order to
control and predict bearing wear process. In the history of tribology, the following
theories are used to explain the root course of friction: concave and convex theory,
adhesion molecules theory, mechanicalmolecular theory and the latest friction
theory. At present, as research of friction mechanism moves further, great progress
on the wear mechanism has been made. Moreover, the processes of adhesive wear,
abrasive wear, fatigue wear, corrosion wear, fretting wear, erosion wear and cav-
itation wear, etc., have all been further studied and the mechanism of wear and
regularity has also been revealed. With rapid development of bearing industry, the
range of bearing material becomes wider; therefore, research on friction and wear
mechanism of bearing material has been much more thorough.
1.1.2.2 Bearing Lubrication Theory
Lubricant is dened as the fth part of bearing. Good lubrication condition is

fundamental for the normal bearing operation and the guarantee of the bearing life
and reliability. The research of hydrodynamic pressure lubrication, hydrostatic
lubrication, elastic hydrodynamic pressure lubrication, boundary lubrication and
mixed lubrication, etc., plays an important role in the development of bearing
tribology. Now, the research on bearing lubrication theory mainly concentrates on
the lubrication design and calculation under the extreme working condition such as
the high temperature, high speed, and bad environment.
1.1.2.3 Bearing Tribology Research Method and Test Technology
The development trend of the research method and test technology for bearing
tribology is researched from macrocosmic surface to microcosmic surface, from
qualitative analysis to quantitative calculation, from the study of single factor to the
comprehensive study of multi-factor, from static research to dynamic research.
1.1.2.4 Bearing Material and Surface Treatment
We can nd some research on bearing materials and surface treatment technology

from the application of new materials (such as the wide application of ceramic
materials and wear-resistant alloy) and the new surface treatment technology (for
example ion implantation, laser processing, chemical deposition method and
physical vapor deposition method are carried out on the material surface modi-
cation), the purpose of which is to improve the friction and wear performance on
the surface of the bearing parts.
1.1.2.5 Bearing Lubricant
Many kinds of new bearing lubricants are widely applied under such special con-
ditions as in high and low temperature, with strong radiation and high load, etc. At
the same time, the development of environmentally friendly lubricants and addi-
tives has received higher attention.
1.1.2.6 Performance Monitoring for Bearing in the Mechanical

Equipments
The instruments of performance monitoring for bearing in mechanical equipment

commonly include: vibration and noise detector, radioactive isotope analyzer,
spectrometer, X-ray fluorescence analyzer, scanning electron microscope (SEM),
electron probe, iron spectrometer, magnetic plug, and so on.
1.1.3 Subject Characteristics of the Bearing Tribology
In the past, research of bearing friction, wear, and lubrication are separately done.
The practice shows that some transformation also happens on the bearing moving
surface such as physics, chemistry, mechanics, and thermodynamics with the
friction caused by interacting surfaces in relative motion, so bearing tribology is an
interdisciplinary subject of many elds involved in mathematics, physics, chem-
istry, mechanics and thermodynamics, metallurgy, materials, mechanical engi-
neering, petrochemical, and so on. In case of the considerable overlap, bearing
tribology can be divided into the following aspects: materials science and engi-
neering (accounting for about 40 %), mechanical engineering (accounting for about
30 %), lubrication and lubricants (accounting for about 20 %), and others (in-
cluding condition monitoring, fault diagnosis, instruments and meters, tribology
database, etc. accounting for about 10 %).
As an interdisciplinary subject, the bearing tribology develops with other sub-
jects, and then forms a new research eld. Tribochemistry, biological tribology, and
ecologic tribology may become a key research eld in the future.
1.2 Bearing Friction and Wear 5
1.2 Bearing Friction and Wear
Bearing is used to support shaft and surrounding parts, to maintain the rotation
accuracy and reduce the friction and wear between shaft and support parts.
Therefore, any problems about the bearing friction, wear and lubrication are related
to every aspect of the design, manufacture, and application of bearing. In this
section, the forms of bearing friction, the basic bearing types, and bearing friction
and wear will be introduced.
1.2.1 Sliding Friction and Rolling Friction
In Chap. 1.1, friction is the resistance to motion created by interacting surfaces in

relative sliding or rolling, and the tangential resistance opposite to the moving
direction is called friction force. Common friction includes dry friction and liquid
friction. Dry friction is also called coulomb friction, as its name implies, which
describes the tangential component of the contact force between two dry surfaces in
relative motion or motion trend. Liquid friction describes the tangential component
of the contact force between adjacent fluid layers in motion of different speed, such
as the friction caused between the bearing surfaces and liquid or gas.
1.2.1.1 Sliding Friction
For sliding friction, two classical friction laws are applicable to many occasions. Da
Vinci is the rst scholar to propose these laws, two hundred years later, the French
physicist Amonton rediscovered these two laws in 1699, so they are called
Amonton equation [8]. In 1785, Coulomb discovered the third friction law. These
three laws of friction are determined by experience and some actual situation may
not accord with them, which does not mean that they violate the basic law of nature.
1.2.1.2 Rolling Friction
Although the rolling friction was applied very early, little research about the
mechanism of rolling friction was done and less experimental data was obtained. In
1785, Coulomb rst obtained rolling friction law by experimental method. In 1837,
Dupuit proposed modied formula, which was commonly known as Dupuits law.
Obviously, the rolling friction law above mentioned is not related to the rolling
friction mechanism, and it can only be applied in engineering calculation
approximately.
1.2.2 Types of Bearings
Bearings can be divided into rolling bearings and plain bearings by categories.
Rolling bearings have the advantages of small friction resistance, sensitive starting
performance, high efciency, convenient lubrication, and good interchangeability,
etc., so they can be widely used. However, the signicant defects of bearings lies in
their poor impact resistance and noises in high speed, especially their service life
are shorter than plain bearing with liquid friction. Therefore, the advantages of plain
bearings can be made full use under the condition of high speed, high precision,
heavy load and split structure utility in steam turbine, centrifugal compressor, the
internal combustion engine, and large motor. Besides, plain bearings can also be
used in the machine with low speed and some impact in the cement mixer,
barrel-polishing machine broken machines, etc. [9].
1.2.2.1 Plain Bearings
Plain bearings can be divided into radial plain bearings and thrust plain bearings
according to the loading direction. Radial plain bearings mainly support radial load.
Thrust plain bearings can only support the axial load. Friction performance between
sliding surfaces of plain bearings is different along with the variety of working
condition and lubrication. It generally can be divided into complete fluid friction,
boundary friction, and dry friction [10]. The fluid may be oil, water, gas, and other
media. Complete fluid friction is the ideal condition for the operation of plain
bearing. For those important machines with high rotating speed, the bearing should
be ensured to operate in the state of complete fluid friction, which is called fluid
friction plain bearing. Boundary friction always coexists with semi-fluid friction
and semi-dry friction, which are called non-fluid friction. The bearings used in
those noncritical machines under the condition of low speed and impact can be
designed according to the state of non-fluid friction, which are called non-fluid
friction plain bearings. Fluid friction is the ideal state of the plain bearing, and the
fluid friction plain bearing can be divided into dynamic pressure and static pressure
bearings according to the principle on which the oil lm forms.
1.2.2.2 Rolling Bearings
Rolling bearings can achieve the minimum friction by rolling with balls or rollers
and restrict the relative motion between two parts. It generally consists of inner ring,
outer ring, rolling elements, and cage. Under special conditions, the inner or outer
rings can be replaced by the corresponding mainframe. In order to meet the
application requirements, some bearings can assemble with dust cover, sealing ring
and the adapter sleeve for mounting and adjustment, etc. Rolling bearings can be
classied based on different methods because of their many varieties. For example:
1.2 Bearing Friction and Wear 7
rolling bearings can be divided into radial bearings, angular contact bearings and
thrust bearings according to the load direction that the bearing can support, can also
be divided into ball and roller bearings according to the type of the rolling element,
and can also be divided into the combined bearing and special bearing according to
the structural shape and specic purposes.
1.2.3 Friction and Wear in the Bearing Application
1.2.3.1 Friction and Wear in the Plain Bearings
Friction status of sliding surface for the plain bearing are different with the change
of working condition and lubrication property, which includes complete fluid
friction, boundary friction and dry friction. The damage form of plain bearing
mainly includes scratch, abrasive wear, adhesive wear, fatigue wear, peeling, cor-
rosion wear, and fretting wear.
1.2.3.2 Friction and Wear in the Rolling Bearings
Friction will be caused during the operation of rolling bearing due to preload and
work load, which can be summarized as the following reasons [11]: rolling friction
caused by elastic lag, friction caused by differential sliding, sliding friction caused
by rotation, viscous friction of lubricant, sliding friction between cage and rings,
sliding friction between cage pocket and rolling elements, sliding friction between
roller end face and rib of inner ring or out ring and sliding friction between the
sealing ring and the inner ring or outer ring in relative sliding. The wear in rolling
bearings includes adhesive wear, abrasive wear, corrosive wear, and fretting wear.
1.3 Bearing Lubrication
Good lubrication is necessary for the normal work of rolling bearings; about 40 %
of the bearing damages are caused by poor lubrication according to statistical
analysis. Lubrication in the bearings is to develop a lubricating lm to avoid the
direct contact between the two surfaces, reducing friction and wear of each surface
in contact, reducing the bearing operating temperature, preventing external dust and
other harmful substances from entering the bearing like the sealing by grease
lubrication, preventing the metal corrosion, and impairing the impact. Besides,
lubrication also has the function of shock absorption, noise reduction, and bearing
fatigue life extension.
1.3.1 Plain Bearing Lubrication
The lubrication in plain bearings is to reduce the friction and wear on the working
surface of the bearings and to improve efciency and service life of the bearings; at
the same time it also achieves the effect of cooling, vibration absorbing and antirust.
Whether the plain bearings can work normally is closely related to the lubrication.
Anything able to reduce the friction resistance can be used as lubricant. Lubricant
can be oil, grease, solid lubricants and gas lubricants, etc. Among them, the grease
from mineral oil and soap has stable performance, low cost and the widest use. In
addition, graphite, molybdenum disulde, water, air, etc., can also be used as
lubricant on some special occasions. The lubricant selection can refer to types,
working conditions, structural characteristics, and environmental conditions.
1.3.2 Rolling Bearing Lubrication
In order to achieve reliable operation for the rolling bearings, enough lubrication
must be ensured for preventing the direct contact between rolling elements, race-
way, and cage. Lubricant can also inhibit wear and protect the bearing surfaces
from corrosion, so it is important to choose the appropriate lubricant, lubrication
method and proper maintenance according to the application status of the bearing.
Lubricants in rolling bearing can be grease, lubricating oil, or solid lubricant.
Generally, grease lubrication is applied in rolling bearing. However, oil lubrication
can also be adopted if there has been the oil source near the rolling bearing (such as
lubrication oil in the gearbox). In addition, solid lubrication can also be adopted
under some special conditions.
References
1. Wen S, Huang P (2008) Principles of tribology. Tsinghua University Press, Beijing

2. Liu Z (2009) Tribological theory and design. Wuhan University of Technology Press, Wuhan
3. Yang M (1992) Tribology design basis. China Machine Press, Beijing
4. Quan Y (1994) Engineering tribology. Zhejiang University Press, Hangzhou
5. Chen L, Xie T, Xia X (2010) Rolling bearing application technology. China Machine Press,
Beijing
6. Chang H, Chen L (2007) Bearing assembly technology. Henan Peoples Publishing House,
Zhengzhou
7. Xie Y, Zhang S (2009) Research on development and present situation of tribology science
and engineering application. Higher Education Press, Beijing
8. Zhang J (1993) Wear and antiwear technology. Tianjin Science and Technology Translation
Publishing Company, Tianjin
9. Bhushan B (2007) Introduction to tribology. China Machine Press, Beijing
10. Wang Y (1999) Gas lubrication theory and design of gas bearing. China Machine Press, Beijing
11. Harris TA (2006) Rolling bearing analysis, 5th edn. John Wiley and Sons
Chapter 2
Bearing Surface Contact
Tribology is the science and engineering of interacting surfaces in relative motion.

Solid surfaces (more specically, interface of solid/gas or solid/liquid) have com-
plex structures and features. These features are closely related to material perfor-
mances, surface treatment method and environment. Solid surface characteristics
also have an important influence on the surface behavior interaction of the actual
contact area, friction, wear, lubrication properties, etc. The morphology and contact
condition of friction surface are fundamental for friction analysis, wear, and
lubrication. And, they provide a way for exploring the microscopic nature of the
contact surface.
2.1 Surface Structure and Property
2.1.1 Surface Structure
In the eld of tribology, surface is regarded as a layer with important physical

properties that is organically grown from the solid. During machining process, the
surface layer is composed of several levels because of the change from metal
surface organization structure, as shown in Fig. 2.1. The physical and chemical
properties of surface layer are different from the whole piece of material. Metal
surface layer structure is changing with the processing technology, at the same time,
the mechanical properties of the surface layer are different from the substrate
material, and the strengthening degree of metal surface, microhardness, and residual
stress all have important effects on the friction and wear.
As can be seen in Fig. 2.1, the deformation layer is located on the matrix metal
and it is caused by forming process of material surface, namely it is the material
hardening layer. For example, in the grinding, cutting, turning and polishing pro-
cess, plastic deformation and high strain will be caused even without temperature
10 2 Bearing Surface Contact
Fig. 2.1 Metal surface layer structure
gradient, and the stability of materials will be influenced after the residual stress is
released. The deformation of the material and its extent are affected by two factors
such as the input power (or energy of deformation process) and material charac-
teristics. Much stronger strain will be caused on the deformation layer near the
surface for some material prone to deformation and work hardening. Layer thick-
ness for mild deformation is about 110 m, and layer thickness for severe
deformation could reach 10100 m. The deformation layer is also called strain
hardening layer or hardening layer and it is an important part of material surface
area. In addition, the deformation layer will be formed in the friction process [1, 2].
Bayesian layer is located on the deformation layer. Bayesian layer in metals and
alloys is a kind of deposition surface because of quenching hardening after the
dissolution of surface molecules and surface flow during the manufacturing process.
It belongs to the amorphous or microcrystalline structure. Bayesian layer exists on
the rolling bearing surface with supernishing. Fine nishing process (or wet
polishing) can reduce the thickness of the Bayesian layer.
Almost all metals and alloys can react with oxygen in the air so that oxide layer
will be generated. Under other circumstances, other compound surfaces are also
easily to form such as nitriding layer, sulde layer, and chloride layer. Oxidized
layer is located on the Bayesian layer. Oxide or other chemical reaction layer can
also be formed for some nonmetallic that is uneasy to be oxided, such as the
formation of a silicon dioxide layer with silica surface open in the air. Adsorption
lm with a single molecular layer on the surface cannot prevent the interaction
between the surface and gas. If the new surface is continuously exposed to the air,
its interaction with the surrounding environment increases, then a thicker surface
layer will result. The thickness of oxide and other chemical reaction layer depends
on the material sensitivity to environment, reaction temperature, and reaction time.
In addition, oxidation layer can also be formed in the process of manufacturing and
friction. Almost all the machining methods produce heat, and oxidation rate
increases owing to the heat. Various forms of oxides will also be generated. Surface
temperature will be higher after friction that increases the chemical reaction speed
between surface and surrounding environment. When the mental friction pair is
exposed to the air, chemical reaction will be caused on the surface. If the lubricants
2.1 Surface Structure and Property 11
and additives are used, the friction surface will form a solid reaction layer, which
benets the surface protection. The oxide layer is formed by chemical action when
the surface contacts with air and its organization is related to the degree of
oxidation.
In addition to chemical reaction layer, the adsorption lm will also be formed on
the surface under certain circumstances. On the outer surface, the adsorption lm
and lubrication lm can be created by the gas or liquid polar molecules contacting
with surface, such as oxygen, water vapor, hydrocarbons, occasionally forming oil
or lubricating oil lm. These surface lms exist in both metal and non-metal sur-
faces and always affect prosperity of friction and wear. The oil lm and grease lm
can lower the level of tribological properties of the contact surface to one or several
orders of magnitude. The surface chemical reaction and molecular adsorption are
external properties. The surface tension and surface free energy are the intrinsic
performance which cannot be ignored since they can affect the surface adsorption
capability.
2.1.2 Surface Property
Among all kinds of surface properties, surface energy, adsorption effect, and sur-
face oxidation are most closely related to the tribology.
2.1.2.1 Surface Energy
Surface tension is the elastic tendency of liquids which makes them acquire the
least surface area possible. Surface energy, or interface energy, quanties the dis-
ruption of intermolecular bonds that occur when a surface is created.
The surface energy of solids is difcult to measure directly, and just can be
deduced according to the contact shape with liquid. The solid surface energy will be
dropping when contacting with liquid (called wetting), so the wetting angle in
practice can be the index to measure the wetting behavior between solid surface and
liquid surface (Figure 2.2).
Wetting angle h is dened as the angle between liquid surface tension cLV and
solidliquid surface tension cSL , namely the angle between tangent planes of solid
Fig. 2.2 Wetting angle. a Without wetting, b with wetting

liquid surface and liquid surfaces at the intersection position. Wetting angle can be
given as,
cSV cSL
cos h ; 2:1
cLV
where cSV , cSL and cLV are surface tensions between liquidsolidgas, solidliquid,
solidgas respectively.
When cSV cSL cLV , cos h 1, as well as h 0, solid surface can be fully
wet by the liquid; when cSV cSL [ cLV , liquid can be fanning on the solid surface;
when cSV cSL \cLV , cos h\1, as well as h\90 , solid surface tension is bigger
than the liquid surface tension and solid will be wet; when cSV \cSL , cos h\0, as
well as h [ 90 , no wetting situation. Generally, smaller wetting angle shows the
better wetting situation between solid and liquid and bigger one stands for poor
wetting performance.
Wetting angle of lubricant can signicantly affect lubrication on the friction
surface. Even the liquid is the same, with the different solid surface, the nal contact
angles are also different, and vice versa. Smaller contact angle stands for the high
surface energy and the surface is the hydrophilic. Bigger contact angle stands for
the low surface energy that means the hydrophobic surface and being hard to get
liquid afnity and also the adhesion with other solid surface. For the crystalline
solid, surface energy is needed for the formation of new surface along the crystal
plane. According to the different number of atoms, we can come to the conclusion
that the surface cleavage is much easier for the surface with more atomics, that
means surface energy is lower on the surface and it is much easier to slip [36].
2.1.2.2 Surface Film
In general, solid surface is always surrounded by ambient medium. And there are
always some physical and chemical actions between the media (including gaseous
or liquid media) and solid surface. Then the solid surface structure becomes more
complex. Usually, friction pair is made from metal. As illustrated above, metal
surfaces in the atmospheric environment are always covered with a thin oxide lm,
and on the outer layer of the oxide lm there are also adsorption and pollution lms,
etc., all of which constitute the complex surface layer.
Adsorption lm is easy to be formed by adsorbing the surrounding media onto
the surface when the cleanliness degree is high. If the surface lm is combined by
relying on the van der Waals force, it is called physical adsorption lm. When
electron exchange occurs between adsorbed molecules and solid surface (i.e.,
changing the molecule on adsorption layer and electronic distribution), the com-
bination is relying on the chemical bonds, this is called chemical adsorption lm
and the action force is much higher than the physical adsorption lm. Besides, there
is another cover lm on the surface named reaction lm that is based on the reaction
between solid surface materials and surrounding medium (Figure 2.3).
2.1 Surface Structure and Property 13
Fig. 2.3 Comparison in physical adhesion lm, chemical adhesion lm, and chemical reaction
lm. a Physical absorption, b Chemical adsorption, c Restructuring chemical adsorption,
d Chemical reaction lm
2.1.2.3 Surface Oxidation
Metal oxide lm on the surface is a kind of typical reaction lm. In machining

process, it will quickly react with the oxygen to form oxide lm once the new metal
surface is exposed to the atmosphere. Most of oxides appear in the form of layers,
as the iron oxide begins with the chemical adsorption of oxygen on the surface of
iron, and with the thickening of oxide layer, the porosity and crack appear, which is
good for the generation of new oxides after the connection between oxygen and
metal elements on the new surface. The oxide lm with different chemical com-
position is formed because of the indeterminations of oxygen concentration and
reaction temperature. During the friction process of the metal friction pair, complex
organization structure change will also be discovered. When the friction tempera-
ture is higher than the metal structure transformation temperature, special phase
transition and structural transformation will occur due to the high pressure on the
surface and the environmental media. Friction temperature makes the generation of
recrystallization in the surface layer, so as to change the material plasticity in the
friction. These changes generated in the friction process have a great influence on
mechanical properties of interaction between the friction surfaces. Surface mor-
phology and microscopic contact situation changes constantly in the friction pro-
cess, at the same time, the adsorption lm and oxidation lm on the friction surfaces
will fracture, regenerate and transform, which has a great influence on the friction
and wear performance [711].
These surface lms mentioned above (reaction and adsorption lms) are gen-
erally covering the surface, so that the solid surface in the friction is separated, and
the direct contact between the solid parts can be effectively prevented. This surface
lm has a certain carrying capacity, and the mechanical strength is generally lower
than the integral strength of a solid itself, and also has an obvious influence on the
friction and wear.
2.2 Surface Morphology Parameters
2.2.1 Surface Geometry
Solid surface processed with any methods has the irregularity and it has a certain
deviation from the ideal plane geometry. This kind of irregularity can be reflected in
the macroscopic shape deviation and atomic surface deviation. According to the
features of machining surface contour, the surface prole can be divided into
surface roughness, waviness, and macrogeometric form error. Specic classication
can be based on the ratio between wave distance L and the wave height H. If
L/H > 1000, it can be called macroscopic geometric error, such as roundness error
and cylindricity error, which belongs to the scope of machining precision; If
L/H = 501000, it is called waviness, which is caused by the machining vibration;
If L/H < 50, it is called microgeometry features, also known as the surface
roughness [5] (Figure 2.4).
Surface shape deviation, as macroscopic geometric deviation is along with the
part forming, and has a smaller effect on friction and wear. Surface waviness, as
Fig. 2.4 Surface roughness,

waviness, and
macrogeometric error
2.2 Surface Morphology Parameters 15
relatively long and regular wavy shape, is formed on the part surface that is a kind
of surface geometric error and caused by the low frequency vibration of machine
toolcutterpart system existing along with manufacturing that has a certain wave
height and wave distance and great effect on the friction and wear. Surface
roughness refers to irregular microgeometry features formed of the peak height and
spacing that is caused by the high-frequency vibration of machine toolcutterpart
system, the plastic deformation along with the chip separation, the friction and wear
of the cuter and part surface and the traces of the cutting tools, so the roughness also
has a great influence on the friction and wear. The real graphic structured by the
three points mentioned above is surface morphology.
2.2.2 Surface Morphology Parameters
Any friction surfaces are made up of many microconvex and concave peaks with
different shapes. Surface geometry characteristics play a decisive role in friction,
wear, and lubrication under the situation of mixed lubrication or dry friction.
Surface morphology parameter is used to describe the geometric features. The most
common surface topography parameter is surface roughness that is shown by the
contour curve of a cross section on the surface. According to the different repre-
senting method, it can be divided into one-dimensional, two-dimensional,
three-dimensional topography parameters [1].
2.2.2.1 One-Dimensional Topography Parameter
One-dimensional morphology is usually represented by the height of the contour

curve shown in Fig. 2.5, which depicts the ups and downs of contour height Z on
the cross section (X direction). The average height line of prole, as well as center
line, is chosen to be x-axis, and the area between the both sides curve and x-axis
should be equal.
Fig. 2.5 Surface morphology

contour curve
In order to assess the surface roughness objectively, the length range and
direction for measurement need to be determined rst, namely the evaluation
benchmark. It includes sampling length, assessment length, and baseline.
Evaluation benchmark is the length of a segment received from the actual contour
line. Sampling length is a baseline length used to distinguish the characteristics of
the surface roughness, the reason for which is to restrict and weaken the influence
of surface waviness on the result of roughness measurement. If the sample length is
too long, the measurement result of surface roughness will be confused with surface
waviness; if sampling length is too short, the actual surface roughness to be mea-
sured cannot be reflected. At least 5 peaks and 5 valleys should be included in the
range of sampling length. Baselines are used to assess the surface roughness
parameters and have two types [3]: the least squares center line of contour (center
line) and the arithmetic average center line of contour.
The common one-dimensional topography parameters include the outline
arithmetic average deviation, root mean square deviation, maximum peak valley
distance, average of the middle intercept.
2.2.2.2 Two-Dimensional Topography Parameter
It has been found that one-dimensional morphology parameters are not enough to
clarify the relationship between surface geometric characteristics and tribological
properties. Meyers (1962) experiments showed that the slope and curvature of
surface contour prole is closely related to the wear characteristics of the sliding
surface [12]. Therefore, in order to reflect the lubrication effect of rough surface and
contact situation better, the gradient and peak curvature are adopted to describe
two-dimensional topography parameters.
Gradient is the slope of every point on surface contour curves, as well as the
arithmetic average of the absolute value or the root mean square value. The index is
very important for microelastohydrodynamic lubrication effect. Arithmetic mean or
root mean square value of curvature for each rough peak is used to describe the
two-dimensional topography parameters and it has an effect on lubrication and
surface contact condition.
2.2.2.3 Three-Dimensional Topography Parameter
Two-dimensional morphology parameters are also not comprehensive enough, so

three-dimensional topography parameters are the best way to describe rough sur-
face. We can see the two-dimensional contour curve shown in Fig. 2.6a.
Three-dimensional changes of morphology are shown with a set of 2-D curves of
tight intervals.
Contour plot as shown in Fig. 2.6b can be used to express the fluctuation change
of surface contour.
2.2 Surface Morphology Parameters 17
Fig. 2.6 Three-dimensional

topography parameters
Fig. 2.7 Contour curve for

supporting surface
2.2.2.4 Support Surface Curve
In order to perfect the assessment of the real contour, additional parameters can be
added. Support surface curve can be depicted according to the real contour shown
as Fig. 2.7a. From the picture, we can see three surfaces as a1 ; b1 ; and c1 are formed
in the wear depth of x, which are depicted in Fig. 2.7b as a1 bl1 c1 ; the surfaces as
a2 ; b2 and c2 formed in the wear depth of y, which are depicted in Fig. 2.7b as
a 2 b 2 c2
l . This method will be continual until the cross section is rubdown. Thus a
hypothetical curve can be got and is applied to calculate the real contact area so it is
named support surface curve.
2.2.3 Surface Morphology Statistical Parameters
Machining surface topography contains two components of periodic change and

stochastic change, so it is much more scientic to describe the surface geometry
morphology and reflect more information by using the statistical parameters of
morphology than a single characteristic parameter. It is the probability density
distribution function of the peaks height, wavelength, slope, or curvature of each
point on the contour curve that can be used to indicate changes in them.
2.2.3.1 Height Distribution Function
Frequency density histogram shape of many continuous random variables is high in

the middle and low on both sides and also symmetrical according to the practice. In
order to study the general corresponding rules conveniently, probability density
function is used to describe this kind of random variables, which are subject to
Normal distribution or Gaussian distribution.
2.2.3.2 Distribution Curve Deviation
Machining surface distribution curve tends to have a certain deviation from stan-
dard Gauss distribution, so statistical parameter is commonly used to indicate the
deviation. Skewed distribution refers to the asymmetric frequency distribution and
centralized location to one side, so we can say that skewness is an index to measure
the deviation extent of distribution curve from the symmetry position. Flat peak or
leptokurtic degree of data distribution is known as kurtosis that indicates the lep-
tokurtic degree of distribution curve.
The sampling interval size has a signicant influence on plotting histogram and
distribution curve when anglicizing the surface topography parameters. In order to
represent the relationship between adjacent contours and changing trend of the
contour curve, another statistical parameter, namely autocorrelation function, can be
used. Autocorrelation function can be decomposed into two components as atten-
uation and oscillation. The attenuation shows that correlation decreases with the
increase of l and it represents the changes of contour random components. The
oscillation component reflects the cyclical changes, factors of surface prole.
Calculating the autocorrelation function of the real surface involves the collection
and processing of large amount of data, in order to simplify, random component is
usually represented as exponential decreased and oscillation component is repre-
sented as fluctuation by trigonometric function. It is concluded that the oscillation
component on rough machining surface (e.g., Ra = 16) is the main part and random
component is the main part for the nish machining surface (such as Ra = 0.18).
2.3 Hertz Elastic Contact
In 1895, Hertz solved the elastic contact problem for point contact and line contact
of ideal smooth object, and then this theory is widely used for calculating the actual
contact area.
2.3 Hertz Elastic Contact 19
2.3.1 Contact Between Two Cylinders
As shown in Fig. 2.8, two cylinders with the radius of R1 and R2 contact with each
other under the normal load and contact region is like flat ribbon. Strictly speaking,
the contact line of the end face is a circular arc with radius of Rc .
2R1 R2
Rc 2:2
R1 R2
The maximum deformation happens on the contact line center of the end face, so
the pressure stress is also the maximum. pmax stands for the pressure stress in the
contact line center and p is for the pressure stress of other point on the contact line
and their relationship is shown in the following equation:
r
x2
p pmax 1 2 2:3
a
Pressure stress is shown in Fig. 2.9, and is changing in accordance with the
ellipse law.
If the normal load is W and the contact length of cylinders is L, the mean
W
pressure stress is L2a . The maximum pressure stress is p4 times of average com-
pressive stress, so
4 W 2W
pmax 2:4
p 2aL paL
When integrating Eq. (2.4) into Eq. (2.3), we yield:

r
2W x2
p 1 2 2:5
paL a
Fig. 2.8 Contact pressure

distribution between two
cylinders

distribution for single cylinder
From Hertz formula,

r
4WR
a 2:6
pLE 0
where:
1 1 1 R1 R2
2:7
R R1 R2 R1 R2
1 1 c21 1 c22
0
; 2:8
E E1 E2
where E1 and E2 are, respectively, the elasticity modulus of two contact cylinder
materials; c1 and c2 are, respectively, the Poisson ratio of two contact cylinder
materials.
The flowing conclusions can be received through the above analysis:
(1) The position of maximum shear stress smax is not on the contact surface, but on
a depth under the surface, about 0.67 a, where a is the half-width of contact line.
(2) When Pmax 2sk , surface material yield satiation will occur, that is, sk r2s .
Where sk is the critical value of maximum shear stress, rs is the tensile yield
strength.
(3) Actually, yield has not happened in the above situation, that is, because of the
pressure stress from three directions being loaded on the material. Surface
material yield only happens when Pmax 3:3sk and maximum shear stress
smax sk .
(4) When the mean pressure stress is about 6 sk , plastic deformation will happen,
at this time, the mean pressure stress is the indentation hardness value of the
material H, that is, H sk 3rs .
(5) If the surface is supporting the normal load and tangential load (friction load)
at the same time, smax can be calculated by the synthesization of the stress
distribution, meanwhile the location of the maximum shear stress smax is near
the surface, so plastic deformation will occur much more easily and the
materials capacity will also be reduced.
2.3.2 Contact Between Two Balls
If the radios of two balls are the same and normal load is W, the contact area is a
circle with radius of a and the stress distribution is hemisphere, shown as Fig. 2.10.
p stands for the stress of each point on the contact area, we can get the following
equation:
1
3W x2 z 2 2
p 1 2 2 ; 2:9
2pa2 a a
where
13
3WR
a 2:10
8E 0
R sphere radius.
If the radius of two spheres are not the same, Eq. (2.9) can also be applied, and
where
13
3WR
a 2:11
4E 0

R1 R2 1 1 1
R ; 2:12
R1 R2 R R1 R2
where R1 ; R2 are the radius of two spheres.

distribution between two balls
2.3.3 Rough Surface Contact
When two solid surfaces contact, the actual contact occurs only on a very small part
of the apparent area due to the rough surface. The size and distribution of real
contact area have a decisive influence on friction and wear. The shape of actual
surface rough peak is usually elliptical. Because the contact region size of ellipsoid
is far less than the curvature radius, rough peak can be approximately regarded as
sphere and the contact between two plains can be considered as a series of spheres
with high and low height. This model is usually used for analyzing the contact
between the rough surfaces.
As mentioned before, the contact between two elastic bodies can be converted
into the contact between the elastic sphere with equivalent curvature radius R and
equivalent elastic modulus E 0 and rigid smooth flat surface.
2.3.3.1 Unimodal Contact
As shown in Fig. 2.11, when two rough peaks contact, normal deformation d will
be produced under the load W and the shape of elastic sphere will be changed from
dotted line to solid line. Obviously, the actual contact area is the circle with radius
of a, instead of radius of e.
According to the elastic mechanics,
1
9W 2 3
d 2:13
16E 02 R
13
3WR
a 2:14
4E 0
Fig. 2.11 Deformation for

rough unimodal contact
4
W E 0 R2 d2
1 3
2:15
3
Through the relationship mentioned above:
a2 Rd 2:16
Real contact area A:
A pa2 pRd 2:17
According to the geometry relationship:
e2 R2 R d2 2Rd d2 2Rd 2:18
Geometry contact area A0 :
A0 pe2 2pRd 2A 2:19
It can conclude that the actual contact area of single rough peak in elastic contact
is only half of geometrical contact area. Rough peak models include sphere,
cylinder and cone, as shown in Fig. 2.12.
2.3.3.2 Contact Between Ideal Rough Surfaces
Ideal rough surface means that the surface is made of many neat rows of rough
peaks with the same curvature radius and the same height. Besides, the load and
deformation on each peak are the same and do not affect each other. As shown in
Fig. 2.13, the maximum height of rough peak on the based surface is h, and after
Fig. 2.12 Contact model for

rough peak. a Ball,
b Cylinder, c Cone
Fig. 2.13 Contacts in rough

surfaces of contour of
spherical
normal deformation of smooth plane is produced under some loads, the deformation
value is h d and the distance between rigid smooth surface and based surface of
rough plain is d.
If there are n rough peaks and each peak supports the same load Wi , the whole
load can be obtained through the Eq. (2.15):
4
W nWi nE0 R2 h d2
1 3
2:20
3
The real contact area is the summation of contact area of each rough peak Ai , as:
A nAi npRh d 2:21
Using the above equation to eliminate h d, the following equation can be

obtained:
4E 0 3
W A2 2:22
3p n R
3 1
2 2
It concludes that real contact area is in direct proportion to 23 power of load for
the elastic contact condition. When surface is under the plastic contact condition,
the yield stress rs on the contact surface of each rough peak is evenly distributed. If
horizontal expansion does not happen, the contact area of each rough peak is the
geometric area, as:
A0i 2pRh d 2:23
So
Wi rs A0i 2rs Ai 2:24
And:
W nWi 2rs A 2:25
Equation (2.25) shows that the actual contact area is in direct proportion to the
load for the plastic contact status. In the theoretical study of the solid friction, it is
generally thought that the actual contact area has the linear relationship with load.
According to the analysis of ideal rough surface model, we can conclude that the
relationship mentioned above is available only for plastic contact and the rela-
tionship between real contact area and load is nonlinear for elastic contact, that is,
because the ideal rough surface model is much more simplied. However, from the
following analysis we can conclude that linear relationship between actual contact
area and load for the elastic contacts can also be available if the random rough
model is applied.
2.3.3.3 Contact Between Real Contact Surfaces
The rough peak height of actual surface is distributed in accordance with the
probability density function, so the contacting peak point number should also be
calculated according to the probability. Figure 2.14a shows the contact situation
between two rough surfaces under the condition of mixed lubrication. The root
mean square values of two surfaces are, respectively, r1 and r2 . The height of oil
lm h is the distance between center lines. The contact situation can be transferred
to the contact between a smooth rigid surface and a rough elastic surface with the
p
root mean square of r r21 r22 , as shown in Fig. 2.14b, in which we can get
that when oil lm depth is h, contact only happens in the position with contour
height of z [ h. In the probability density distribution curve, the area of the position
with z [ h is the probability of surface contact. As:
Z1
F wzdz 2:26
h
If the point number on the rough peak surface is n, the point number on the
contact peak m will be as:
Z1
mn wzdz 2:27
h
The normal vector of each contact peak point is z h, and according to

Eq. (2.17) we can get the real contact area A as follows:
Z1
A mpRz h npR z hwzdz 2:28
h
The whole load W on the contact point is:

Z1
4 4
W mE 0 R2 z h2 nE0 R2
1 3 1 3
z h2 wzdz 2:29
3 3
h
Fig. 2.14 Actual surface contact. a Contact between two rough surfaces under mixture
lubrication, b Surface contact in an oil lm thickness of h
In general, the contour height of real surface is in accordance with Gauss dis-
tribution, in which the bigger values near z are distributed with exponential curve.
If let
z
wz er 2:30
After calculation, we can get:

h
m ner 2:31
h
A nprRer 2:32
4 h
W nE0 R2 r2 er
1 3
2:33
3
W / A and W / m are concluded, which means that both real contact area and
the contact peak number have the linear relationship with load under the elastic
contact condition for two rough surfaces. When two surfaces are under the plastic
condition, from the analysis mentioned above we can get:
Z1
A 2pnR z hwzdz 2:34
h
Z1
W rs A 2pnRrs z hwzdz 2:35
h
It means that real contact area has a relationship with load and has nothing to do
with the height distribution function wz.
To sum up, the relationship between real contact area and load depends on the
surface contour curve and the contact status: (a) With the contact between rough
peaks being plastic, no matter how the height distribution curve looks like, the
relationship between the actual contact area and load is linear; (b) under the elastic
contact situation, the contour height of most surfaces are distributed nearly as Gauss
and the actual contact area also has a linear relationship with load.
2.3.4 Plasticity Index
The contact between two rough surfaces is a mixed elastic-plastic system that
means plastic deformation happens in the higher peak points and elastic defor-
mation is in the lower peak points. With the increasing of load, the surface normal
deformation becomes bigger and the peak point value of plastic deformation is also
increasing, so normal deformation can be an index for checking the surface plastic
deformation extent.
Greenwood and Williamson [10] put forward the following analysis for the
contact deformation problem:
Though Eqs. (2.15) and (2.17), the mean pressure on the contact surface
can be got:
1
W 4E 0 d2
pc 2:36
A 3pR2
1
According to the calculation of plastic deformation, it can conclude that the plastic
deformation will happen from the inside of surface layer when the mean pressure is
H=3, where H is Brinell hardness. When the mean pressure increases to H, the plastic
deformation can be visible. So pc H=3 commonly serves as a condition for the
appearing of plastic deformation. Through Eq. (2.36), the normal deformation d can
be got for plastic deformation:
1 pH 1 H 1
d2 R2 0:78 0 R2 2:37
4E0 E
Since the process is gradual from elastic deformation to plastic deformation,

some margin can be added, so the condition for plastic can be:
1 H 1
d2 R2 2:38
E0
For convenience, the condition can be shown in the dimensionless parameter

like the follows:
r12 E 0 r12
X 2:39
d H R
Parameter X is named plastic index (where, r is root mean square deviation of

two surfaces). When X\0:6, the status belongs to elastic contact; when X 1,
plastic deformation will happen for parts of some peak points even under small load
condition; when 1\X\10, both plastic deformation and elastic deformation can
be found; the higher the value of X, the higher proportion of the plastic
deformation.
2.4 Heating Effect of the Surface Contact
Most power overcoming the friction is performed as heat release under the slide
condition, which causes temperature rise. Temperature gradient will be discovered
in the contact bodies because heat release is a continuous process, and the highest
temperature appears in the heat release point (heat source), as well as the contact
surface. Obviously, the location of the heat release depends on the total contact
geometry of contact bodies. Such as the surface contact model between smooth
surface and rough surface mentioned above, for any contact point, the heat release
exists regardless of whether it depends on the elastic or plastic deformation.
Therefore, each contact point can be as an independent heat source, so that indi-
vidual temperature analysis can be applied to obtain the temperature distribution in
the general contact area. This conclusion can also be used in curved surface.
However, contact points will be in close proximity under this situation, so that
whole contact area can serve as a single heat source under the situation of large
normal load.
2.4.1 Static Heat Source
It is assumed that a semi-innite body controlled by a static heat source can act on a
circle with the radius of a. Under this situation, heat will be transferred to bodies
through a certain area. This is the same as electricity, where heat flow can be seen as
2.4 Heating Effect of the Surface Contact 29
the flow through the thermal resistance. If Q is rate of heat input, it is easy to prove
the average temperature rise Dh:
Q
Dh ; 2:40
4aa
where a is thermal conductivity.

If the temperature of a point far away from heat source is zero, the above
equation can describe the average temperature of the object surface as
Q
hs 2:41
4aa
The conclusion can also be applied to the heat source with slow motion, that is,
when the speed V is small, there is enough time to make the temperature distri-
bution same as that caused by static heat source for every contact position. For the
heat source with fast motion, Eq. (2.41) is not applicable, so the relationship
between the speed and speed ratio parameters n is as follows:
aqc
n V; 2:42
2a
where q is density and c is specic heat capacity. When n is bigger than 5, the speed
V is view so high so to be analyzed based on dynamic heat source.
2.4.2 Dynamic Heat Source
When dynamic heat source goes through the surface of semi-innite body with a
high speed V, the influence of lateral heat flow can be neglected, so the problem can
be seen as a linear heat flow eld. In this case, if the unit area is heated with
constant heating rate q, then the average temperature rise of a point on the surface is
as follows
2qt1=2
Dh ; 2:43
paqc1=2
where t is the heating time.

If the heating goes through a circle with the radius of a, then we can dene
q Q=pa2 with effective value t of each point on the surface considered, the mean
surface temperature can be obtained. The time of each point through the circle can
be given as
2x 2 2
t a y2 1=2 2:44
V V
Mean effective time is:
Za
1 2 2 ap
t a y2 1=2 dy 2:45
2a V 4V
0
Then
2Qa1=2 p1=2 0:318Q

hm 2:46
2pa2 p1=2 aqcV1=2 aaaqcV1=2
The demarcated surface temperature h will be used to summarize the results

mentioned before and h can be given as:
qcV
h h 2:47
pq
For static heat source, according to (2.41), we get:
aqcV
hs 0:5n 2:48
4a
For dynamic heat source, according to (2.41), we get:
0:318 2aqcV1=2
hm 1=2
0:438n1=2 2:49
2a
where, n is determined by Eq. (2.42).

Through the Eqs. (2.48) and (2.49), it can be concluded that the temperatures on
the surface of semi-innite body created by static heat source and dynamic heat
source are the same when n is small and the speed is lower. However, the tem-
perature caused by the static heat source will be much higher if n is big.
2.4.3 Sliding Heat
Mechanical, chemical, and electrical phenomena of atomic level generally are

assisted or triggered by heat power, so most surface behaviors are related to tem-
perature. In the sliding process, the influences of operating condition (load and
speed) on friction and wear are often caused by the temperature rise. The
mechanical properties and lubricating properties of many materials will be
2.4 Heating Effect of the Surface Contact 31
Fig. 2.15 Sliding heat
degenerated with the increase of interfacial temperature, so that the friction

behaviors will also be affected. Therefore, the friction interface temperature cal-
culation is very important.
The contact model is shown in Fig. 2.15, where a spherical asperity of the
object 1 contacts object 2 under the normal load situation and it is assumed that the
object 2 is sliding at the constant speed V. The heat power generated on the contact
area A is:
lWV
Q 2:50
J
where l is friction coefcient, and J is mechanical equivalent of heat. When sliding,

the contact surface of object 1 will receive constant heat power, that is kQ. The rest
heat power 1 kQ will be transferred to object 2. For this kind of contact, both
objects can be considered as innite body logically, so the surface temperature can
be calculated based on the results from the static heat source and dynamic heat
source. Therefore, through Eqs. (2.41) and (2.46), the temperatures of both objects
can be described as:
klWV
h1 2:51
4aaJ

0:3181 k V 1=2
h2 2:52
aJ aaqc
Obviously, k depends on the heat transfer characteristics of the contact bodies.

For simplication, k can be assumed to be decided by the ratio between thermal
diffusivity of two objects, as:
k a1 =q1 c1
2:53
1 k a2 =q2 c2
So, the surface temperatures of two contact bodies are easy to be obtained
through Eqs. (2.51) and (2.52).
2.4.4 Rolling Heat
Like most machines, the consumed energy caused by friction in the rolling bearing
is diffused as heat power. The consumed energy caused by friction is closely related
to friction torque of bearing and the relationship can be expressed as [13]:
Hf 1:047 104 nM 2:54
For the ball bearing with a high speed, the heat generation rate caused by
interaction between each of the contact surface can be expressed as:
Z
1
Hfj vk dFkj ; 2:55
J
dj
where J is unit conversion factor (conversion from Nm=s to W), vk is sliding

velocity component in the direction of friction increment dFk . The heat generation
rate on the raceway caused by spinning is:
Z
1
Hfj xdj dMdj 2:56
J
dj
where, xdj is spin angular velocity: dMdj is component of gravity.
2.5 Contact Problems in the Bearings
2.5.1 Rolling Bearing Contact
Basically, two hypothetical types of contact can be dened under conditions of zero
loads. These are point contact and line contact. Point contact means two surfaces
touching at a single point. And line contact means two surfaces touching along a
straight or curved line of zero width.
2.5.1.1 Point Contact
From the axial section, we can nd that if the curvature of convex rolling element is
smaller than the curvature of concave raceway and without load, the contact area is
a point, which can be named as point contact (shown as Fig. 2.16). All types of
rolling bearings are of point contact.
2.5 Contact Problems in the Bearings 33
Fig. 2.16 Point contact between ball and inner ring raceway
Fig. 2.17 Pressure distribution in point contact
Obviously, after load is applied to the contacting bodies, the point expands to an
ellipse. Figure 6.23 illustrates the surface compressive stress distribution for point
contact (Figure 2.17).
2.5.1.2 Line Contact
If the curvatures of raceway and rolling elements are the same (as shown in
Fig. 2.18), the contact area is a line when there is no load applied, which is named
line contact. After load is applied to the contacting bodies the line expands to a
rectangle. Figure 2.19 shows the pressure stress distribution on the surface for line
contact.
Fig. 2.18 Line contact between cylindrical roller and inner ring raceway
Fig. 2.19 Pressure distribution in line contact
2.5.1.3 Contact Model in Roller Bearing
When a nite length roller contacts with a slightly longer raceway, the pressure
stress distribution along the axial direction of rollers is different from that in
Fig. 2.19. From the depressed area in the outside raceway of the two roller end
faces where the material is at the tensile status, the pressure stress on the end face of
roller will be higher than that in the middle of contact surface. Figure 2.20 shows
this situation of edge pressure.
In order to eliminate the edge pressure situation, cylindrical roller can be made
with crown shape so that the stress distribution will become more uniform under a
certain load. But if the load is especially heavy, edge pressure concentration will be
regenerated.
Fig. 2.20 Line contact. a Contact between roller and innite surface, b Pressure distribution
between roller and raceway, c Contact ellipse
Lundberg dened a modied line contact condition for the contact between
rollers and raceway. He assumed if the long axis of the ellipse is bigger than
effective length of roller L but less than 1.5L, it is called the modied line contact. If
2a < L, it is dened as point contact. If 2a > 1.5L, it is line contact with edge stress
concentration.
Analysis of the contact stress and contact deformation in this section is based on
the elliptic contact surface that does not include the ideal loading roller with
rectangular contact surface. In order to eliminate the edge stress concentration and
concomitant high stress phenomenon, the modied line contact criterion should be
applied to check carefully for roller bearing and the curvature of roller and raceway
need to be redesigned if the limit conditions are exceeded.
In order to calculate any line contact stress, i.e., surface stress distribution and
the related value under the consideration of the convexity of rollers and raceway
and even the combination between them, scholars have created many kinds of strict
mathematic methods. Besides, nite element method (FEM) has also been applied
to this analysis.
2.5.2 Plain Bearing Contact
The internal contact form of plain bearing is closely related to the classication of
structure, as mentioned in Chap. 1. Generally speaking, the classication of plain
bearing can be attributed to the radial structure and thrust structure.
2.5.2.1 Line Contact
Structures of radial plain bearing include split, integral, self-aligning, and gap
adjustable types. The contacts of radial plain bearing generally belong to line
contact due to the curvature difference in radial direction. If the curvature difference
is not obvious, it can also be understood as the surface contact in the circumferential
direction.
Ordinary split bearing is made of bearing cover, housing, split axle bush and
bolt. Axle bush is an important part contacting with shaft neck directly. Trapezoid
tenon mouth needs to be processed on the section surface of the bearing cover and
housing for easy alignment. Lubricating oil will flow into the bearing gravity to
lubricate the friction surface through the oil hole on bearing cover and oil groove on
axle bush. Bearing section plain is perpendicular to the load direction in order to
avoid the leakage of lubricant and impairment of the load capacity. Usually, the
section plain of bearing is horizontal, also known as positive split, but there is also
inclined section.
Integral plain bearing has the advantages of simple structure, convenient man-
ufacture, and large rigidity. However, it is difcult to adjust after wear of axle bush
and shaft neck can only be assembled from the end position. Therefore, it is only
suitable for these machines with small shaft neck, low speed, light load, or the
operation with some clearance. Sleeve axle bush (or sleeve) is pressed into the
housing (for some machines, it can be directly mounted on the body hole).
Lubricating oil can flow onto the friction surfaces through the oil hole on the shaft
sleeve and oil groove on the inner surface.
2.5.2.2 Surface Contact
The common structures of thrust plain bearing are solid, hollow, monocyclic, and
polycyclic. The general thrust plain bearing belongs to surface contact. For large
size thrust plain bearing, multiple oil wedge-shaped structures can be designed to
facilitate the formation of liquid friction to improve the bearing performance. The
variation of structure changes the contact type into many kinds of surface contact.
2.5.3 Contact Stress Between Rolling Element and Raceway
As mentioned in Sect. 2.5.1, all the contact types between the rollers and raceway
for the rolling bearing are point contact and line contact, and the contact stress of
point contact and line contact has been introduced in Sect. 2.3 and will not be
described here.
2.5.4 Contact Stress Between Rolling Element and Rib
The contact stress and contact deformation between the roller and rib can be esti-
mated with the related formulas [14]. The end surface of roller is usually a plane
with round chamfer and the chamfer arc is linked by convex part of the roller
prole. Rib can be a plane and meanwhile, it can contact with the end plane of roller
directly, which is the commonly used structure for cylindrical roller bearing. If we
hope the thrust load exists between the end plane of roller and the rib, the rib
surface can be designed as the conical surface. At this time, the chamfer of roller
will contact with the rib. The angle between rib and the radial plane is called rib
angle. Another approach is that the rib surface can be designed as a spherical
surface, and the spherical surface of roller can contact with the inclined rib. This
structure is good for improving the lubrication, but will affect the guile ability of rib
to roller. The tilting of roller needs to be controlled by the cage under this situation.
For the contact between spherical surface roller and inclined rib, it can be seen as
the contact between the spherical and cylindrical bodies. For the calculation, the
radius of spherical body is radius of spherical end surface of the roller and the
radius of cylindrical body can be approximately viewed as the curvature radius of
conical rib on the theoretical contact point. If the elastic contact load, the material of
roller and rib, and related contact geometric parameters are known, the contact
stress and deformation can be calculated. This is just an approximate method,
because neither the end plane of roller nor rib can meet the assumption of elastic
half-space from Hertz. Besides, the curvature radius of conical rib is not constant,
but changes in the contact surface width direction. So it is only suitable for the
contact between complete roller with spherical end surface and conical rib. When
the geometry is incorrect or excessively skew, the elastic contact ellipse will be cut
by the roller chamfer or the edge undercut of rib. Under this situation, the Hertz
theory cannot be suitable for the calculation and should be avoided.
For the contact between the roller with flat end surface and oblique rib, there are
big difference between the results of simple contact stress calculation and real
situation. Because it is difcult to establish the contact surface characteristic model
for the end plane of roller. As the approximate calculation, the concept of effec-
tive roller radius can be applied, that is, a linkage radius between an imaginary
roller chamfer and flat end surface. If necessary, FEM can be applied to calculate
much more accurate contact stress distribution,
References
1. Wen S, Huang P (2008) Tribology principles. Tsinghua University Press, Beijing

4. Halling J (1975) Principles of tribology. McMillan Press Ltd
8. Esmein A (1985) Manual of rolling bearing design and application. Huazhong Institute of
Technology Press, Wuhan
9. Chen L, Xie T, Xia X (2010) Rolling bearing application technology. China Machine Press,
Beijing
10. Greenwood JA, Williamson JB (1966) Contact of nominally flat surface. Proc Roy Soc A
295:300319
12. Meyers NO (1962) Characterization of surface roughness. Wear 5(3):182184
13. Wilson RJ (2008) Sliding bearing design manual. Shanghai Scientic Literature Publishing
House, Shanghai
14. Harris TA (2006) Rolling bearing analysis, 5th edn. John Wiley and Sons
Chapter 3
Mechanism of Bearing Friction and Wear
Research on the mechanism of bearing friction and wear is mainly involved with
physics, chemical, metallurgical, and mechanical functions between the surfaces
with relative motion and interaction in bearings. Further research will focus on the
mechanism of friction and wear between bearing surfaces, as well as changes of
physical, chemical properties during friction process, so that bearing wear process
can be better controlled and predicted. At present, the study of friction mechanism
is still ongoing [13] and the study of friction mechanism has made great progress,
which has been implemented on the process of adhesive wear, abrasive wear,
fatigue wear, corrosive wear, fretting wear, erosion wear, and cavitation erosion.
Furthermore, the wear mechanism and regularity have also been revealed [4, 5].
In this chapter, the sliding friction mechanism, rolling friction mechanism, and
wear mechanism of two rigid surfaces under dry friction conditions will be
discussed.
3.1 Sliding Friction Mechanism
3.1.1 Sliding Friction Characteristics
Classical sliding friction theory is established by the experimental approach and the
equation is given by
F = fW 3:1
where F is friction force, W is normal load, f is friction coefcient.

According to the classical friction theory, friction force is proportional to normal
load and friction coefcient, which only depends on the material properties and is
not related to the contact surface area, sliding velocity, and load. However, the
practice conrms that above theory have great limitations. When the normal load is
40 3 Mechanism of Bearing Friction and Wear
larger and actual area of contact is close to apparent area of contact, in the friction
pair composed of hard material or soft material and the friction force is not satis-
factory to the positive proportional relationship. For the sliding friction of elastic or
viscoelastic material, friction force is closely related to apparent contact area. In
addition, the friction coefcients of many materials will vary with the sliding
velocity and load.
Sliding friction has the following characteristics:
1. Influence of static contact time on the friction coefcient
Static friction coefcient will increase with the increase of contact time, and this
situation is more outstanding for plastic material. This is because the extent of
embedded asperities and plastic deformation will become severe as increasing of
contact time, which results in the increase of static friction coefcient.
2. Stick-slip phenomenon
The motion of dry sliding friction is one body intermittently sliding along
another rather than continuous and smooth sliding, which is named as stick-slip
phenomenon. When the elastic property of friction surface is xed, stick-slip
phenomenon will become much more signicant. It can be used to distinguish
dry friction state from better lubrication state.
There are two reasonable explanations about jump phenomenon. One viewpoint
means that stick-slip phenomenon is caused by the decrease of friction force
with the increase of sliding speed; another means the friction force increase
because of the extension of contact time. In fact, both effects are the reasons for
stick-slip phenomenon and the former is major factor for high speed sliding and
the latter is dominant for low speed sliding.
The stick-slip phenomenon has negative influence on the stability of machines.
For example, the vibration of clutch when being closed, the scream of vehicle
during braking, the vibration of tool during cutting process and the creeping of
sliding rail with slow movement. All of these situations are related to friction
stick-slip phenomenon.
3. Elastic compliance
Astatic object is applied load to begin sliding, during the process, when the
tangential force is less than the static friction force limit, the object will cause a
tiny displacement and be moved to a new position, this is named as
pre-displacement. Elastic compliance will increase with the increase of tan-
gential force. The maximal elastic compliance in the steady sliding process can
be named as the limited displacement and the corresponding tangential force is
the static friction force.
Elastic compliance is elastic, namely, the object will return in the opposite
direction after the tangential force is removed and try to go back to the primary
position but remain certain residual displacement. The residual displacement
increases with the increase of tangential force. As shown in Fig. 3.1, when the tan-
gential force is applied, the object will get to the position P along with OlP and the
elastic compliance is OQ. When the tangential force is removed, the object will move
3.1 Sliding Friction Mechanism 41
Fig. 3.1 Relationship

between elastic compliance
and tangential force
to the position S along with PmS and the residual displacement is OS. If the object is
reapplied the former tangential force, it will move to position P along with SnP.
Elastic compliance is important for the design of mechanical parts. Interference
t and rivet connection part are working inelastic compliance state. Any friction
transmission and the traction between wheel and rail are based on the friction under
the condition of elastic compliance caused by the inter-pressed surfaces. The fric-
tion force in the state of elastic compliance has important signicance on the
reliability of braking device.
3.1.2 Basic Friction Theory
Friction is the sliding resistance and energy loss caused by the interaction between
two contact surfaces and it is related to many factors. Therefore, many kinds of
friction theories are proposed, which can be summarized into three kinds.
3.1.2.1 The Mechanical Interlocking Theory (ConcaveConvex

Theory)
According to the early theory, the friction is originated in surface roughness, energy
loss during sliding friction caused by the interlocking of asperities, collision, and
elastic deformation between surface asperities, especially for the plowing effect
caused by the hard asperity embedded into soft surface during the sliding.
The most simple friction model is shown in Fig. 3.2, which was mentioned by
Amonton (in 1699), friction force F is:
X X
F= DF tan u DW = f W 3:2
where f is friction coefcient, f tan /, it is a constant which depends on surface

condition.
Fig. 3.2 Mechanical

interlocking model
In general, friction coefcient can be reduced by decreasing the surface rough-

ness. However, the friction coefcient of the super nish machining surface can be
increased dramatically. In addition, when the surface has been adhered by a polar
molecular layer, and its thickness is not less than 1/10 of polishing roughness, the
friction can be greatly reduced. All of that mean mechanical interlocking is not the
only factor to cause the friction.
3.1.2.2 Molecular Interaction Theory (Molecular Adhesion Theory)
Then, the sliding friction was explained using the intermolecular forces on the
contact surfaces. Sliding resistance is produced because the activity and the
molecular interaction force make the rigid adhere together with each other, which is
named as the adhesion effect.
Tomlinson (1929), the rst man who explained the friction phenomenon using
the molecular interaction of surfaces. He said that the friction was due to energy
loss created by the charge force between molecules, and then the f in the Amonton
friction formula can be deduced.
When two surface contacts, some molecules create repulsive force Pi and the
other molecules create suction Pp, then the equilibrium condition is
X X
W Pp Pi 3:3
P
Because Pp is small and can be neglected. If the contact molecules number is n,
and the mean repulsive force of every molecule is P, the following equation is
obtained:
X
W = Pi nP 3:4
Contacting molecules continuously transform during sliding, namely, contacted

molecules separate and form new contacting molecules at the same time, and
always satisfy the condition of equilibrium. The energy loss caused by the con-
version between contact molecules should be equal to the friction power, so
f Wx kQ 3:5
where x is sliding displacement, Q is mean power loss for the molecules conversion,
k is molecules number for conversion and dened by
x
k qn 3:6
l
where l is distance between molecules, q is a coefcient considering the molecular

orientation unparallel to sliding direction.
Using Eqs. (3.4), (3.5), and (3.6) gives
qQ
f 3:7
Pl
Tomlinson clearly mentioned the influence of molecular interaction on the

friction, but his formula cannot explain the friction phenomenon. The molecular
suction on the friction surface will increase dramatically with the decrease of
molecular distance. In general, molecular suction is negative proportional to the
seventh power of distance, so sliding resistance caused by the molecular force on
the contact surfaces will increase with the increases of the actual contact area, but is
not related with the normal load.
According to the molecular interaction theory, it concludes that the real contact
area is smaller for the much rougher surface, so the friction coefcient should be
smaller. Obviously, this analysis is not satised with the real situation except heavy
load condition.
3.1.2.3 Mechanical-Molecular Friction Theory
As mentioned above, the simple friction theory, either mechanical or molecular

friction theory is inadequate, from which the relationship between friction coef-
cient and roughness is unilateral. In the 1930s, solid friction theory was developed
completely from the combined effect of mechanical and molecular. In Britain and
the Soviet Union two schools have been established successively. The former is
known as the adhesion theory, and the latter is famous for binomial theorem of
tribology. These theories established the foundation of modern solid friction theory.
3.1.3 Adhesion Friction Theory
1. Simple adhesive theory

Simple adhesion theories mentioned by Bowden et al. (in 1945) can be sum-
marized as follows:
Fig. 3.3 Contact state for frictional surfaces
(1) Friction surfaces were in the plastic contact state

The real contact area is just a small part of apparent contact area, so the contact
pressure of the asperity contact has been found to approach the yield strength s,
and will cause plastic deformation under the load. And then, the stress of contact
spot will not be changed and the increasing load is carried only through the
expansion of the contact area. Figure 3.3 shows the contact situation between
the contact surfaces. The stress of contact spot is the yield strength s of the soft
material infriction pair, the real contact area is A, thus
W
W Ars A 3:8
rs
(2) Sliding friction is the stick-slip motion with adhesion and sliding alternately
Because metal of contact spot is plastic flow, the contact spots are also likely to
generate instantaneous high temperature and cause adhesion. The adhesive
junctions have strong adhesive force. Then adhesive junctions are sheared to be
sliding under the friction condition. Therefore, the sliding friction is an alter-
nating process between formation of adhesive junctions and shear.
Figure 3.4 shows the measuring value of friction coefcient during sliding
between steels, where the friction coefcient change indicates the stick-slip
motion of sliding friction. Experimentally the change degree of adhesive time
and friction coefcient should decrease as sliding speed increases, so the friction
coefcient and sliding process will become smooth and steady.
Fig. 3.4 Moving process in

sliding friction
Fig. 3.5 Friction force model
(3) Friction is the sum of resistance of adhesive effect and plowing effect
Figure 3.5 is the friction model made of adhesive effect and plowing effect. In
the friction pair, the asperities on hard surface are embedded into soft surface
under the normal load and the asperity shape is assumed to be a half cylinder. So
the contact area is composed of two parts: one is a cylinder for the area of
adhesion effect and the shear is caused during sliding, the other is the end
surface for the area of plowing effect. The soft materials are pushed by hard
peaks. So the friction force F is
F T Pe Asb Spe 3:9
where T is shear stress, T Asb ; Pe is plowing force, Pe Spe ; A is adhesive

area, namely, real contact area, sb is shear strength of adhesive junctions, S is
plowing area, pe is plowing force of unit area.
The following conclusions have been reached largely through experiments [1]:
(a) b is associated with sliding velocity and lubrication condition, and is very
close to the shear strength limit of the soft material in friction pair, which
indicates that the shear of adhesive junctions usually occurs inside of soft
material, and is the reason to cause migration of material during wear.
(b) The value of pe depends on the property of soft materials, and has nothing to
do with the lubrication state. In general, pe is directly proportional to the
yield limit of soft material, and embedded depth of hard peaks decrease as
the yield limit of soft material increases. For a sphere pressing into a plat
plane, it can be deduced that plowing force Pe is inversely proportional to
the square root of the yield limit of soft materials that means that the harder
soft material will lead to smaller plowing force.
For the metal friction pair, Pe is much smaller than T. According to the adhesive
theory, the friction is mainly caused by the adhesive force. If the plowing effect
is ignored, Eq. (3.9) becomes
W
F Asb sb 3:10
rs
Then the friction coefcient
F sb ultimate shear strength of soft material

f 3:11
W rs compressive yield limit of soft material
Above is the simple adhesion theory. According to the Eq. (3.11), we concluded
that the friction coefcient is in consistent with the measured results, such as the
relationship between shear strength of most metal materials and the yield limit is
b = 0.2s, so the calculated friction coefcient f = 0.2. However, the friction
coefcient of many metal friction pairs in air can reach to 0.5 and much higher in
vacuum. Therefore Bowden et al. put forward to the modied adhesive theory.
2. Modied adhesive theory
According to the simple adhesive theory, only compressive yield limit of s is
considered when analyzing the actual contact area, and only shear strength limit of
b is considered for calculating friction force. It is reasonable for static friction state.
However, the tangential force exists in sliding friction state, the actual contact area
and contact spots deformation condition depend on combined effect between
compressive stresses caused by normal load and shear stress caused by tan-
gential force.
Because of the actual complex stress state of the contacting asperities, it is
difcult to get the three-dimensional result. According to the general criteria of
strength theory, the equivalent stress is assumed to be
r2 as2 k2 3:12
where is a undetermined constant, > 1; k is equivalent stress (comparable to the

uniaxial yield strength of metal).
and k depend on the extreme situations.
Initially = 0, is in the static friction state, and the stress of contact spot is s, so
2s = k2, Eq. (3.12) can be described as
r2 as2 r2s 3:13
As
2 2
W F
a r2s 3:14
A A
or
2 2
W F
A2 a 3:15
rs rs
Another extreme condition is the increasing of tangential force F lead to an

increase in the real contact area A at the same time according to Eq. (3.15).
Therefore, W/A is very small and can be ignored compared to F/A, so according to
Eq. (3.14), we can get
as2b r2s or a r2s =s2b 3:16
The equation of sb 0:2rs can be applied to most metal materials, and we can
get = 25. According to the experimental results, < 25, and Bowden et al.
selected = 9.
According to Eq. (3.15), W/s indicates the contact area under the normal load in
static friction state. And (F/s)2 indicates the contact area grow as the friction force
F. Therefore, the contact area derived from the modied adhesive theory will
increase dramatically. The friction coefcient is much bigger than derived from the
simple adhesion theory. The value is much closer to the actual situation.
As mentioned before, oxide lm or other contaminating lm produced naturally
on a metal surface in air can make the friction coefcient decrease signicantly.
Sometimes in order to reduce the friction coefcient, a thin and soft lm has been
covered on the hard metal surface. This can be explained with the modied
adhesive theory.
For sliding friction pair with soft material surface lm, shear of adhesive
junction happens within lm and the shear strength is low. Besides, the surface lm
is very thin, and actual contact area is small and determined by yield limit for
compression of the hard substrate material, so the friction coefcient can be reduced
through the thin and soft surface lm.
Take the shear strength of surface lm to be f, and f = cb. Besides, the
coefcient c < 1; b is the shear strength limit of the substrate material. Through the
Eq. (3.13), the condition required to begin sliding is
r2 as2f r2s 3:17
According to Eq. (3.16), we can get

r2s as2b a=c2 s2f 3:18
Substitute into the Eq. (3.17) and get the friction coefcient
f sf =r c=a1 c2 1=2 3:19
Figure 3.6 describes the relationship of Eq. (3.19). When c1, f, which
indicates that the friction coefcient of pure metal surface is much higher in vac-
uum. f decreases rapidly as c decreases from 1. This indicates the surface lm of
soft material can reduce the friction. When c is much small, Eq. (3.19) becomes

between the friction
coefcient f and coefcient c
sf ultimate shear strength of soft surface film

f 3:20
rs compressive yield limit of hard material
Modied adhesive theory is superior to the simple adhesion theory and more
coincident with the actual situation.
3. Plowing effect
Plowing effect occurs when the asperities of hard material are embedded into the
soft metal, push the soft metal during sliding and cause plastic flow, a groove can be
seen. The resistance of plowing effect is a part of friction force. It is the dominant
part of the friction force in abrasive wear and scratch wear.
As shown in Fig. 3.7, assume that the asperities of hard metal are composed by
many cones with semiangle of , and the embedded depth of the hard peak is
h under the normal load. In the process of sliding friction, only the frontier surfaces
of the cone contact the soft metal, the projected area of contact surfaces on the
horizon is A = d2/8 and the projected area on the vertical is S = dh/2.
Fig. 3.7 Plow model for

conical asperity
Table 3.1 Revise factor jp Material jp Material jp

W 1.55 Copper 1.55
Steel 1.351.70 Sn 2.40
Iron 1.90 Pb 2.90
If the soft metal plastic yield property is isotropic, and the yield limit is s, so
normal load is
1
W Ars pd2 rs 3:21
8
Plowing force Pe is
1
Pe Srs dhrs 3:22
2
The friction coefcient caused by the plowing effect is
Pe 4h 2
f cot h 3:23
W pd p
When = 60, f = 0.32, and when = 30, f = 1.1. According to experiments,

when the yield properties cannot meet isotropic behavior fully, the coefcient kp in
the Table 3.1 can be introduced to amplify the value of f [1].
If the adhesive effect and plowing effect can be considered simultaneously, the
friction force consists of the shear force and plowing force for sliding of a single
asperity, namely, that F = Ab + Ss
So the friction coefcient is
F Asb Srs sb 2
f cot h 3:24
W Ars rs p
For most machining surfaces, the angle of asperities is bigger. The second item
on the right in the Eq. (3.24) is small, so the plowing effect can be ignored, thus
Eq. (3.24) becomes Eq. (3.11). However, when the angle of asperities is smaller,
the item of plowing force will become an important factor.
It should be mentioned that Bowdens adhesion theory made great progress of
rigid friction theory. They rst measured that the real contact area is just a small
part of the whole surface and announced that plastic flowing of contact spots and
instantaneous high temperature help to form the adhesive junction. And also the
adhesive theory explains many sliding friction phenomenon reasonably, such as the
reducing friction of the surface lm, skip-slip phenomenon of the sliding friction
and so on. However, the adhesion theory must be viewed as incomplete since it
simplied the complicated friction situation too much. Such as the above analysis, it
mentioned that Pe is not related to b, but actually both of them are the indexes to
reflect the metal flowing ability.
3.1.4 Friction Binomial Law
Former Soviet Union scholar paebck et al. thought that sliding friction is a
process to overcome the mechanical interlocking of the surface asperities and
molecular attraction, so friction force is the sum of resistance of mechanical and
molecular. As
F s o So s m Sm 3:25
where So ; Sm is area of mechanical and molecular function respectively; so ; sm is

friction force produced by the mechanical and molecular function on unit area.
According to the research of paebck, it can be put forwarded that:
sm Am Bm pa 3:26
where p is normal load on unit area, Am is tangential resistance of mechanical

function, Bm is influenced factor of normal load, a is an index, the value is not
higher than 1, but close to 1.
According to the research of epqr, it can be put forwarded that:
s o A o B o pb 3:27
where Ao is tangential resistance between molecules, related to the surface clean-

ness; Bo is influenced factor of roughness; b is an index, close to 1.
So

F So Ao Bo pb Sm Am Bm pa 3:28
Set Sm = So, is proportional constant. The real contact area A = So + Sm,

normal load W = pA, so
W A
F cBm Bo cAm Ao 3:29
c1 c1
cBm Bo cAm Ao
Set b; a 3:30
c1 c1
So
F aA bW baA=b W 3:31
This equation is called the binomial law of friction, and is the real friction
coefcient that is a constant. / means the normal load transformed from molecular
force of unit area, and are the factors depending on the physical and mechanical
properties of friction surface separately.
Compared to the Eq. (3.31) and monomial (3.1), the following friction coef-
cient is equivalent to the following monomial:
f aA=W b 3:32
It can be seen that f is not a constant and changes with the ratio of A/W, which is
coincident with the experimental results.
According to the experiments, for friction pair composed by the plastic material,
the surface is in the plastic contact state and the real contact area A is proportion to
the normal load W, so the f in the Eq. (3.32) is not related to the load, which is
accorded with Amontons rules. However, when the surface contact is in the elastic
deformation state, the real contact area is proportion to the two-thirds the normal
load, so the f in the Eq. (3.32) decreases with an increase of the load.
Binomial law of friction has been proved experimentally that is t to the
boundary lubrication, and some dry friction, especially to some friction problems
with larger real contact area, such as deciding the sliding of dam and borehole
foundation and calculating of the load capacity of adhesive joints.
3.2 Rolling Friction Mechanism
Rolling friction resistance is much smaller than sliding friction resistance, but the
latter is much more complicated. In general, rolling friction arises from four
sources, micro-slip, elastic hysteresis, plastic deformation, and adhesive affection.
3.2.1 Micro-Slip Effect
1. Reynolds slip
In 1876, Reynolds found that when rolling a metal cylinder on a rubber or metal
surface will cause micro-slip on the interface because of different surface tan-
gent displacement caused by the pressure for each object and accompanying
friction energy loss [6].
As shown in Fig. 3.8, when a sphere indents into a surface, the contact area is an
ellipse. Here Tb = Tc, As
2Tb Ta = F = f W 3:33
2. Heathcote slip
In 1921, Heathcote found that when a sphere rolling inside a groove, the dis-
tance between each point of the contact line and axis of rotation is different from
each other, so causes the tangential tractions and micro-slip inescapability.
Fig. 3.8 Reynolds slip
3. CarterPoritskyFoppel slip
When a cylinder rolling along another cylinder, if exists a tangential force in
rolling direction, will cause micro-slip and adhesive region is in the front of the
contact area. However, adhesive region is in the center of the contact area in
static situation.
3.2.2 Elastic Hysteresis
The energy is consumed for the elastic deformation in the rolling process, and most
of the elastic deformation energy recovered after the remove of contact and only
small part of it will be cost for the elastic hysteresis of the material. The loss energy
of elastic hysteresis for viscoelasticity material is much more than that of metal
material. That is dominated part of the rolling friction resistance [79].
3.2.3 Plastic Deformation
During the rolling process, some plastic deformation rst occurs within a certain
depth to the surface when the surface contact stress approaches a certain value.
With continued loading, the plastic area grows. The lost energy for plastic defor-
mation acts as the rolling friction resistance that can be calculated according to the
elasto-plastic mechanics. For example, when a sphere rolls along a surface freely,
the rolling friction resistance F caused by the plastic deformation in the front of the
sphere can be expressed by
2
W3
F/ 3:34
R
where W is normal load, R is radius of sphere.

3.2 Rolling Friction Mechanism 53
3.2.4 Adhesion Effect
The adhesive junctions are formed because of the inter impaction between the
rolling surfaces, and they will separate in a direction perpendicular to the contact
surface during rolling. The adhesive junction separation is caused by the tension
and without a growth of junction area, so the adhesive force is small and generally
is small part of the rolling friction assistance.
In general, the above factors affect the rolling friction resistance simultaneously.
Each factor has different function depending on different rolling modes and
working conditions. When a high stress is applied, the rolling friction resistance is
mainly caused by the plastic deformation below the surface; when a low stress is
applied, the rolling friction resistance is mainly caused by the elastic hysteresis.
3.2.5 Rolling Friction Calculation
As shown in Fig. 3.9, assume that there is no slip on the contact area and the rolling
friction resistance for a cylinder rolling along a plate is mainly caused by the
elastic hysteresis. The cylinder is applied a normal load W, and the length of the
cylinder is L. The pressure distribution p = (2W/aL)(1 x2/a2)1/2, where
a2 = (8WR/LE)/(1 v2). v is Poisson ratio.
The power produced by the friction is FS (S is rolling distance); the lost power
due to elastic hysteresis is M/100 ( is the loss rate of elastic hysteresis, and is
rotating angle of the wheel for the rolling distance of S), here, the resistance torque is
Fig. 3.9 Pressure distribution of the rolling of a cylinder along a plane

Za
2Wa
M pLxdx 3:35
3p
0
So
Mhe 2Waeh 2WaeS

FS 3:36
100 300p 300pR
2Wae
F 3:37
300pR
The friction coefcient f can be obtained through F = fW, so the rolling resis-
tance coefcient is:
2ae
f 3:38
300pR
3.2.6 Rolling Friction Law
As shown in Fig. 3.10, when a cylinder is rolling along a plat surface, the defor-
mation of contact area makes the contact pressure distribution dissymmetric around
the center of contact point C, so the reacting force of the supporting surface will be
offset. The moment of the reacting force to the contact point can be named as
rolling friction moment.
Rolling friction coefcient k can be dened as a radio of rolling friction torque to
the normal load, as
k FR=W e 3:39
According to this, the rolling friction coefcient k is different from the sliding
friction coefcient because it has dimension and its unit is mm. The rolling friction
can also be expressed by the rolling resistance coefcient fr without dimension and
Fig. 3.10 Rolling friction

3.2 Rolling Friction Mechanism 55
the value is equal to the ratio of power generated by the rolling driven force in unit
distance to the normal load. If the rolling angle of cylinder is and the rolling
distance is R. The power generated by the driven force is FR, so the rolling
resistance coefcient is
fr FR/=R/=W F=W k=R 3:40
Coulomb (in 1785), the earliest person who mentioned the rolling friction law
according to the experimental methods, that means that the rolling resistance
coefcient fr multiplied by the radius of roller R is a constant, as well as the rolling
friction coefcient k or eccentric distance e is a constant. The values depend on
material properties of friction pair and are not related to load. After that, Dupuit (in
1837) mentioned the revised formula (it is often called as Dupuit law), as

fr k= D1=2 3:41
where D is the diameter of the roller, the rolling friction coefcient k is a constant
depending on the material and surface situations, it is independent with the load and
speed.
Obviously, the above rolling friction law does not refer to the mechanism of
rolling friction and it can be approximately applied for engineering calculation.
3.3 Wear Mechanism
Wear is dened as a continuing process of the loss of component surface material

for contacting bodies in relative motion; it is inevitable result of friction. The waste
caused by wear is astonishing, so it is focused by all of us. People nd the trans-
formation law and influencing factors through observing and analyzing various
wear phenomena, so as to nd useful ways controlling wear and improving wear
resistance.
3.3.1 Wear Classication
The method of classifying wear expresses that the awareness to wear mechanisms,
and different scholars mentioned different views for it.
The Soviet Union scholar pyo (in 1953) classied the wear into three
categories.
(1) Mechanical class: Wear caused by the mechanical function on the friction
surfaces, including abrasive wear, surface plastic deformation, brittle spalling
and so on, the abrasive wear is the most common type.
Fig. 3.11 Wear classication
(2) Molecule-Mechanical class: Wear is caused by formation of adhesive junc-

tions due to the molecular force and then sheared by mechanical force that is
also named adhesive wear.
(3) Corrosion-Mechanical class: The surface corrosion caused by chemical
function of medium and then mechanical function accelerates the corrosion
process. It includes the oxide corrosion and chemical corrosion.
paebck (in 1962) divided wear into three steps and the interrelation can be
introduced according to each step. As shown in Fig. 3.11, three steps are separately
the interaction of surface, the transformation of surface layer, and the failure mode of
surface layer.
According to damage mechanism and characteristics of the wear on friction
surface, it can be divided into ve categories as abrasive wear, adhesive wear,
fatigue wear, and corrosion wear and fretting wear.
3.3.2 Wear Mechanism
3.3.2.1 Adhesive Wear Mechanism
When the surfaces of friction pair are sliding relatively, the adhesive junctions
formed by adhesive effect causes shearing and fragmentation and the sheared
material falling off to be debris or transfer from one surface to another, that is called
3.3 Wear Mechanism 57
adhesive wear. According to the interface strength and the damage location,
adhesive wear may be divided into different forms, from mild wear to severe
scufng wear. Though the wear type, friction coefcient, and wear degree are
different, the common features are the transfer of material and formation of different
scratches along the sliding direction.
1. Categories of adhesive wear
According to severity level of wear, adhesive wear can be divided into
(1) mild adhesive wear
When the interface strength is lower than the shear strength of the either metal
in friction pair, shear occurs on the interface. At this time although the friction
coefcient increases, wear is small and material transfer is not signicant. In
general, this type can be caused when the metal surface is covered with oxide
lm, sulde lm, and other coatings.
(2) common adhesive wear
When the interface strength is higher than the shear strength of soft metal in
friction pair and smaller than the strength of hard metal, damage occurs in the
soft metal layer near interface, so the soft metal can be adhesive on the hard
metal surface. The friction coefcient for this type is similar to the slight wear
but the wear becomes severe.
(3) scratch wear
When the interface strength is higher than both of the material strengths, shear
damage mainly occurs in soft metal surface and sometimes also occurs in hard
metal surface. Adhesives transferred to the hard metal make the soft surface to
be scratched, so scratches can be found mainly in soft metal surface.
(4) scufng wear
If the interface strength is much higher than both of the shear strength of
metals and the area of adhesive junctions is bigger, the shear failure will be
found in one metal deeper surface or both of metal surfaces. Meanwhile,
severe wear can be found on both of metal surfaces and even the friction pair
will be seized and cannot slide with each other.
For components under high speed and heavy load, the strength of adhesion
junctions and area will increase because of high plastic deformation of asperities
and surface temperature, which often causes scufng wear. For the friction pair
composed of same materials, the plastic deformation of materials and the effect of
hardening are different near the adhesive junctions, so shear failure will be found in
the deeper surface and the scufng wear will become much more severe.
2. Adhesive wear mechanism
The actual contact area between two coupling surfaces in friction pair is small and
the contact stress at contact spots is too much high and also with instantaneous
temperature above 1000 C and the substrate with lower temperature, so the tem-
perature of contact points will be dropped rapidly once the contact surface separated
with each other. The coupling surfaces in friction pair are in high stress and high
temperature, the lubricant oil lm or the adsorption lm or other surface lms will
be fractured so that the contact surfaces will be adhesive with each other and the
adhesive junctions will be cut off during sliding. The relative motion can make the
surface lm to be damaged much more seriously and much easier to be adhesive,
which nally will lead to the adhesive wear.
There are different kinds of views for the explanation of the adhesive phe-
nomenon. Holm et. al thought that the adhesive is caused by the friction between
the sliding contact surfaces because of the surface atoms in one side are caught by
the other side atoms. Bowdon et al. thought that the plastic deformation and
instantaneous high temperature caused by local high pressure led to melt or soften
of the contact peak and nally led to welding. Xpyoet. al thought that adhesion
was due to the cold welding and the temperature could not reach to melting
temperature.
3. Influenced factors on the adhesive wear
(1) Surface Load: Adhesive wear will increase rapidly after the load is up to a
critical value. When the load is bigger than the one-third of the material
hardness, the wear will be severe and even lead to seizure.
(2) Surface Temperature: The increase of surface temperature leads to failure of
the lubricant lm and the decrease of the material hardness, so the adhesive
wear is much easier to be caused on the friction surfaces. The main influ-
enced factors on the temperature features are the surface pressure p and the
sliding speed . Herein, the sliding speed is a dominate factor, so restricting
of the p value is the most effective method to prevent the adhesive wear
and scufng wear.
(3) Sliding Speed: If the surface pressure is a certain value, adhesive wear
extent increases as the increase of the sliding speed and when it approaches
a maximum, the extent will be slowing down. Sometimes wear type will
also be changed with the variety of the sliding velocity.
(4) Material Properties of Friction Pair: Adhesive wear resistance for brittle
material is superior to that of ductile material. The damage of adhesive
junctions for ductile material is mainly the plastic flowing and often occurs
in deep surface with the big wear debris. The damage of adhesive junctions
for brittle material is mainly the spall and often occurs near the surface layer
with small wear debris, this debris is so easy to fall off that cannot be
stocked on the surface. If the yield point or hardness of material is higher, its
adhesive wear resistance is much higher.
For the friction pair composed by different materials or the materials with
low solubility, adhesive wear resistance is superior to that of the friction pair
composed by same materials or the materials with high solubility, such as
iron can dissolve into nickel and aluminum, so they cannot be made as the
friction pair. Iron cannot dissolve into lead, stannum, silver, and indium, so
the alloy made from these metal scan be produced as bearing bushes.
The metalnonmetal (such as graphite and plastic) friction pair has higher
resistance to the adhesive wear than that of the metalmetal friction pair.
The metal structure also has influence on the adhesive wear, and the mul-
tiphase metal has higher resistance to the adhesive wear than that of the
single-phase metal. The adhesive tendency for compound is smaller than
that of single phase.
Surface treatment (such as electroplating, surface chemical heat treatment,
surface alloy deposition, spraying, brush plating, and overlay welding) can
decrease the inter-solubility of the coupling surfaces in the friction pair, so
that avoid contact between homogeneous metals and enhance resistance to
the adhesive wear.
The adhesive wear resistance for the metal with high hardness is superior to
that of the metal with lower hardness. That is because when the surface
contact stress is bigger than the one-third of the hardness for the soft metal,
the mild wear will transform the severe wear.
(5) Lubrication: The state of lubrication has great influence on the adhesive
wear. For example, the adhesive wear under the condition of boundary
lubrication is much worse than that of liquid lubrication, the adhesive wear
under hydrodynamic lubrication is severe than that of fluid hydrostatic
lubrication. If add some extreme-pressure additives in the lubricant, the
ability of adhesive wear resistance will increase exponentially even under
the same lubrication state.
3.3.2.2 Abrasive Wear Mechanism
The abrasive wear is dened as surface material falling off caused by harder par-
ticles from outside or hard peaks on the coupling surfaces during friction. Such as
the wear of relieved tooth for excavator, plow harrow and the lining for ball mill are
classic abrasive wear. The abrasive wear also can be found on the surface of
machine tool guide way because of chips. The erosion wear between blade of
hydraulic turbine, ship propellers, and slurry erosion also can be seen as the
abrasive wear.
1. The categories of the abrasive wear
(1) The abrasive particles outside are moving between two friction surfaces,
that is similar to the grinding and can be known as three-body abrasive
wear. In general, extremely high contact stress can be caused between the
abrasive and metal surface for three-body wear, which is often beyond
crushing strength of abrasive particles. The compressive stress will lead to
plastic deformation and fatigue on the ductile metal surface and crack or
spall on the brittle metal surface.
(2) The wear caused by the relative movement of abrasive particles along a
solid surface is named as two-body abrasion. When moving direction of
abrasive particles is closely parallel to the solid surface, the contact stress
between the abrasive particles and surface is lower, so scratches or tiny
plowing traces can be found on the rigid surfaces. If moving direction of
abrasive particles is closely vertical to the solid surface, it can be named as
impact wear. At this time, the collisions with high stress will be found
between the abrasive particles and surfaces and the deeper grooves will be
found on the surface and also bigger particles will be falling off from the
surface.
(3) For a friction pair, the asperities of hard surface has abrasive effect on soft
surfaces, that is also called as two-body wear, and generally was lower
stress abrasion.
Abrasive wear is the most common wear. Generally, the mechanism of
abrasive wear is plowing effect, namely that is micro-cutting process. So the
hardness of the substrate relative to the abrasive particles and load play an
important role on the wear.
Abrasive wear can be divided into three types.
2. Abrasive wear mechanism
Abrasive wear mechanism can be divided into three kinds.
(1) micro-cutting
The abrasive particles are pressed into the surface by the normal load and
the friction force due to sliding may make the surface shear, plow and cut
through the plowing function of the abrasive particles and form streaks.
(2) fatigue failure
The surface material will fall off due to the fatigue under cyclic contact
stress caused by the abrasive particles on the friction surfaces.
(3) pressed spall
When the abrasive particles pressed into the friction surfaces will occur
indentations and from platelets or ripples on the plastic material surfaces.
3. Influenced factors on the abrasive wear
(1) Abrasive hardness, strength, shape, sharp degree, and particle size: The
abrasion loss is directly proportional to material particle size, but when
particle size reaches to a certain value, it is not related to each other again.
(2) Load: Linear wear is directly proportional to the surface pressure.
(3) A radio of abrasive hardness H0 to worn material hardness H: As shown in
Fig. 3.12, when H0 < (0.71)H, only occurs mild wear or do not occur
abrasive wear; when H0 > H, the abrasion loss increases as the abrasive
hardness H0 increases; when H0 H, serious wear will be caused and the
abrasion loss will not be changed with the variety of the H0. So in order to
prevent the abrasive wear, the material hardness will be higher than the
abrasive hardness. In general, when H 1.3 H0, only occurs mild abrasive
wear.
Fig. 3.12 Effects of relative

hardness
3.3.2.3 Fatigue Wear Mechanism
On the two friction surfaces rolling with each other or together with sliding motion,
under the cyclic contact stress, the scallops will be caused by the fatigue spalls of the
material, which can be named as the surface fatigue wear or contact fatigue wear.
The main failure form of rolling bearing and gear drive is this kind of wear. Besides,
microscopic fatigue phenomenon caused by the change of stress eld around the
asperities on the friction surfaces also belongs to this kind of wear. The surface micro
fatigue tends to occur in the running-in stage and is not developing wear.
In general, surface fatigue wear cannot be avoided even under the condition of
good lubrication. For the developing fatigue wear, the failure caused by the per-
nicious development of the surface fatigue indentations during operating should be
avoided.
1. Classication of surface fatigue wear
(1) subsurface-initiated and surface-initiated fatigue wear
The subsurface initiated fatigue wear mainly occurs in the steel-made
friction pair with the general quality under rolling condition. In cyclic
contact stress, cracks initiate at the position of the stress concentration inside
the material surface layer, such as nonmetallic inclusions or holes. In gen-
eral, the crack initiation positions are limited to a narrow area and depth is
about 0.3 mm, which is corresponding with the position of the maximum
shear stress in the surface layer. After the crack initiation, it will propagate
along the rolling direction parallel to the surface and then branch off and
propagate to the surface, the debris are fallen off and form indentations and
the fracture surface is smoother. The time required to initiate a crack of this
type fatigue wear is shorter, but the crack propagation speed is slow.
Subsurface-initiated fatigue wear is main failure for rolling bearing.
Surface-initiated fatigue wear is mainly found in steel-made friction pair
with high quality and mainly for sliding. Cracks initiate at the position of
stress concentration on the friction surfaces, such as the cutting marks,
scratches, corrosion or other traces of wear. At present, cracks will propa-
gate from surface along the 2040 with sliding direction to the internal
surface layer until a certain depth, then branch and form the indentations
Fig. 3.13 Pitting and

spalling
and the fracture surface is rough. The time required to initiate a crack is
longer but the propagation speed is very fast.
The edge of initiation fatigue failure of surface layer maybe as the origi-
nation point of the surface crack initiation so the two types of fatigue wear
usually exists at the same time.
(2) spalling and pitting wear
According to the shapes of wear debris and fatigue pits, the surface fatigue
wear can be divided into spalling and pitting. The former wear debris
present as flake and the indentations are shallow and with larger area. The
latter are lots of small and deep pits with fan-shaped. The shapes of fatigue
fracture for both wears are shown as Fig. 3.13
According to the experimental results, for the friction pair made of
annealing steel or quenched and tempered steel, pure rolling friction sur-
faces or combination of rolling and sliding motions surfaces, pitting fatigue
cracks initiate on the surface and then propagate to the subsurface along the
rolling direction and nally to be fan-shaped fatigue pit. Subsurface fatigue
crack initiate in subsurface, and then the cracks expand to both sides parallel
to the surface, and nally fracture in both sides and form a shallow pit on the
specimen width.
It should be mentioned that insufcient proof to prove that the pitting is
caused by the surface crack initiation and the spalling is caused by the
subsurface crack initiation.
2. Fatigue wear mechanism
(1) pitting induced by the fatigue cracks
In 1935, S. Way mentioned the formation mechanism of fatigue pitting.
Under the condition of friction contact with the lubricant, the micro cracks
are formed in the early stages of the fatigue wear. In the process of friction,
friction force forced the surface metal flowing, so the fatigue crack is in the
same direction with the friction force. Under the contact stress, the high
pressure oil may be pushed into cracks that will impact the crack walls and
the crack apex can be sealed by the counter face of the contact surfaces, so
the oil pressure in the cracks will increase and make the cracks expand.
When the crack propagate until to the surface or a piece of metal between
the crack and surface cannot endure the contact stress, small pieces of metal
will be falling off and to form the pitting
(2) pitting induced by friction temperature

When two cylinders contact, the pressure of local actual contact area is very
high because of the rough surface, so surface plastic deformation and
instantaneous high temperature will be caused. Under the effect of such
temperature alteration and high pressure conditions, the metal organization
in the contact area will be changed and volume expansion effect will be
generated, so the surface metal will be uplifted and the cracks will be found
on the surface layer or the surface can be layered, and then the pitting will
be caused under the affection of the lubrication.
(3) Maximum shear stress theory
Hertz contact theory
According to elastic theory from Hertz formula, we can conclude that the
weakest position of the surface is in the depth of 0.786b (b is 1/2 of the
contact region width for point contact and line contact) to the surface for the
condition of point contact and line contact, where is the point of maximum
shear stress. The most dramatic plastic deformation can be found in the
position of maximum shear stress. Under a certain load, the repeated
deformation will weak the partial surface and lead to the cracks, these cracks
will propagate to the surface along the direction of maximum shear stress
and nally, the fatigue wear will be caused. If there are inclusions and
defects inside the material near to the maximum stress region, the stress
concentration will be caused and leads to the formation of initial fatigue
cracks.
dislocation theory
During the rolling process, the value and direction of shear stress will be
changed repeatedly; dislocation motion can be produced inside of the
subsurface, which will be stock at the nonmetallic inclusions or crystal
boundary. The formation of hollow holes is due to the inter-incision of
dislocation and then inducing the cavities, the cracks will be caused nally.
After crack nucleation, crack will propagate continually under load, and
nally, the pitting can be discovered on the surface.
3. The influenced factors of fatigue wear
(1) Load Property: In general, the value of load has been considered as the based
factor to determine the fatigue wear life. Besides, the property of load also has
the huge influence. According to the experiments [1], when the short period
high load is applied on the basic load, the fatigue life will not be decreased,
but also will be increased. Only when the applied time of high load is near to
half of the cycle period, this can decrease the contact fatigue life.
Professor Wen Shizhure searched the influence of the combined stress on
the contact fatigue life. It concludes that the contact fatigue life will be
decreased clearly by additional tensile bending stress and the influence is
based on the stress value. Smaller compressive stress can increase the
fatigue life and the bigger will have the opposite effect [1].
The friction force between contact surfaces has important influence on the
fatigue wear. Little sliding will decrease the contact fatigue life evidently,
which is because the friction force make the maximum shear stress to be
near the surface and the increasing possibilities of the cracks initiating.
Besides, the tensile stress caused by the friction force will accelerate the
cracks to propagate.
The more higher cyclic speed of stress, the heat energy and the temperature
will become much bigger, and metal will be soften and the mechanical
properties will be decreasing and the surface fatigue wear may be also
accelerated.
(2) Material Property: The nonmetallic inclusions inside steel break the conti-
nuity of the substrate and dramatically decrease the contact fatigue life.
Especially for brittle inclusions, separated from the substrate and formed
hollow cavity under cyclic stress, which may form stress concentration
sources and nally cause the initiation of initial fatigue cracks.
The hardening depth of the carburizing steels or other hardening steels also
influence the fatigue wear resistance. If the hardening depth is much thinner,
the fatigue cracks will occur in the interface between hardening layer and
substrate, so easily cause the surface spall. According to this, the hardening
depth should be thicker than the initiation position of the fatigue cracks.
Besides, reasonably increase the hardness for the substrate of the hardened
steel may improve the fatigue wear resistance.
In general, improving the hardness of material may improve the fatigue
wear resistance. However, if the hardness is much higher, the material will
become much more brittle and the fatigue life will be decreased.
(3) Surface Roughness: Under a certain contact stress, the smaller surface
roughness will result in the higher fatigue wear resistance; when the surface
roughness drops to a certain value, the influence will be decreased.
(4) Lubrication: According to experiments, the higher viscosity of lubricant will
result in the higher fatigue wear resistance; proper additives in the oil or
solid lubricants also may improve the fatigue wear resistance. The extent
which the viscosity of the lubricant depends on the variation of the stress is
higher, its fatigue wear resistance is higher too. The water content of
lubricant so strongly influences the fatigue wear resistance.
3.3.2.4 Corrosive Wear Mechanism
The corrosive wear is dened as a surface damage due to the chemical and elec-
trochemistry effect between the metal and ambient medium during the friction
process. The most common corrosive wear includes the oxidative wear and special
medium corrosion wear.
1. Oxidative wear
When friction pair is working in the oxide mediums and after the oxide lm has
been fallen off, the new lm can be created later, so oxidative wear is the ongoing
process for the action of chemical oxide and mechanical wear.
The surface of a ction pair was covered a layer of oxide adoption lm. Because
of rough surface, when the friction components move relatively, local high stress on
the convex position of the surface may cause plastic deformation. Plastic defor-
mation may accelerate the diffusion of oxygen into the metal. After the oxide lm
has been fallen off, the lm will be newly created. After several cycles, the surface
will be worn nally.
The oxide wear presents uniform and ne wear scars along sliding direction,
Wear debris is red Fe3O4 (flake) or black Fe3O4 (lament). Sometimes may use
these features of wear debris to decide oxidative wear.
The oxide wear loss depends on the connecting strength of oxide lm and rate of
oxidation. When the shear strength resistance between brittle oxide lm and sub-
strate is worse or rate of formation of oxide lm is smaller than wear rate, there will
be much more wear loss. However, when the shear strength resistance between
ductile oxide lm and substrate is higher or rate of formation of oxide lm is bigger
than wear rate, the oxidation lm will have the function of the wear reduction and
wear-resisting, so the wear loss will be less.
The influenced factors of oxidative wear include the sliding speed of friction
pair, temperature, contact load, hardness of oxide lm, oxygen content, lubrication
and material property, and so on. At low speed, the main components on the surface
are the oxygen-iron sosoloid and the eutectic between grain oxide and sosoloid, so
the wear loss increases with increasing the sliding speed. When the speed is higher,
the surface components will be different kinds of oxide, the wear loss may decrease
slightly. When the sliding speed is much higher, oxide wear will transform the
adhesive wear because of the friction heat and lead to the wear loss rise.
The influence of the load on the oxide wear can be described as: under lighter
load, the main compositions of wear debris are Fe and FeO. However, the debris is
Fe2O3 and Fe3O4 under higher load.
High temperature may aggravate the oxide wear. However, the impact speed
may increase the wear, but decrease the oxidation extent.
Oxide wear can be caused easily under the dry friction condition. Adding
lubricant may decrease the surface oxidation, and the oxidation layer is thinner, so
the oxide wear resistance can be improved. However, some lubricant oil may result
in the oxide lm falling off from the surface.
2. Special medium corrosion wear
Corrosion wear is caused by the action between the metal surfaces and medium as
acid, alkali, and salt. The mechanism of corrosion wear is similar to oxidation wear,
but with the deeper wear trace and more wear loss. Wear debris presents as granular
and lament. They are compounds of the surface metal and ambient medium.
Table 3.2 Corrosion volume for bearing material

Bearing material Stannum base Lead Lead base CuPb SnPb
Babbitt alloy antimony alloy Babbitt alloy alloy
Corrosion 0.001 0.002 0.004 0.453 1.724
quantity (g/h)
Corrosion wear even can be discovered in the materials of plain bearings

because of the corrosive chemicals composition in the lubricant, it includes acid
corrosion and alkali corrosion. In addition of the reasonable selection of lubrication
oil and the restrictions of the acid and sulfur content, bearing material is also the
important factors to affect corrosion wear. Table 3.2 shows corrosion resistance for
all kinds of bearing materials.
3.3.2.5 Fretting wear Mechanism
The wear created because of the relative motion with small amplitude between two
metal surfaces in contact can be named as fretting wear. For the machine with
vibration, such as the connections of threaded, spline, and interference t, the
fretting wear could be easily caused.
Under some load condition, the adhesive junctions can be produced at the points
of asperity contact of the coupling surfaces. When the contact surfaces are supplied
small vibration (in general, only 0.05 mm and not exceed 0.25 mm), adhesive
junctions will be sheared. And then, the sheared surface will be oxidized and lead to
oxidation wear. Meanwhile, the red debris Fe2O3 will stock between the contact
surfaces. After that, the debris will be as abrasive particles to cause the abrasive
wear.
It can be seen that small vibration and oxidation are the main influenced factors
for fretting wear. Fretting wear is the combination of three kinds of wear as the
adhesive wear, abrasive wear, and oxidative wear.
Fretting wear loss increases as the load increases, but after exceeding a certain
load, it will decrease gradually. Temperature increasing may accelerate the wear.
The materials with better adhesive wear resistance also have the good resistance for
the fretting wear. Increasing hardness can reduce fretting wear, and the surface
roughness is not related to fretting wear, oscillatory frequency of small amplitude
has no influence on the fretting wear for steel. However, under large amplitude, the
wear loss may decrease with an increase of oscillatory frequency.
Proper lubrication can improve the fretting wear resistance effectively, because
the lubricant lm can prevent the oxidation of surface. The extreme-pressure
additive or MoS2 coating can reduce fretting wear.
3.4 Wear Calculation 67
3.4 Wear Calculation
3.4.1 Wear Representation
1. Wear loss
The common wear loss includes the linear wear loss (mm or um), volume wear
loss (mm3or um3), and weight wear loss (g or mg).
2. Wear rate
Wear rate is the ratio of wear loss to wear distance or time. There are three
described methods such as the wear loss/sliding distance, wear loss/wear time,
wear loss/rotating speed, or reciprocating travel.
3. Abrasive resistance
It can be expressed as the reciprocal of the wear rate under the regulated friction
condition, as
e dt=dG or dL=dG 3:42
where G is wear loss, L is sliding distance, t is wear time.

4. Relative abrasive resistance
Under the same condition, the ratio of the abrasive resistances between two
materials, as
er eb =es 3:43
where b and s are standing for the abrasive resistance of the experimental
material and standard material separately. In general, one kind of material or
specimen can be used as standard material.
3.4.2 Abrasive Wear Calculation
The simplest calculated method for the abrasive wear is derived from the
micro-cutting mechanism. Figure 3.14 is the model of abrasive wear. It is supposed
that the wear particles are cones with the same shape and half angle , pressed depth h,
so the projected area of indentation A is h2tan2.
Fig. 3.14 Cone model for

abrasive wear
If the compressed yield limit of worn material is s, applied load on each wear
particle W is
W rs A rs ph2 tan2 h 3:44
When the sliding distance of cone is s, the worn volume of worn material is
V s htanh h sh2 tanh 3:45
If the worn volume in unit displacement is dened as the volume wear rate
dV/ds, the volume wear rate of abrasive wear is
dV=ds h2 tanh W=rs p tanh 3:46
Because the compressed yield limit s is related to the hardness H, so
dV=ds ka W=H 3:47
where ka is the constant for abrasive wear, which depends on the hardness of
abrasive particles, shape and quantity of abrasive particles with cutting effect and so
on.
Equation (3.47) is suitable for the two-body abrasive wear approximately, that is
because the analysis above neglected many actual factors. Such as distribution of
the wear particles, elastic deformation and the change of contact area created
because of the stock in front of the sliding. For three-body wear, partial grinds
motion is along the surface rolling direction and cannot produce the cutting func-
tion, so ka in the Eq. (3.47) should be decreased.
3.4.3 Adhesive Wear Calculation
Simple adhesive wear can be calculated according to the model as shown in

Fig. 3.15, which is put forward by Archard in 1953.
The area of adhesive junctions between the friction pair can be chosen as a circle
with the radius of a and contact area for each adhesive junction is a2. If surface is
Fig. 3.15 Adhesive wear model a junction formation, b junction fracture

under the state of plastic contact, the load supplied by each adhesive junction is
W = a2s (s is the compressed yield limit of soft material).
It is supposed that the adhesive junctions are destroyed along with the spherical
surface, namely, that the shifting debris is half spherical. When sliding distance is
2a, the wear volume will be 2a3/3. So the wear rate can be expressed as:
dV=ds 2pa3 =3=2a W=3rs 3:48
Not all adhesive nodes can be formed as the half spherical debris, so the
adhesive wear constant ks can be inducted and ks 1, so
dV=ds ks W=3rs 3:49
Equation (3.49) is nearly similar with abrasive wear Eq. (3.47).

Although Archard model is approximate, it can be used to predict the adhesive
wear life. The adhesive wear constant ks is far smaller than 1 (between 102107) [1],
which indicates that only few adhesive junctions may be worn and most may not be
worn as the debris. For this situation, there are not proper explanations.
3.4.4 IBM Wear Calculation
Bayer et al. from IBM in 1962 mentioned the wear calculation model and got some
data by experimental methods. They mentioned a calculation method to predict the
wear lifetime directly.
Firstly, the wear can be divided into zero wear and measurable wear. Zero wear
depth cannot exceed the height of original surface roughness and the measured wear
means the wear depth higher than the roughness height.
1. Zero wear
Through amount of experiments, it indicates that the following condition much
be met in order to ensure the friction pair are under the condition of zero wear in
certain time.
smax css 3:50
where max is maximum shear stress applied on the parts; s is shear yield
strength of the material; is a coefcient, it is related to the material, lubrication
status and operating limit and so on.
For the IBM calculation method, the wear life is expressed by the number of
strokes. The sliding distance in one stroke means contact length for the friction
pair along sliding direction. In general, the number N = 2000 can be used to
determine the zero wear coefcient, and meanwhile, can be presented by the 0,
because the wear ability can be presented steady during this time.
Fig. 3.16 Shear yield limit
According to experiments, when the strokes number N is 2000,

liquid lubrication case 0 = 1;
dry friction case 0 = 0.2;
boundary lubrication case 0 = 0.2 or 0.54 (for the lubricant oil with the activity
additives, 0 = 0.54)
Referenced on the relationship of the metal material fatigue curve, the equations
between the strokes and maximum shear stress under the zero wear condition
can be established:

s9max N c0 ss 9 2000
3:51
smax 2000=N 1=9 c0 ss
when the Eq. (3.51) is used to predict the zero wear life, the working time need
to be converted as the strokes. Where, the material shear yield strength s can be
determined by the experienced curve as shown in the Fig. 3.16.
2. Measurable wear
For measurable wear, the model mentioned by IBM is that the wear loss is the
function of the consumed energy in the process of friction and the strokes
number. This relationship can be expressed with the following differential
equation, as:

@Q @Q
dQ dE dN 3:52
@E N @N E
where Q is measurable wear loss; E is consumed energy for wear in each stroke;
N is number of stroke.
Measurable wear can be calculated based on the following types.
(1) A type wear
The consumed energy of this kind wear in the wearing process is constant
and it often occurs in the case of dry friction, heavy load or severe material
transfer and scratching wear.
For A type wear, the Eq. (3.52) can be simplied as
dQ cdN 3:53
where c is constant for this wearing system and be determined by

experiments.
(2) B type wear
For this kind of wear, the consumed energy changes with the variation of a
stroke and occurs in the case of lubrication or light load and generally
belongs to fatigue wear.
The Equation (3.52) can be expressed as
h i
d Q=smax S9=2 cdN 3:54
where S is sliding distance for each stroke.

The relationship between wear loss and stroke number can be obtained after
the integral of Eqs. (3.53) and (3.54).
3.5 Wear Law in the Practical Design
Applying wear law in the design mainly includes the principle design and wear
calculating. Wear calculation has been introduced before. In this section, the
principle design will be mainly introduced.
3.5.1 Friction Pair Material Selection Rules
Selecting material mainly depends on wear resistance of friction pair, it is related to

the hardness, toughness, solubility, heat resistance, corrosion resistance, and other
properties of materials. Different types of wear due to different wear mechanisms
may be particularly considered one or two factors mentioned above. In addition,
matching of the counter-surfaces in the friction pair should also be considered.
Sometimes hard to hard coupling can be selected (such as rolling bearings), and
sometimes hard to soft coupling could be better (such as sliding bearings). Besides,
sometimes wear should be limited on one certain part (such as piston ring) in order
to ensure the wear resistance of counterpart (such as cylinder). Following material
selection will be introduced according to different wear types.
1. Selection of the friction pair materials for abrasive wear
For the abrasive wear, the wear resistance of the steel without heat treatment is in
direct proportion to its primary hardness. After the heat treatment, the hardness will
be improved; the increased extent of the wear resistance is lower than the annealed
steel with the same hardness. For different quenched steels with same hardness, the
wear resistance of the steel with high carbon content is better than that of the lower.
Wear resistance is related to the microstructure of metals. Wear resistance of
martensite is superior to that of pearlite and abrasion resistance of ferrite is the
worst. For different morphology of pearlite, the abrasion resistance off lake is better
than sphere and fritter is better than thick slices. Tempered martensite is often
superior to that of nontempering, this is because microstructure of the material
without tempering is hard and brittle.
For the steel with same hardness, the abrasion resistance of steel with ordinary
cementite is worse than that of containing alloy carbides. The carbide containing
more elements has better abrasion resistance. The alloy carbides can be easily
formed by adding alloy elements and so that increase the wear resistance.
For abrasive wear caused by impact of solid particles, the right matching of
hardness and toughness need to be ensured. For small impact angle, namely, the
impact velocity direction is nearly parallel to the surface, higher hardness should be
preferred. Such as the hardened steel, ceramic, cast stone, tungsten carbide, etc., can
be applied to prevent cutting wear. For large impact angle, appropriate toughness
should be ensured, so the rubber, austenitic manganese steel, plastic, etc., can be
applied, otherwise, cracks are easily formed on the material surfaces because of the
colliding kinetic energy and result in spalling; for high stress impact, the material
with good plastic and strain hardening caused by the high impact stress can be
applied such as the austenitic manganese steel.
For three-body wear, in general, the hardness of friction surface can be
improved. When the surface hardness is 1.4 times that of the particle hardness, the
wear resistance is the best but the exceeding hardness is useless. The particle
granularity has also some influence on the wear situation.
2. Selection of the friction pair materials for adhesive wear
Adhesive wear is closely related to the surface material matching. Two materials
with low solid solubility are not easy to adhesive. In general, the material with
similar lattice constant and lattice type has better inter-solubility. The most typical
example is the same material easily occur adhesion.
Adhesive wear seldom occurs if two material scans form inter metallics that is
because intermetallic compounds have weak covalent bond. Plastic material is
much easier to be adhesive than brittle material and the strength of adhesive
junction for plastic material is often bigger than that of substrate, so the tear always
occurs in subsurface and formed bigger wear particles.
The materials with higher melting point, recrystallization temperature, and
critical tempering temperature or with lower surface energy occurs uneasily adhe-
sive wear. Adhesive effect for polyphase structure is not as obvious as the
single-phase structure. Such as the adhesion effect of pearlite is lower than ferrite or
austenite. The adhesion effect of intermetallic is lower than that of single-phase
3.5 Wear Law in the Practical Design 73
solid solution. The hexagonal crystal structure is better than the cubic crystal
structure. The metalnonmetal (such as carbides, ceramics, polymers) pair has
much higher adhesive resistance than that of the metalmetal pair. The polyte-
trafluoroethylene (PTFE) and steel pair has higher adhesive resistance and with
lower friction coefcient and surface temperature. The thermosetting plastic with
good heat resistant is better than that of the thermoplastics.
Under other similar conditions, increasing the surface hardness can make the
material to be hard to produce plastic deformation, so it is also hard to adhesive.
The hardness of steel above 700 HV (or 60 HRC) can avoid the adhesive wear.
3. Selection of friction pair materials for contact fatigue wear
Contact fatigue wear is initiation and propagation process of the cracks within the
surface or subsurface under cyclic stress. The hardness is directly proportional to
the fatigue wear resistance, so increasing the surface hardness is good for the
fatigue wear resistance. However, if the surface hardness of the material is so high
that it will become brittle and the fatigue wear resistance will be decreased.
4. Selection of materials in friction pair for corrosion wear
The material with better wear-resisting quality should be chosen, especially with the
strong bonding strength between the oxidation lm formed on the surface and the
substrate and with better ductility and the compacted material, the wear-resisting
ability will be superior.
5. Selection of materials in friction pair for fretting wear
The fretting wear is the combination of the adhesive wear, oxidative wear, and
abrasive wear, so the materials can be resistant to adhesive wear also can be used to
resist the fretting wear. Actually, the material matching with wear-resisting func-
tions in each procedure during the whole fretting wear process can be chosen. For
example, the materials with better resistance to oxidative wear and abrasive wear
also improve the resistance to the fretting wear.
3.5.2 Protective Layer Principle and Wear-Resisting Layer

Design Criteria
Protective layer principle can be divided into replacement and transfer principle.
Replacement principle focuses the wear on the unimportant and low cost parts
which are also easily replaced. Such as in the friction design of cylinder liner and
piston ring, the piston ring can be made of the cast iron. Because it is easy to wear,
replace and also with low cost, thus can reduce the wear of cylinder and prevent the
scratch of cylinder jacket. Transfer principle is to make a part to be quickly worn in
friction pair, and the more important parts will be protected from wear or damage.
Internal combustion engine crankshaft is an important part, for example, it is
expensive and also hard to be replaced casually. In practical design, bearing

bushing supported the crank shaft can be chosen as cheap soft metal (PbSn alloy or
CuPb alloy), so that bearing bushing will be worn rst and thereby the crankshaft
journal can be protected.
The materials for the whole machine are hard to meet the requirements of
structure and tribological properties, so in order to improve the surface
wear-resisting ability, surface strengthening processing can be applied [10].
Technological methods can be used to achieve the material surface modication
and improvement of the wear resistance. The common hardening methods include
surface deformation strengthening treatment, surface coating, and diffusion treat-
ment strengthening.
1. Surface deformation strengthening treatment
Surface deformation strengthening treatment cannot change the chemistry of the
surface. At room temperature, workpiece surface will be applied a certain pressure
or impact that result in the plastic deformation for the surface thin layer, and the
asperities can constantly be flatten, which can make the surface roughness be
reduced, the increases of real contact area, decreases of the pressure and is good for
the adhesive wear resistance. Besides, the frictional resistance and friction coef-
cient can be decreased. At the same time, larger cold hardening layer can be created
on the metal surface layer because of the compressive stress that can produce larger
macro residual compressive stress. It is good for improving the resistance to fatigue
wear and abrasion wear, so as to achieve the purpose of improving the surface wear
resistance.
Common surface deformation strengthening treatments include the shot peening,
rolling, extrusion, and so on. Among these methods, rolling, and extrusion have
better strengthening effects than the other, so they are t for local strengthening,
especially for the parts as the inner bore surface and shaft.
2. Surface coating
Surface depositing is done by directly covering a reinforcement layer on the
material surface with plating, coating or physical and chemical methods. It includes
hard coatings and soft coatings. Hard coatings often include aluminizing, surface
welding, spraying carbide and ceramics, etc. Soft coatings mainly include
depositing soft metals, such as copper, gold, silver also include PTFE and MoS2
solid lubricant that is fairly effective against adhesive wear and the aim is to reduce
the friction coefcient and improving the temperature tolerance, etc.
Surface coating is done by covering one or multilayer thin lm with different
materials on the solid surface in order to strengthen the surface or make the surfaces
have some special functions. Because different coating processes result in different
properties of coatings, one coating can only be applied under a particular condition
for getting better effect.
3.5 Wear Law in the Practical Design 75
3. Diffusion treatment strengthening

Diffusion treatment strengthening are those that change the chemistry of the surface
through penetrating and implanting certain elements or adding heat treatment to
strengthen the surface. For example, the surface can be treated by carburizing,
boriding, and nitriding and so on and then the chemical composition of the surface
and structure can be changed, so that the surface layer can be alloyed and wearable
multiphase structures can be also created. Finally, the surface wear-resisting can be
improved.
The design of the surface wear-resistant coating should depend on different wear
mechanisms. When the adhesive wear is dominant, coating layer with low cold
welding strength and small shear strength or soft metal coatings should be con-
sidered. If the abrasive wear plays a leading role, harder surface coating (such as
titanium carbide) should be considered. Hard coating (such as titanium nitride) can
also reduce the rate of adhesive wear.
If several kinds of wear process exist at the same time, multilayer can be
designed. The multilayer design of bearing bush is shown in Fig. 3.17. The
outermost layer is protective layer to prevent the chemical corrosion of the surface
caused by ambient surrounding. The tribological properties of bearing bushes are
guaranteed by the outer layer and bearing alloy. In the middle of these two layers,
there is a nickel layer that can prevent the diffusion of the tin in the outer layer into
the bearing alloy. Outer layer is the sliding friction surface that can be embedded by
mechanical impurities. When outer surface layer worn out, the alloy layer will
become the outer layer. The steel backing is expected to carry the normal load and
connect the bearing bush with the housing. This kind of coating is designed rea-
sonably and achieves a long life. This example shows the importance of reasonable
design of coating.
Fig. 3.17 Design for bearing

bush
References

5. Chen L, Xie T, Xia X (2010) Rolling bearing technology. China Machine Press, Beijing
9. Harris TA (2006) Rolling bearing analysis. Wiley, 5th ed
10. Yayu S (2006) Trend of surface treatment technology in rolling bearing. Bearing Technol
1:4346
Chapter 4
Materials for Bearing Frictional Pairs
The materials of friction pairs affect the bearing operation performance and proper
selection of materials for friction pairs plays an important role in the function and
application requirements of the machine and also for the working performance and
fatigue life of bearings. In this chapter, selecting principles of the friction pair
materials and common materials and performance for sliding bearings and rolling
bearings will be introduced.
4.1 Sliding Bearing Material
Sliding bearings are important mechanical elements which support the shaft and
make the load-carrying surfaces slide relatively, those have advantages as higher
load-carrying capacity, anti-impact load and small radial dimension and can be
applied under the condition rolling bearing cannot be applied. The materials of
sliding bearings should have better antifriction ability, wear resistance, antiseizure
property, frictional conformability, embeddability, running-in property, corrosion
resistance, fatigue resistance, and enough load-carrying capacity, so that the friction
wear can be reduced and the lifetime of bearing can be improved.
Sliding bearings can be divided into radial and thrust sliding bearings. The caps
and housings are usually made of cast iron or cast steel. Half-bearings contact with
the journals directly. In order to improve the frictional performance of half-bearing
surfaces, one or two-layer antifriction material about 0.56 mm thick can be
overlaid on the inner surface of half-bearings, that can be called as the bearing
linings, so the half-bearings include the bimetallic and trimetallic half-bearings. In
order to make the bearing lining to stick on the inner surface of the half-bearing
rmly, different types of grooves can be prefabricated on the half-bearing. In
general, these grooves can be located on the non-loading area so that lubricating oil
can be distributed on the working surface of the half-bearing uniformly.
78 4 Materials for Bearing Frictional Pairs
Bearing alloy Babbitt alloy or white alloy
Copper alloy Bronze lead bronze, tin bronze, aluminum

Metallic
Bronze and brass
material
Aluminum-based bearing alloy Al-Sn alloy
Cast iron grey cast iron or wear resisting cast iron
Porous metal materials porous iron or porous bronze
Sliding
bearing Engineering plastics phenolic resin, nylon, PTFE, etc
material Carbon-graphite common material for motor brush
Non-metallic
material Rubber materials for water lubrication
Wood applied under the condition of dust
Metallic-nonmetallic composite Graphite-metal alloys
Fig. 4.1 The materials of sliding bearings
Both the materials of the half-bearings and linings are named as the bearing
materials.
The materials of half-bearing and lining for sliding bearing mainly include
metallic materials, nonmetallic materials and metalnonmetallic composite, which
are shown in Fig. 4.1.
The brands and properties of metal casting materials for the common
half-bearings and linings can be seen from Table 4.1.
4.1.1 Babbitt Alloy
The main compositions of Babbitt are lead, tin, antimony, copper alloy. It is a
developing alloy material based on Britannia metal. The tin-based has been
replaced by the lead-based in order to save expensive tin. Both of tin and lead are
soft and with low melting point, they have excellent reducing friction, antiseizure,
embeddable, and running-in ability. But they have lower load-carrying capacity,
especially the high-temperature load-carrying capacity. The hardness and fatigue
strength for the Babbitt at 150 C is only 1/3 times than that of the room tem-
perature, so its operating temperature cannot exceed 100 C.
The price of tin-based Babbitt is higher, and it is mainly used for important
bearings with high speed and heavy-loaded and large bearings. The common grades
include the ZChSnSb11-6, ZChSnSb4, and ZChSnSb8-4-4, etc. The strength,
hardness, thermal conductivity, and corrosion resistance for lead-based alloys are
lower than those of tin-based bearing alloys and also with higher friction coefcient.
However, they are cheaper and suitable to manufacture the half-bearings operating
Table 4.1 Material brands and properties of common half-bearings and linings
Material Maximum allowable value Max. Performance Remark
[p] (MPa) [v] (ms1) [pv] (MPa ms1) operating comparison
temperature/C
Cast tin ZSnSb11Cu6 Steady load 150 Small friction Applied in
antimony 25 80 20 coefcient, better bearings under
bearing antiscufng high speed and
ZSnSb8Cu4 Impact load
alloy property, better heavy load, such
20 60 15 corrosion resistance, as oil rig
4.1 Sliding Bearing Material
running-in, but
failure under
variable load
Cast lead ZPbSb16Sn16Cu2 15 12 10 150 Similar with tin Used in moderate
antimony antimony alloy, with speed, moderate
bearing brittleness. load bearings,
alloy Replacement of tin unsuitable to
antimony alloy tolerate larger
ZPbSb15Sn4Cu3Cd2 5 6 5 impact load, as
machine tool,
combustion
engines and so on
Cast tin ZCuSn10P1 (10-1 tin 15 10 15 280 High melting point, Used in moderate
bronze bronze) high hardness, speed, heavy load
load-carrying and variable load
capacity, wear bearings, as
resistance and crusher
ZCuSn5Pb5Zn5 8 3 15 thermal Used in moderate
(5-5-5 tin bronze) conductivity, are speed, moderate
higher than that of load bearings
bearing alloys, but
has poor plasticity
and running-in
79
(continued)
Table 4.1 (continued)
80
Material Maximum allowable value Max. Performance Remark

[p] (MPa) [v] (ms1) [pv] (MPa ms1) operating comparison
temperature/C
Cast lead ZCuPb30 (30 lead 25 12 30 280 Better Used in high
bronze bronze) self-lubricating and speed, heavy load,
adhesion resistance, impact load
free machining, but bearings
poor casting
property. Easily
occurs gravity
segregation
Cast ZCuAl10Fe3 (10-3 15 4 12 280 Higher hardness, Used in
aluminum aluminum bronze) poor antiscufng well-lubricated
bronze property bearings with low
speed and heavy
load, such as
heavy machine
tool
4 Materials for Bearing Frictional Pairs
4.1 Sliding Bearing Material 81
under middle or low load. The common grade is ZChPbSbl6-16-2 (with 16 % Sb,
16 % Sn and 2 % Cu). Adding about 16 % Sn is good for strengthening the matrix
due to Sn dissolving into the Pb and forming hard particles. Adding about 2 % Cu
can prevent gravity segregation and form Cu2Sb hard particles at the same time and
improve its wear resistance.
Along with the high performance for mechanical equipment, the working con-
dition for sliding bearing can be developing to the high speed, high temperature,
and heavy load direction. The Babbitt will be replaced by the copper alloy,
excluding the condition of low load and high speed condition.
4.1.2 Copper Alloy
The copper alloys are the most common bearing material at present and the grades
and performances are shown in Table 4.2. It has good thermal conductivity, strong
carrying capacity, high melting point, good heat resistance, etc. Lead bronze and
copper lead alloy are the main copper alloy bearing materials. The characteristics of
CuPb alloy are following as: limited dissolved for liquid status and chemical
compounds cannot be formed; it cannot be dissolved with each other for rigid
status. The soft lead can composite with the harder copper-based matrix, i.e., soft
phase exists in hard substrate, and can well meet the characteristic demands of
sliding bearings. The early copperlead series contain 2050 % lead. The higher
lead content is difcult to meet with high temperature and heavy-loaded condition
Table 4.2 Material grade and property for copper-based alloy

Material Composition Property and application
mark
CuPb10Sn10 Pb 9.011 % Good wear resistance and anti-impacting capacity, high
Sn 9.011 % load capacity. Applied to wrapped bushes with high
speed and impact load
Cu Allowance
CuPb22Sn1.5 Pb 2026 % Good conformability and high load capacity. Applied
Sn 1.02.0 % to connecting rod bushes with high speed and high
impact load
Cu Allowance
CuPb24Sn Pb 2127 % Applied to half-bearings and linings with higher speed
Sn 0.62.0 % and heavy-load capacity
Cu Allowance
CuPb30 Pb 2633 % Applied to half-bearings and linings with moderate
Sn 0.50 % load-carrying capacity
Cu Allowance
H62 Fe 0.15 % Applied to linings with light load
Cu 60.5
63.5 %
Zn Allowance
of sliding bearings. Accompanying the development of automobile industry, lead

content in the copper lead gradually has been reduced to 1025 %, and with more
uniform and tiny distribution of lead in copper alloys substrate because of improved
manufacturing processes. For the sliding bearing materials with higher content of
lead, Mn5Si3, and Fe3P, the hard dispersed phases precipitated in the matrix after
Fe, Mn, Si, and P are added, which can improve the wear resistance and sintering
resistance of materials.
If adding 310 % tin into the copper substrate and form lead bronze bearing
material. The precipitated phase (Cu31Sn8) or phase (Cu3Sn) in the matrix can
improve strength and wear resistance of the materials. Meanwhile, tin element in
the alloy may easily form SnO2 on the bronze surface and has a protective effect for
matrix. Lead bronze has strong adhesive-resisting ability and is suitable for bearings
with high speed and heavy-load. Cu3Sn23Pb and Cu10Sn10Pb are the com-
mon lead bronze materials for sliding bearings. Besides, there are other harder
phosphor bronze, beryllium bronze, and aluminum bronze sliding bearing materials.
In general, hard copper alloys have the better wear resistance and fatigue resistance.
However, the application of beryllium bronze and aluminum bronze can also be
restricted because of the running-in of the counterparts and the embeddability after
embedding other contaminants.
4.1.3 Aluminum Alloy
The aluminum series is a kind of antifriction material developed in the late 1920s. It
has light weight, higher specic strength and fatigue resistance strength, better
thermal conductivity and wear resistance, and corrosion resistance. The common
material grades and properties are shown in Table 4.3.
Aluminum tin sliding bearing material has earlier application in the aluminum-
based series. In the 1950s, the United States developed Al6Sn lining/steel
bimetallic bearing material, and electroplated a layer of leadtin or leadtinanti-
mony on the surface. Besides, the soft alloy coating, which is similar to the copper
alloy bearing material, has been applied for increasing the embed ability and seizure
resistance of the bearing materials. In the end of 1950s, Britain developed Al20Sn
alloy (with higher SnAl) without surface coating, and compared to previous
materials, the seizure resistance is better; compared to the Babbitt bearing materials
[1], the load-carrying capacity is much higher. Based on Al20Sn, aluminum alloy
with 3050 % Sn has been widely applied in big engines.
In order to improve the properties of AlSn bi-component sliding bearing alloy
and meet the developing requirements of the heavy load, high speed and high
temperature for the sliding bearings, the elements as copper are added in the
materials based on the AlSn alloy and developed the AlSnCu alloy. The group
has higher fatigue resistance and better antiseizure ability, adaptability, and
embeddability. It is the one of rst choices for the high-speed middle diesel engine
bearings. It has low cost because of the lower tin content.
Table 4.3 Material grade and property for the aluminum series
Material Composition Property and application
grade
AlSn20Cu Sn 17.522.5 % Applied to main bearing shell, connecting rod bearing,
Cu 0.71.3 % thrust plate, bushing of internal combustion engine.
Better seizure resistance, corrosion resistance without
Al Allowance
electroplating layer, moderate load-carrying capacity
AlSn10Cu Sn 1014 % Applied to main bearing shell, connecting rod bearing,
Cu 0.71.3 % thrust plate, bushing of combustion engine. Range from
moderate load-carrying capacity to higher load-carrying
Al Allowance
capacity and without electroplated layer
AlSn6Cu Sn 5.57.0 % Applied to main bearing shell, connecting rod bearing
Cu 0.71.3 % thrust plate, bushing of combustion engine. Range from
moderate load-carrying capacity to higher load-carrying
Pb 1.02.4 %
capacity, without electroplating and better
Al Allowance conformability on working surfaces
A-500 Al 86.50 % Excellent wear resistance and corrosion resistance,
Sn 8.00 % better seizure resistance and higher load-carrying
capacity. Used in crankshaft made of SG iron and steel
Si 2.50 %
without electroplating. Applied to main bearing,
Pb 2.00 % connecting rod bearing with moderate load
Cu 0.80 %
Cr 0.20 %
In the early 1980s, Japan rst developed AlSnSi bearing materials with Si.
Because the Si hard phases dispersedly precipitate in the substrate of AlSn alloy,
improved the running-in ability, the fatigue resistance and the seizure resistance. So
it gradually becomes the major material for the aluminum alloy bearing materials.
Modern materials based on the AlSnSi series have been developed continuously,
such as AlSnSiCu and AlSnSiCuCr series, these alloys improve further the
properties of AlSnSi bearing materials.
The AlPb series is a kind of bearing materials developed by the United States in
mid-1970s. Due to low elastic modulus and shear strength, the AlPb series bearing
alloys can easily produce the lead self-lubricating lm on the friction surfaces than
that of the AlSn series alloys, so the AlPb bearing alloys have low wear rate,
better ABS performance, better antifriction ability, reliable load-carrying capacity,
and better conformability. Replacing some tin with lead has great advantages in
technology and economy. At present, AlPb bearing alloy materials have been used
for the engine bearings with middle load and high speed, i.e., the key development
for the automobile bearings with low cost and high performance.
AlZn series (such as SAE785, AlZn4SiPb, and AlZn4.5Mg) is a new kind of
Al-based bearing alloy. For this situation, aluminum is the substrate with about 5 %
zinc. These alloys have higher load-carrying capacity and poor conformability and
embeddability, so they are electroplated with PbSn or PbSnCu on the alloy
surfaces to improve the surface property. It can be applied in the connecting rod
bearings with high speed, heavy load, and main shaft bearings for turbocharged
diesel engines.
4.1.4 Gray Cast Iron, Wear Resistant Cast Iron

and Nodular Graphite Iron
Ordinary gray iron or antiwear cast iron with nickel, chromium, titanium alloy, or
ductile cast iron can be applied as the bearing materials. When the surface has been
covered by the flake graphite or nodular graphite, a layer of lubrication graphite
layer can be formed, so it has the function of reducing friction and wear resistance.
In addition, the graphite can adsorb hydrocarbon, which is help to increase the
boundary lubrication, so the lubricating oil should be added when the gray cast iron
is used for the bearing. Due to the brittleness and poor running-in property of the
cast iron, so it only can be applied under the conditions of light load, low speed, and
nonimpact.
4.1.5 Porous Metallic Materials
Porous metal is made of different metal powders through pressing and sintering to
be the nal material. It has porous structure and with 1035 % porosity. If it is
dipped in lubricant oil, and makes the pores be lled with oil, the bearings made of
this material will become oil-retaining bearing with self-lubricating property.
During working process, the oil in the pores can be pressed into the friction surface
for lubrication due to the suction effect of the journal rotation and oil expansion
effect of bearing heating. Under the still condition, oil will be back to the inside of
the bearing due to capillary action, so this kind of bearing can work for a long time
even without oil. However, because of poor toughness of porous metal material, it
is appropriate for the smooth operating condition without impact load and at
moderate or low speed. The common porous materials contain porous iron and
porous bronze. Porous iron is commonly used in flour mill sleeves, machine oil
pump liner, and the internal combustion engine camshaft liner. Porous bronze is
used to make bearings for record players, electrical fans, food mixers, and spinning
machines.
Porous iron consists mostly of iron compositions, and sometimes adding small
amount of copper (220 %) can improve the boundary lubrication performance. It
has high strength, low price, and poor frictional performance, and it will rust. So it
only can tolerate low speed. The journal must be quenched. Porous bronze consists
mostly of bronze, adding 610 % of tin and small amount of zinc and lead. It can
prevent the bearings to rust and has stable performance under moderate speed and
light load condition, but is expensive.
4.1.6 Nonmetallic Materials
The common nonmetallic materials include the plastics, carbon-graphite, wood,

rubber, and so on.
4.1.6.1 Engineering Plastic
Engineering plastics (such as phenolic resin, nylon and PTFE) have some certain
abilities as self-lubrication, wear resistance, low friction, special seizure resistance,
and so on, so that they can be widely used for sliding bearing. The journal is hardly
damaged by the half-bearing made of plastic. The vibration absorption of plastic
journal is better than the metallic journal. The plastic also has better corrosion
resistance, low density, and light weight. However, its mechanical strength is worse
than that of the metal and the size stability is easily influenced by the temperature
and humidity. The thermal conductivity is poor as well. In order to improve the
weakness of the plastic, some materials are added into the plastic. In the early
1950s, British Glacier Metal Company developed a self-lubricating bearing made of
the plastic, bronze, and steel backing. For this kind of bearing, polyte-
trafluoroethylene (PTFE) or polyformaldehyde (POM) is applied to the steel plate
with sintered copper, and after the rolling and winding, thin-walled composite
bearing can be produced (named as Du or Dx). This kind of bearing can be applied
under the dry friction or oil lubrication condition. It can be used under vibration and
impact load and tolerate a much wider temperature range from 200 to 280 C. In
recent years, lead powder, graphite powder, molybdenum powder, glass ber, and
ceramic nano-powder can be added into the surface resin material for better
load-carrying capacity and wear resistance of the self-lubricating bearing composed
of the metal and plastic three-layer composite materials to achieve a better com-
prehensive performance.
4.1.6.2 Carbon-Graphite
Carbon-graphite is commonly used in motor brush and can also be used under
severe environments. It can tolerate high temperature and has self-lubrication
properties and better chemical corrosion resistance. Thermal conductivity is higher
than that of the plastic. When the humidity is very low, the lubrication function will
be lost. The metal, PTFE or molybdenum disulde (MoS2), is added into this
material or can also be impregnated with a liquid lubricant. Besides, this material
can be also used in bearings under the water lubrication. The varieties and basic
properties are shown in Table 4.4 [2].
86
Table 4.4 Carbon-graphite used in half-bearing and its basic performance

Material Electrographite Carbon-graphite
Impregnant Bronze Copper powder, SnSb alloy Thermosetting Metal,
powder lead powder powder resin MoS2
Hardness/HS 3055 4065 5560 5070
Friction coefcient 0.150.32 0.150.35 0.150.32 0.130.49 0.100.15
[p]/MPa 1.4 2 4 3 2 70
Maximum operating 500 350450 350 200 300 350500
temperature max/C
4 Materials for Bearing Frictional Pairs
4.1.6.3 Rubber
Rubber is mainly used in some dirty conditions using water as a lubricant. Water is
the most ideal lubricant for rubber. The developed water-lubricated rubber can
replace the traditional metallic bearings used in the ship propulsion system and has
been widely used in water pump, turbine, drainage, irrigation machinery and marine
machinery, and other large facilities. However, rubber has poor dry running per-
formance, easily wears and has burning phenomenon under the low speed, frequent
starting conditions. At the same time, the deformation of rubber is relatively larger
and operating accuracy is not high. Besides, the high-temperature resistance is also
poor and the load capacity is small, so the rubber is only available for transporting
ambient water, small load and complex stress for bearing system.
4.1.7 GraphiteMetal Alloy
The metalgraphite bearings through infusion process have excellent chemical,

mechanical, tribological properties, and the comprehensive performance of graphite
and metal, so it can reduce the operating temperature effectively and without the
lubricant and other additives for cooling temperature. This kind of bearing is
available to the sliding bearings with high temperature and the oil and other
lubricants are not permitted. This material is hard to be softened at high temperature
or pressed to deform at heavy loads. The operating temperature can be up to 400 C
in atmosphere and some still up to 540 C. If this kind of bearing works in the
non-oxidized medium environment, the temperature can be higher.
4.2 Rolling Bearing Material
Rolling bearings are widely used as mechanical components, and the requirements
for basic properties of materials depend on the working characteristics of bearings. In
general, bearing steel should have high contact fatigue strength, better wear resis-
tance, higher elastic limit and yield strength, and proper hardness, toughness, good
dimensional stability, better corrosion resistance, and better manufacturability. In
order to guarantee these requirements, the chemical composition, carbide inhomo-
geneity, macrostructure and microstructure (microscopic) and surface decarburiza-
tion layer, much higher cleanliness (lower level nonmetallic inclusions), and much
lower oxygen content and residual element content must be controlled strictly for the
metallurgical quality of bearing steel. Cracks, slag inclusions, veining, elephant skin,
scab, oxide scale, shrinkage, blowhole, white spots and overring surface, and
internal defects are not permitted. In order to guarantee machinability, dimensional
accuracy of steel should also be demanded exactly. Steels for rolling bearings
include the steels for rings and rolling elements, cage, and other auxiliary materials.
4.2.1 Steels for Rings and Rolling Elements
The inner and outer ring and rolling elements are mainly made of the high-carbon
chromium bearing steel. The common materials also include the carburized bearing
steel, stainless bearing steel, high-temperature bearing steel, and middle-carbon
bearing steel.
1. High-carbon chromium bearing steel
In the national standard high-carbon chromium bearing steel (GB/T18254-2002),
chromium bearing steels include GCr4, GCr15, GCr15SiMn, GCr15SiMo, and
GCr18Mo. At present, GCr15 and GCr15SiMn are widely used in the bearing industry,
which can occupy more than 80 % of total amount of bearing steels.
GCr15 is the most common hardened bearing steel. It has high hardness, wear
resistance, and contact fatigue strength after the hardening and tempering. Besides,
GCr15 has better hot-working, machinability, moderate hardening ability, and poor
welding ability. So this steel can be widely used in the engine bearings for auto-
mobiles, tractors, tanks, planes, etc., and the spindle bearings for machine tools,
electric motors and also the bearing for railway vehicles, mining machinery, and
other general machinery.
GCr15SiMn is based on GCr15 by increasing the silicon and manganese content
properly, so its hardenability and wear resistance are better than GCr15 and belongs
to high hardenability steel. However, its machinability is worse than GCr15 and the
temper brittleness may be caused. This kind of steel are mainly used to manufacture
the bearing with wall thickness range from 15 to 35 mm. Due to the higher crack
sensitivity for the GCr15SiMn steel and poor impact toughness. So it can not
completely meet the use requirements for the thick wall bearing under the impact
load condition. Therefore, GCr15SiMn steel can not be applied for the passenger
train bearings, rolling mill and mining bearings with big wall thickness under
impact load. GCr18SiMo and GCr15SiMo with high hardenability steel have been
developed and can be replaced the GCr15SiMn, applied for railway bearings,
rolling mill bearings and mining machine bearings. The application range of the
high-carbon chromium bearing steel can be seen in Table 4.5.
GCr15SiMo is based on the GCr15 by increasing the silica content and adding
molybdenum, so its quenching degree, hardenability, contact fatigue life and the
dimensional stability are better than the GCr15SiMn and is available for the
bearings with the wall thickness above 35 mm.
Table 4.5 Application range of high-carbon chromium bearing steel

Steel mark Application range (mm)
Ring Ball Roller
GCr15 Effective wall thickness 6 12 Diameter 6 50 Diameter 6 22
GCr15SiMn Effective wall thickness > 12 Diameter > 50 Diameter > 22
4.2 Rolling Bearing Material 89
GCr18Mo is based on the GCr15 by adding 0.150.25 % Mo and increasing the

content of chromium. Bainite isothermal quenching can be used to obtain the lower
bainite structure and lower retained austenite content, near to the hardening hard-
ness and wear resistance of martensite quenching. This kind of steel has higher
impact toughness, fracture toughness and the bearing median life and has been
widely applied in railway train bearings.
GCr4 is a kind of bearing steel with low hardenability. For this steel, the content
of Cr, Mn, Si, and Mo for improving the hardenability is obviously decreased. After
overall induction heating and surface hardening, tempering, it has the same per-
formance as through quenched steel GCr15 and the low-carbon alloy carburized
steel. After quenching, the surface becomes hard and the substrate just remains
hardness of 3540 HRC, so it has better toughness and impact resistance compared
with GCr15 steel, impact value has been increased by 6666 %; fracture toughness
has been increased by 67 %; contact fatigue life L10 has been increased by 12 %
[3]. This steel can be applied for the inner rings of the railway vehicle bearings, the
rings with low load and some rolling elements.
2. Carburized bearing steel
Carburized bearing steel is a superior low-carbon alloy structural steel with
low-carbon content and certain alloying elements. After carburizing, quenching,
and tempering, the bearings made of this steel, the surface hardness will be up to
5862 HRC, and the core hardness can be 2545 HRC. This material has better
surface wear resistance and enough toughness in the core. The bearing elements
made of the carburizing bearing steel can tolerate larger impact load and also have
higher wear resistance and contact fatigue strength. Carburized steel has better
processing performance, especially for large size bearing parts applied larger impact
load; such as large rolling mill bearings, auto bearings, railway bearings, and some
bearings with special structure that the high-carbon chromium bearing steel cannot
be used.
The common carburized bearing steel includes:
The contact fatigue life of G20CrNiMo is obviously better than that of GCr15
after carburizing and carbonitriding, and the surface wear resistance is close to
GCr15 steel. It has enough core toughness. This steel has good hardenability and is
suitable for producing the bearing with higher impact-loaded resistance.
G20CrNi2Mo possess the moderate surface hardening, its hardenability and
comprehensive mechanical property are better than G20CrNiMo. It is suitable for
the automobile bearings applying higher impact load and tractor roller bearings and
wagon bearings.
16Cr2Ni4Mo is mainly used for the aero-engine main bearings applying the
impact loading.
12Cr2Ni3Mo5 and H10Cr4Mo4V, high-temperature carburized bearing steel,
have higher toughness and high forgeability. After carburizing, the working tem-
perature can be up to 430 C and also with better impact load resistance. This steel
can be mainly used for the roller bearings applying higher impact load and high
temperature, such as the aero-engine high-temperature bearings.
G20Cr2Ni4, G20Cr2Mn2Mo, and G20Cr2Mn2SiMo are mainly used for the
rolling mill bearings and some extra large size bearings applying high impact load,
and also for the small and medium size bearings with high impact load and high
security, such as automobile hub units.
M50NiL, high-temperature carburized bearing steel, is a new generational
material for aero-engine bearings. For this steel, the carbon content is decreased
from 0.8 to 0.12 % and also 3.5 % nickel based on the M50 is added. The surface
hardness can be up to 6264 HRC and has the core hardness of 4345 HRC. So this
steel has better fracture toughness and rotating speed can be improved further (DN
can be up to 3.0 106 [4, 5]).
3. Stainless bearing steel
Stainless bearing steel is mainly used for the bearings in special circumstances, such
as chemical industry, food, and shipbuilding, those which need to be operated under
the resisting corrosion circumstances. This steel also can be used as a corrosion
resistant high temperature bearing material but the temperature is below 250 C.
The common austenitic stainless steel is 1Cr18Ni9Ti; martensitic stainless steel
includes 9Cr18, 9Cr18Mo and precipitation-hardening stainless steel 0Cr17Ni7Al.
(1) Martensitic stainless steel
This stainless steel contains about 1 % carbon and 18 % chromium and after the
heat treatment, it can possess higher strength, hardness, wear resistance, and contact
fatigue properties. It has better corrosion resisting property under the atmosphere,
seawater, vapor, and nitrate vapor. In general, it can be used for the bearing parts
operating under corrosion medium. Besides, this steel also has better
low-temperature stability, so can be applied to manufacture the bearing parts with
the low temperature above 253 C. Such as the low-temperature bearings used in
the hydrogen-oxygen rocket engine. Sometimes, it also can be used for the
instrument, food and medical equipment bearings.
Because 9Cr18 and 9Cr18Mo belong to high-carbon high alloy steel, they are
easily to form the eutectic carbides in smelting process. If the eutectic carbides are
too much or the distributions are nonuniform, hardness may not satisfy the design
demands or distribution of hardness would not be uniform after heat treatment and
cause a lot of waste products. On the other hand, in bearing grinding process,
eutectic carbides easily fall off from the steel substrate and form pits, which will
greatly affect processing quality of the surface of bearing parts and processing
precision. Eutectic carbide belongs to brittle phase. When bearings applied higher
cyclic load, stress concentration will be easily caused in the position of eutectic
carbides and further result in fatigue crack initiation, which has great influence on
operating property and contact fatigue life of bearings. In order to improve the
carbides in stainless bearing steel, the United States developed a new stainless
bearing steel DD440C instead of the traditional stainless bearing steel through
reducing carbon, chromium content. At present, China has also developed a similar
stainless bearing steel (7Cr14Mo and 6Cr13Mo) and also has been applied for the
bearings [6].
(2) Austenitic stainless steel
1Cr18Ni9Ti belongs to austenitic stainless steel and has excellent corrosion resis-
tance in the corrosive medium with different degree and the concentration (such as
nitric acid or most aqueous solution of organic and inorganic acid, alkali, gas, etc.).
It can be used to manufacture the bearings at light load, low speed, and operating in
strong corrosion medium. Because of lower hardness, that it can be applied in
bearings with high temperature, high speed, high wear resistance, and low load after
nitriding. Because the structure is single-phase austenitic, it also can be used for the
antimagnetic bearings.
(3) Precipitation-hardening stainless steel
Precipitation-hardening stainless steel is a kind of stainless steel by adding some
precipitation-hardening elements as Al, Cu, Ti, Mo, and Nb in the CrNi stainless
steel and after the high-temperature solution treatment, which these elements dis-
solves into the substrate fully. The steel then cools quickly and obtains supersat-
urated solid solutions. And then aging at proper temperature, the supersaturated
solid solutions decompose and form the inter-metallic compounds, carbides and
some dispersed precipitations for obtaining the hardening effect. This steel is a
combination of the corrosion resistance of the austenitic stainless steel and the high
strength of martensitic stainless steel. It also has higher high temperature strength,
so it can be applied for the parts required the high strength, high corrosion resis-
tance and high resistance to oxidation. Common precipitation-hardening stainless
steels include:
0Cr17Ni4Cu4Nb (17-4PH) martensite precipitation-hardening stainless steel
contains low-carbon and high content of Ni and Cr. The corrosion resistance is
better than 9Cr18, 1Cr17Ni2 and other martensitic stainless steel, but its thermo-
plasticity is poor, so it is available for the low-pressure turbine shafts, components
of steam turbine and gas turbine compressor blades, etc.
0Cr17Ni7Al is a kind of precipitation-hardening steel with Al and applied as the
springs thermal circle and gauge instruments.
The stainless steels used for the bearing rings and rolling elements also have
1Cr13, or 2Cr13, or 3Cr13, or 4Cr13, 1Cr17Ni2, and so on. The carbon content for
these steels is in the range of 00.4 %. The hardness and strength after heat
treatment is lower due to lower carbon content, but the corrosion resistance and
plasticity are better. They can be applied for the balls, needle rollers, needle bushes,
joint bearing bush, and so on operating in corrosion medium.
4. High temperature bearing steel

When the bearing working temperature is above 250 C, such as the bearings for
aero-engines, combustion gas turbines, nuclear reaction system, X-ray tube tung-
sten plate at the working temperature up to 300600 C, the bearing steel should be
heat resisting. The high-temperature bearing steel has not only the performance of
general bearing steel, but also has certain high temperature hardness,
high-temperature corrosion resistance, high-temperature contact fatigue strength,
oxidation resistance, high-temperature impact resistance and the dimensional sta-
bility at high temperature.
Common high temperature bearing steels include:
Cr4Mo4V, high speed steel with molybdenum, has better dimensional stability
and higher high temperature hardness and contact fatigue strength, but has low
forgeability and poor machinability. During the heat treatment process, decarbur-
ization susceptibility is higher. It can be applied to the rings and rollers of the
rolling bearing at high operating temperature.
Cr14Mo4, high-temperature stainless bearing steel, has higher high-temperature
hardness and better corrosion resistance. The high-temperature contact fatigue
strength is lightly lower than Cr4Mo4V, but the machinability is better than
Cr4Mo4V; so it can applied to the components at the lower or moderate load and
the working temperature lower than 300 C.
W18Cr4V, tungsten series high speed steel, has higher high-temperature hard-
ness and red hardness and can be suitable for all kinds of cutting tools and
high-temperature bearing parts at the operating temperature below 540 C.
The performance of W9Cr4V2Mo is closed to Cr4Mo4V. The hot workability
and grinding performance are poor, so it can be suitable for the high-temperature
bearings working at the temperature below 400 C for a long time.
W6Mo5Cr4V2, tungstenmolybdenum series high speed steel, the toughness,
wear resistance, thermoplasticity are better than W18Cr4V, but the hardness, red
hardness and the high temperature hardness are near to W18Cr4V. Besides, this
steel also has better hot workability and machinability, so it can be suitable for all
kinds of cutting tools, cold extrusion dies, high temperature springs and high
temperature bearings and so on.
High-temperature bearing steel contains some elements as W, Mo, Cr, and V and
may form carbides hard to dissolve at high temperature, and separates out disperse
carbides during the tempering process, causing secondary hardening effect, which
can make this steel have higher hardness, wear resistance, oxidation resistance,
fatigue resistance, and dimensional stability at high temperature.
The operating temperature for high temperature bearing steel can be seen in
Table 4.6.
When the operating temperature of bearing above 500 C, the high-temperature
resistance bearing steel has not met the requirements, Co-based alloy, Ni-based
alloy or ceramics and some other high-temperature materials should be chosen.
Table 4.6 Temperature selection of high temperature bearing steel
Steel mark Maximum operating Hardness under high temperature Dimension stability Oxidation
temperature/C Temperature/C Hardness/HRC Time/h Permissible dimension resistance
variation/%
Cr4Mo4V 315 (425) 20 >62 1200 <0.005 Well
4.2 Rolling Bearing Material
230 >59
315 >57
425 >54
W6Mo5Cr4V2 425 20 >62 1200 <0.005 Well
230 >61
315 >60
425 >57 Available
W9Cr4V2Mo 480 20 >63 1200 <0.005 Well
W18Cr4V 200 >61
315 >60
425 >57
535 >54
Cr15Mo4 315 (425) 20 >63 1200 <0.005 Excellent
Cr14Mo4 320 >57
420 >54
93
5. Middle-carbon bearing steel

For the bearings applying the impact load, besides carburizing steel and spring
steel, sometimes medium-carbon bearing steel also will be chosen, which is mainly
medium-carbon alloying steel. The warm working and cold working properties are
better. Compared to the carburizing and carbonitriding, the process is much simpler
and can also achieve the same surface hardening effect. It can be applied for the
bearings resistant to impact or vibration, including the large size bearings used in
the heavy machine tools and tunneling machines.
China has no specialized medium-carbon bearing steel and often use other
medium-carbon alloy steel including
40Cr and 65Mn are used to produce the bearing rings.
GCr10, 37CrA, and 40CrA are used to produce the rollers with various sizes for
spiral roller bearings or used in the transportation and transport roller in the rolling
mills applying the impact load.
5CrMnMo and 60CrMnMoNi are used to produce the outer rings of joint
bearings.
6. Spring steel
55SiMoV can be applied to produce rolling bearings in the turbodrill of oil drilling
equipment and rolling elements of cone bit used in the oil and mining industry.
65Mn can be used to produce the rings of the nicked spiral roller bearings and
the pressed rings of shield seals and so on.
7. Free-cutting steel
Y20 and Y30 are applied to produce the cheap bearing rings. This bearing is often
applied in atmosphere and with lower accuracy requirement, low load, and small
demand. The bearing manufacture process is simple. In general, they are manu-
factured through turning processing, chromizing, and directly assembling, so pro-
duction cost can be reduced.
8. Other steel
08, 10, 08F, and 10F, cold rolled steels are processed by the cyaniding and then can
be used for the rings of the needle bearings.
20, 30, 20Mn, 30Mn, T8, and T10A can be applied to produce agricultural
machinery, general machinery, trolleys bearings with lower manufacture
requirements.
T8 and T10A, cold-roll steel sheets, can be applied to produce the outer sleeves
of cup-shaped instruments.
15Mn, 20CrMn, and 20NiMo can be applied to the outer rings of needle
bearings and the outer rings of spherical plain bearings after carburizing.
18CrMnTi can be applied to the roller bearing rings and rolling elements of
transport vehicles, trucks with bigger vibration and some machines after
carburizing.
Besides, for the bearings under special operating conditions, special performance
requirements should be considered, such as the high temperature resistance, high
speed performance, corrosion resistance, antimagnetic property and so on.
4.2.2 Other Materials of the Rolling Bearings
1. Alloy material and powder metallurgy material

52 alloy is ironnickel aging strengthened alloy and has higher hardness (5057
HRC), excellent resistance to high temperature corrosion, antimagnetic and radia-
tion protection performance after solid solution aging treatment. But its price is
expensive and is used only in special circumstances.
MT35 and ST35 are composite materials with 35 % TiC and 65 % chromium
molybdenum tool steel powders, 35 % TiC and 65 % nickel chromium stainless
steel powders by the pressed sintering process. They have high hardness, high wear
resistance, better machinability, and better dimensional stability and can be applied
for the gyro motor self-acting gas journal bearings with high precision and long life.
Powder metallurgy ceramic materials include the pure Al2O3, Si3N4 and ZrO2
crystallite ceramics. These ceramics have much higher hardness, light relative
density, good high-temperature behavior, good wear resistance, high machining
precision, and good accuracy stability. It can be used for high speed machine tool
spindle bearings, etc.
L605 is cobalt-based alloy and can be applied to produce spherical plain bear-
ings with high temperature resistance.
QSiL-3 silicon bronze can be strengthened with heat treatment and has better
resistance to sea water and atmospheric corrosion.
2. Plastic bearing material
Plastic has light weight and self-lubrication and corrosion resistance, low friction
coefcient, wears resistance, low noise, and also can be lubricated with water. It
often can be applied to the bearing rings with low load in the led of marine, food,
chemical, home and ofce machinery. It may be assembled with the stainless steel
balls, glass or plastic balls. Besides, the housings with spherical outside surface also
can be produced with plastic.
Common plastics include the acetal, nylon, PTFE, phenolic resin, and
polyimide.
(1) acetal bearing material
This kind of material is the cheapest and the dynamic and static friction
coefcient with steel are very low; the intensity and rigidity are also higher,
and it can be used to produce the integrated housings with outer ring under the
low load condition.
(2) nylon bearing material

This material has low cost, low friction coefcient, and high self-lubrication.
The graphite, molybdenum disulde, and PTFE are often added to increase the
self-lubrication, strength and rigidity. The working temperature can be up
to120 C.
(3) PTFE bearing material
The friction coefcient of this kind of material is the smallest and it will
decrease with the improvement of the load. The common addictives are glass
ber, graphite, and bronze powder for improving its performances. The
working temperature can be up to 300 C.
(4) phenolic resin bearing material
This material has higher strength and can resist high temperature; but the
friction coefcient is bigger, so the wear rate is higher. Adding the PTFE may
reduce the friction coefcient and improve lifetime.
(5) polyimide bearing material
This material has higher strength and operating temperature range from 200
to 370 C.
3. Ceramic bearing material

The advantages of ceramic include wear resistance, high temperature resistant,
corrosion resistant, nonmagnetic, low density (about 40 % of bearing steel), small
thermal expansion coefcient (about 25 % of bearing steel), large elastic modulus
(about 1.5 times of the bearing steel), and so on. Ceramic bearings made of ceramic
are very suitable to operate under the conditions as high speed, high temperature,
corrosion resistance, and other special environment. Therefore, the ceramic, as the
third generation of new engineering materials after metal and plastic, has been paid
attention gradually. Recently, the ceramic materials for bearing mostly include
Si3N4, ZrO2 and Al2O3. The basic properties of ceramic compared with bearing
steel are shown in Table 4.7 [7].
4. Antimagnetic bearing material
When the bearings are working in strong magnetic eld, in order to avoid being
magnetized and make friction torque stable, so the accuracy must be ensured,
bearings must be made of the antimagnetic materials with the magnetic perme-
ability less than 0.1 %, such as prospecting instrument bearings. At present, the
common antimagnetic bearing materials mostly include
Stainless steel 1 Cr18Ni9Ti, 40CrNiAl
Antimagnetic steel Cr4V2WN, 25Cr18Ni10WN, Ni10WNbN, 7Mn15Cr2Al3WMoV2
Nickelcopper alloy NiCu28-2.5-1.5
Beryllium bronze QBe2
Powder metallurgy material YG6 (94 % WC, 6 % Co), ST60 (60 % TiC, 40 %
1Cr18Ni9Ti).
Table 4.7 Comparison of properties between steel and ceramic

Characteristic Bearing Stainless Si3N4 ZrO2 Al2O3
steel steel
GCr15 9Cr18
Mass density (g/cm3) 7.85 7.90 3.20 6.00 3.95
Thermal expansion 10.0 17.0 3.20 10.5 8.5
coefcient (106/K)
Elasticity modulus E/ 208 200 310 210 380
(GPa)
Poisson ratio 0.30 0.30 0.26 0.30 0.22
Hardness HV10 800 700 15001800 1200 1800
Compressive strength 2800 3000 1000
(MPa)
Bending strength 2400 2600 8001000 9501200 300500
(MPa)
Fracture toughness 20 25 7.08.0 10.0 34
KIC (MPa m3/2)
Thermal conductivity 3040 15 35 23 30
(W/m K)
Specic resistance 0.11 0.75 1018 1015 1018
(mm2/m)
Operating temperature 120 300 800 800 1200
(C)
Acid and alkali Weak Weak Strong Strong Strong
corrosion resistance
Unlubricated friction High High Low Low Low
Magnetism Yes Yes No No No
Operating centrifugal Big Big Small Bigger Middle
force
Operating temperature High High Low
rise
Insulativity No No Yes Yes Yes
Failure mode Spalling Spalling Spalling Spalling/breakage Breakage
Stress cycle number 10 106 10 106 50 106 50 106 30 106
(50 % failure
probability)
4.2.3 Bearing Steel Selection Principle
In designing and manufacturing the roller bearings, proper material should be

selected according to bearing operating condition. According to bearing operating
condition, the following criterions should be considered.
1. Operating conditions
(1) Working temperature
For the bearings working at room temperature, chromium bearing steel should
be applied. For the operating temperature between 150 and 250 C, chromium
bearing steel are also suitable, but through special heat treatment (tempering at
200 or at 300 C)
(2) Applied impact load
For the bearings carrying large impact load, carburized structural steel with
high quality, or impact resistance tool steel or quenched and tempered steel
should be used.
(3) Contact medium
For the bearings operating in corrosive medium, corrosion resistant steel or
alloy steel with high corrosion resistance must be used.
2. Structure type
For the bearings with complex structure, such as the outer rings with installation
ribs, and may carry higher impact load, carburized steel with better machinability
can be applied. Needle bearing with stamping outer ring can be produced with the
mild steel 08 and 10; for spherical plain bearings used in the tilting mechanism and
operating mechanism, GCr15, 9Cr18 and 9Cr8Mo can be used, which have good
cold plastic deformation property. Besides, the alloy structural steel being molded
by cold extrusion can also be used.
3. Fatigue life and reliability requirements for the bearing
The fatigue life and reliability of bearings depend on the steel purity and uniformity
to some extent. For general occasions, the ordinary bearing steel smelting with acid
open-hearth furnace or basic electric furnace can be used. With the development of
smelting method, new methods such as electroslag remelting process, vacuum
smelting, and electron beam smelting have been developed. The bearings which are
made of these steels through mentioned smelting methods above also improve life,
so it is suitable for the bearings with specic requirements as the fatigue life and
reliability, such as the railway vehicle axle box bearings, aero-engine main bear-
ings, navigation system bearings and so on.
Besides, the selection of bearing steel should also consider its machinability,
supply and the domestic resources situation and so on.
References
1. Yin J, Jiao M, Xie T et al (2006) Research progress in sliding bearing materials. Lubr Eng
5:183187
2. Bu Y (2003) Practical bearing technical manuals. China Machine Press, Beijing
3. Fan C (2010) Research on limited hardenability bearing steel GCr4. Heat Treat 25(1):3843
References 99
4. Xu Y, Zhao H (1995) Research on Carburizing high temperature bearing steel. J Iron Steel Res
7(3):8589
5. Dodd A, Kinder J, Torp B et al (1995) The effect of iron implantation on the fatigue life and
corrosion resistance of M50 steel bearings. Surf Coat Technol. 74/75:754759
6. Yu F, Wei G, Xu D (2005) Research and development of stainless bearing materials. J Iron
Steel Res 17(1):69
Chapter 5
Sliding Bearing Lubrication Theory
Sliding friction exists in the working process of sliding bearing. The advantages of
sliding bearing include the stability, reliability, and noiseless. Requirement of the
formation of lubrication lm is to ensure the sufcient lubricant for the sliding
bearing. Under the condition of liquid lubrication, the surfaces of the sliding
bearing are separated by lubricating oil and there is direct contact, so the friction
loss and the wear of the surface can be reduced greatly. Besides, the lubricating lm
also has a certain vibration absorbed performance. In this chapter, the basic theory
of sliding bearing lubrication will be introduced, on bases of which the reasons of
sliding bearing lubrication failure can be analyzed further, and nally establish the
foundation for seeking the effective way to solve the problem.
5.1 Lubrication Condition
The aim of lubrication is to form a lubricant lm with lower shear strength between
the friction surfaces, and then the frictional and material wear can be reduced.
Lubrication lms can be the liquid lm made of the liquid or gas or the solid lm.
According to the formation principles and characteristics, the lubrication status can
be divided into: (1) hydrodynamic lubrication; (2) hydrostatic lubrication;
(3) elastic hydrodynamic lubrication; (4) boundary lubrication; (5) dry friction. The
basic characteristics of each lubrication states can be seen in Table 5.1.
The lm thickness would be different under different lubrication states.
However, the states are hard to dene just according to the lm thickness and it also
needs be compared with the surface roughness. Figure 5.1 lists the lm thickness
and the magnitude of roughness. Only when the lubricant lm thickness exceeds the
roughness peak height of two surfaces, the peak contact situation could be avoided,
so the full lm fluid lubrication could be realized. For the actual friction pairs,
several lubrication states exist at the same time which is known as mixed lubri-
cation state.
102 5 Sliding Bearing Lubrication Theory
Table 5.1 Basic characteristics of each lubrication states

Lubrication Typical lm Formation method Application
state thickness (m)
Hydrodynamic 1100 Hydrodynamic effect or Surface contact frictional
lubrication squeeze effect caused by pair under intermediate or
relative movement of high speed, for example,
frictional surfaces sliding bearing
Hydrostatic 1100 External pressure forced to Surface contact frictional
lubrication form liquid lm between pair under any speeds, for
frictional surfaces example, sliding bearing and
guiding rail
Elastic 0.11 Similar with hydrodynamic Point or line contact
hydrodynamic lubrication frictional pair under
lubrication intermediate or high speeds,
for example, gear and rolling
bearing
Boundary 1035 102 Through a physical or Frictional pair under low
lubrication chemical reaction between speed or heavy load
the lubricating oil and
metal surfaces
Dry friction 103102 Surface oxidation lm and Frictional pair under no
(Oxide lm gas adsorption lm and so lubricant or self-lubrication
thickness) on
Fig. 5.1 Lubrication lm

thickness and roughness
The methodology to dene the lubrication state according to the lubricant lm

thickness is reliable, but it is hard to measure, so it is often inconvenient to use. In
addition, the values of friction coefcient also can be used as the basis of judging all
kinds of lubrication state. Figure 5.2 shows the typical values of friction
coefcients.
5.1 Lubrication Condition 103
Fig. 5.2 Typical values of

friction coefcients
It should be mentioned that the disciplines and the change rules involved various
characteristics of lubrication states are different, therefore, the solutions to the
problems are also different. For the fluid lubrication state, including hydrodynamic
lubrication and the hydrostatic lubrication, the disciplines of fluid mechanics, heat
transfer, and vibration mechanics are mainly used to calculate the load capacity of
lubricating lm and other physical properties. For the elastic hydrodynamic lubri-
cation, the deformation of the contact surface, and lubricant rheology properties
need to be analyzed with the elastic mechanics because of the load concentration
effect. For the boundary lubrication condition, the formation, and fracture mecha-
nism of lubricant lm need to be researched on the viewpoint of physical and
chemistry. For the mixed lubrication and dry friction condition [1], the main
problem is to restrict the wear, so it refers to the material mechanics, elastic-plastic
mechanics, heat transfer, chemistry, and physics, etc.
5.2 Hydrodynamic Lubrication
Depending on the shapes of the two sliding surfaces, the convergence oil wedge can
be formed during relative motion and fluid lm with enough pressure also could be
formed, which can separate two surfaces. This lubrication state can be called the
hydrodynamic lubrication [2].
5.2.1 Fluid Lubrication Basic Equation
For the rigid surface, fluid lubrication theory is based on the following basic
equations:
(1) equation of motion: stands for the principle of momentum conservation, which
also can be named as the NavierStokes equation;
(2) continuity equation: stands for the principle of mass conservation;

(3) energy equation: stands for the principle of energy conservation;
(4) state equation: establishes the relationship between the destiny, pressure, and
temperature;
(5) viscosity equation: establishes the relationship between the viscosity, pressure,
and temperature.
For the lubrication problems between elastic surfaces, elastic deformation
equation also need to be concerned, so it can be named as the elastic hydrodynamic
lubrication theory which will be introduced in the Chap. 6.
Reynolds equation is the most basic equation for the fluid lubrication theory that
is deduced from the equation of motion and the continuity equation. According to
the hydromechanics, the rst two equations can be seen as the following:
(1) continuity equation

1 dq @u @v @w
0 5:1
q dt @x @y @z
@ @ @ @
where ddt u v w
@t @x @y @z
For the incompressible fluid of steady flow, is constant, and ddqt 0. Continuity
equation can be changed as the volume conservation principle, as
@u @v @w
0.
@x @y @z
For steady flow, the continuity equation can be:
@ @ @
qu qv qw 0 5:2
@x @y @z
(2) Navier-Stokes equation

du @p @ @u 2 @ @u @v @ @w @u
q qX g 2 D g g
dt @x @x @x 3 @y @y @x @z @x @z

dv @p @ @v 2 @ @v @w @ @u @v
q qY g 2 D g g
dt @y @y @y 3 @z @z @y @x @y @x

dw @p @ @w 2 @ @w @u @ @v @w
q qZ g 2 D g g
dt @z @z @z 3 @x @x @z @y @z @y
5:3
@u @v @w
where D
@x @y @z
where u, v, and w are the flowing velocity along the direction of coordinate x, y, and z.
X, Y, and Z are the components of the body force; is the destiny and t is the time.
5.2 Hydrodynamic Lubrication 105
5.2.2 Reynolds Equation
Reynolds, at the end of the nineteenth century, studied the fluid dynamic problems
based on viscous fluid mechanics equation and flow continuity equation, in which
illustrated the dynamic pressure oil lm formation condition of the lubrication oil.
5.2.2.1 Reynolds Equation General Formula
NavierStokes equation has not the general solution, and thus it need to be sim-
plied. Taking the lubricating oil lm as the research object, as shown in Fig. 5.3,
and two surfaces can move along the u1 and u2 in x direction, respectively.
Since the Reynolds equation is based on the NavierStokes equation and con-
tinuity equation, the following assumptions need to be made:
(1) Ignore body force, such as the gravity and magnetic force, that is
X = Y = Z = 0;
(2) No fluid sliding he on the interfaces, which means the oil layer speed stick to
the interfaces is the same as the boundary velocity, and this has been
demonstrated in the experiments;
(3) Regardless of the pressure change along the lubricant lm thickness direction,
@p
that is 0;
@y
(4) Compared with the oil lm thickness, curvature radius of the bearing surfaces
is so big that the influence of the oil lm curvature can be ignored, and in this
way the rotating speed will be replaced by the translational velocity;
(5) Lubricant is the Newtonian fluid, which is reasonable for the mineral oil under
the general working condition;
(6) As laminar flow, vortex, and turbulence do not exist in the oil lm; for the
large bearing at high speed, the turbulent lubrication may exist;
(7) Compared to the viscosity force, inertia force can be ignored, including the
fluid acceleration force and centrifugal force which make the oil lm bending.
du dv dw
As 0, however, the inertia force need to be considered for the
dt dt dt
large bearing at high speed;
@u @w
(8) h is tiny, only the velocity gradient: and should be retained compared to
@y @y
the other velocity gradient;
Fig. 5.3 Fluid lubrication

lm
According to the assumption (7), the left part of Eq. (5.3) is zero;
According to the assumption (1), the rst item in the right part of Eq. (5.3) is zero;
According to the assumption (3), the second item in the right part of Eq. (5.3) is zero;
According to the assumption (8), the rst item in the right part of Eq. (5.3) is
@p @2u @p @2w
g 2 , the second item is zero and the third item is g 2.
@x @y @z @y
Equation (5.3) can be simplied as
1 @p @ 2 u

g @x @y2
5:4
1 @p @ 2 w
2
g @z @y
Integrating the Eq. (5.4) according to the following two boundary conditions:
y 0; u u1 ; w 0
y h; u u2 ; w 0
5:5
1 @p 2 hy y
and get u y hy u1 u2
2g @x h h
1 @p 2
w y hy 5:6
2g @z
Substituting the Eqs. (5.5) and (5.6) into the Eq. (5.2) and integrating the
equation based on the following boundary conditions:
y 0; v v1
y h; v v2
8 h 9
Z Zh =
1 < @ q @p @ q @p
and get qv1 v2 y2 hy dy y2 hy dy
2: @x g @x @z g @z ;
0 0
Zh
@ hy y
q u1 u2 dy
@x h h
0
where v1, v2the speed of the two surfaces along the y direction.
Upper limit of integral in the above equation h is the function of x and z and the
integration can be conduced before the differential with the following relationship:
Zha Zha
@ @ @ha
f y; ady f y; ady f ha; a 5:7
@a @a @a
0 0
and get:
8 9
>
> Zh >
>
>
> @ q @p 2 q @p 2 2 @h >
>
>
> y hy dy h h >
>
>
> @x g @x g @x @x >
>
1 < 0
=
qv1 v2
2>
> Zh >
>
>
> >
> @ q @p 2 q @p 2 2 @h >
>
>
> y hy dy h h > >
>
: @z g @z g @z @z >
;
0
Zh
@ hy y hh h @h
q u1 u2 dy q u1 u2
@x h h h h @x
0
Simplied as:

@ qh3 @p @ qh3 @p @qh @
6u1 u2 6qh u1 u2
@x g @x @z g @z @x @x 5:8
12qv2 v1
If the bearing can not extend or contract along the x direction, then
@
u1 u2 0 5:9
@x
And then the above equation can be simplied as:

@ qh3 @p @ qh3 @p @qh
6u1 u2 12qv2 v1 5:10
@x g @x @z g @z @x
Equation (5.10) is the general formula of the Reynolds equation.
5.2.2.2 Simplication of the Reynolds equation
(1) If the lubricant is incompressible and is constant, so the Eq. (5.10) can be
changed to:

@ h3 @p @ h3 @p @h
6u1 u2 12v2 v1 5:11
@x g @x @z g @z @x
(2) If the viscosity of lubricant is constant, the Eq. (5.10) can be changed to:

@ 3 @p @ 3 @p @h
h h 6gu1 u2 12gv2 v1 5:12
@x @x @z @z @x
(3) If the sliding bearing cannot move along the normal direction (y direction),
and the oil thickness cant change with time, then the Eq. (5.10) can be
presented as:

@ h3 @p @ h3 @p @h
6u1 u2 5:13
@x g @x @z g @z @x
where, u1 and u2 are the actual surface velocity and not the component. The
deduction can be following as:
As shown in the Fig. 5.4, the velocity components along the x and y directions are:
x direction: u1 and u2cos u2
y direction: 0 and u2sin u2tg = u2h/ x
Then the right item of Eq. (5.11) can be changed as:

@h @h @h
6u1 u2 12 u2 0 6u1 u2
@x @x @x
So the Eq. (5.13) can be established.

For the two cylinders shown in Fig. 5.5, the Eq. (5.13) can also be established.
(4) The oil lm thickness changes with time, and then, the following equation can
be applied:

@ h3 @p @ h3 @p @h
6ua ub 5:14
@x g @x @z g @z @x
Fig. 5.4 Velocity component

for shaft
Fig. 5.5 Surface velocity of

two contact cylinders
Fig. 5.6 Decomposition for

two inclining plate systems
where, ua and ub are the surfaces speed of the two plates. When ua > ub, positive
hydrodynamic pressure will be produced; when ua < ub, the negative hydrody-
namic pressure will be produced, as shown in Fig. 5.6.
For Eqs. (5.10)(5.14), the pressure p can change in x and z directions, which
can be named as the two-dimensional Reynolds equation and applied to analyze the
lubrication of nite journal bearing (1/3 < L/B < 3). L is the bearing axial length, B
is the width of the sliding surface (x direction).
L
(5) For sliding bearing [ 3, innite approximation theory (the length of the
B
@p
sliding surface along the z direction is innite) can be applied, and 0, so
@z
Eq. (5.13) can be changed to:

d dp dh
h3 6gu1 u2
dx dx dx
Integrating x for the above equation:
dp
h3 6gu1 u2 h C 5:15
dx
where, C is the integration constant. If the point with oil lm thickness of hm, is,
dp/dx = 0, it can be fullled, C = 6(u1 + u2)hm, so
dp h hm
6gu1 u2 5:16
dx h3
Equation (5.16) is the one-dimensional Reynolds equation

(6) sliding bearing L/B < 1/3, innite short approximation theory should be
applied (innite short in the z direction) in the equation, and then p/z p/
x and p/x can be eliminated. So the Eq. (5.13) can be changed to:

@ @p @h
h3 6gu1 u2 5:17
@z @z @x
5.2.3 Flow Equation and Shearing Stress Equation
5.2.3.1 Flow Equation
The velocity distribution along x direction has been known as the Eq. (5.5)
1 @p 2 hy y
u y hy u 1 u2
2g @x h h
Similarly, Velocity distribution along the z direction as the Eq. (5.6)
1 @p 2
w y hy
2g @z
Taking per unit length along z direction, the unit discharge along the x direction
of oil lm can be as:
Zh Zh
1 @p 2 hy y
qx udy y hy u1 u2 dy
2g @x h h
0 0
1 h3 @p h
u1 u2 5:18
12 g @x 2
In a similar way, the unit discharge along the z direction of oil lm can be as:
Zh Zh
1 @p 2 1 h3 @p
qz wdy y hy dy 5:19
2g @z 12 g @z
0 0
5.2.3.2 Shear Stress Equation
Newtonian fluid has the following relationship:

@u @w
sx g ; sz g 5:20
@y @y
The follows would be got:

@u 1 @p 1
2y h u2 u1 5:21
@y 2g @x h
@w 1 @p
2y h 5:22
@y 2g @z
1 @p g
sx 2y h u2 u1 5:23
2 @x h
1 @p
sz 2y h 5:24
2 @z
On the lubrication surface of y = 0, the shear stress can be:

h @p g
sx u2 u1
2 @x h
5:25
h @p
sz
2 @z
On the surface of y = h, the shear stress can be:

h @p g
sx u2 u1
2 @x h 5:26
h @p
sz
2 @z
The shear stress does not work along the z direction which is vertical to the
motion direction, so the whole friction along the motion direction can be:
Z z Zx Z z Z x
h @p g
Fx sx dxdz u2 u1 dxdz 5:27
2 @x h
0 0 0 0
5.2.3.3 Application of Reynolds Equation
Reynolds equation is the basic equation in the lubrication theory and the key
properties for the fluid lubrication status can be deduced by solving this equation
1. Pressure distribution p
When the kinematic velocity and the lubricant viscosity have been known, for
the given clearance condition h(x, z) and boundary conditions, integrating the
Reynolds equation, the pressure distribution p(x, z) can be obtained.
2. Load capacity W
Integrating the pressure distribution p(x, z) on the whole scope
RR of lubricant lm,
the load capacity of the lubricant lm can be calculated as pdxdz (the range of
integration can be decided by the pressure distribution)
3. Force of friction F
The friction force between the lubricant lm and the solid surface can be cal-
culated by the integration of the shear stress in the fluid layer contacting
RR with the
surface and within the whole range of lubricant lm as F0;h sjy0;h dxdz.
In this equation, positive sign means the friction force on the surface of y = 0,
and the negative sign means the friction force on the surface of y = h. The
friction coefcient also can be obtained as f = F/W.
4. Lubricant flow Q
The rate of flow through the boundary of the lubricant lm can be calculated
with the flowing equation:
Z Z
Qx qx dy or Qz qz dx 5:28
The total flow can be got by the sum of the flow from each boundary.
5.3 Design and Calculation of Hydrodynamic Sliding

Bearing
Fluid dynamic pressure bearings have the following features:

(1) certain primary clearance h0;
(2) certain viscosity of the lubricant;
(3) certain relative velocity between the shaft surface and bearing surface;
(4) eccentric distance during the working process;
(5) only one set of oil feeding line, even for different design;
The design and calculation for different kinds of fluid dynamic pressure bearing
will be introduced in the following.
5.3 Design and Calculation of Hydrodynamic Sliding Bearing 113
Fig. 5.7 Thrust bearing
5.3.1 Tapered-Land Thrust Bearing
The thrust bearings with fluid dynamic pressure lubrication are mainly applied to
the equipments in the heavy-duty machinery, such as the hydraulic machine, ver-
tical fan, pump, large steam, and gas turbine as well as the ship propeller. For the
thrust bearing with the diameter of 800 mm, it can support the load of 6 105 N,
and the velocity has a big influence on the load capacity.
In order to increase the load capacity of the thrust bearing, bearing surface
should be structured with constringent wedge as much as possible, so the bearing
surface can be averaged to be several fun-shaped sliders as shown in Fig. 5.7. The
oil grooves need to be processed between the sliders for lubrication and the central
angle of the oil grooves account for 15 %.
5.3.1.1 Single Bevel Bush
Oil wedge can be formed by the single bevel bush and the thrust plate shown in the
Fig. 5.8. According to the coordinate system in this gure, let u1 = u, and u2 = 0.
According to the analysis of innite approximation theory and the Eq. (5.16), the
following equation would be got.
dp h hm
6gu 5:29
dx h3
The oil thickness for this kind bearing is:
a lx h1
h tan ax ax h2 where a 5:30
L h2
Integrate the Reynolds equation, and apply the boundary conditions:
x x1 ; P 0; h hm ; dp=dx 0;
x x2 ; P 0:
Fig. 5.8 Thrust bearing with

cant segment
a. Pressure distribution at any point of x:
6gu h1 axax h2
px 5:31
a2 h1 h2 x2
2h1 h2 2a
hm h2 5:32
h1 h2 1 a
Maximum pressure:
3guaa 12
pmax 5:33
2aa
b. Load capacity for the single bush of the bearing:
Zx2
wB px dx where; B is the bearing width 5:34
x1
Substituting x1 = h1/, x2 = h2/ and Eq. (5.31) into the (5.34) equation, and get:
6guBL2
w K 5:35
h22
h i
1 2
where, K is the load coefcient, K a1 ln a 2a1
a1
If let dw/da = 0, the maximum load capacity would be obtained: a = 2.2,
K = 0.0267:
0:1602guBL2
w 5:36
h22
5.3.1.2 Multiple Bushes
For the thrust bearing with many bushes, the total load capacity can be equal to the
load capacity of single bush multiply the bush number, that is n w.
5.3.2 Ladder Bearing
Rayleigh analyzed the load capacity of wedge slider with different shapes by the
variational method and found that the ladder slider constituted by two parallel
surfaces has the maximum load capacity. This kind of ladder structure can also be
named as the Reyleigh bearing.
As shown in Fig. 5.9, the coordinate system can be established in the area of L1
and L2.
Ladder slider clearance can be expressed as:
In the area of L1, h = h1;
In the area of L2, h = h2,
The solution process with the innite theory can be as:
dp h hm
In the area of L1, Eq. (5.16) can be written as 6gu , and let h be
dx h3
constant for the integration, so get:
h hm
p 6gu x C1 5:37
h3
Fig. 5.9 Ladder bearing

In the area of L2, Eq. (5.16) can be written as:
dp hm h
6gu 5:38
dx h3
According to the boundary condition of x = 0, p = 0; when x = L1, p = pc, so

C1 = 0 can be conrmed.
h1 hm
pc 6gu L1 5:39
h31
With the same method, for the area of L2, C1 = 0.
hm h2
pc 6gu L2 5:40
h32
PC is the common pressure in the ladder position, so:
h1 hm hm h2
6gu L1 6gu L2 5:41
h31 h32
h1 hm hm h2
then L1 L2 5:42
h31 h32
h1 h2 L1 h22 L2 h21
or hm 5:43
L1 h32 L2 h31
5.3.2.1 Pressure Distribution
Area L1:

6gu h2 L1 h22 L2 h21
p1 x 1 x 5:44
h21 L1 h32 L2 h31
Area L2:

6gu h1 L1 h22 L2 h21
p2 x 1 x 5:45
h22 L1 h32 L2 h31
If h1 = h2 or L1 = 0 or L2 = 0, Eqs. (5.27) and (5.28) are 0, which means

no-load capacity.
5.3.2.2 Load Capacity
ZL1 ZL2
3guBL1 L2 Lh1 h2
w w1 w2 B p1 xdx B p2 x 5:46
L1 h32 L2 h31
0 0
If L1/L2 = 2.549, h1/h2 = 1.866, the ladder bearing has the maximum load
capacity as:
0:2052guBL2
wmax 5:47
h22
The derivation process is following as:

Substitute L1 = L L2 and h1/h2 = a into Eq. (5.46);
Make w/L2 = 0 and w/a = 0, and the optimal L2 and a can be
obtained;
Calculate L1/L2.
5.3.3 Journal Bearing
The structures of journal bearing include the split, monolithic, flange, and
self-aligning type. The cover of the split bearing can be open and is easy to be
assembled into the shaft neck. The bearing clearance can be adjusted after the
bearing bush is worn. The structure of integral bearing is simple.
5.3.3.1 Integral Boundary Conditions
When the Reynolds equation is applied to solve the pressure distribution, the
integral constant will be decided by the boundary conditions of pressure distribu-
tion. Generally speaking, the initial point and termination point of the oil lm is not
hard to conrm according to the geometric construction and oil supply condition.
However, for some lubrication surfaces, such as the radial bearing, they contain the
convergent and diffused oil wedge. Figure 5.10 is the unfolded sketch of the radial
bearing. In the position of the convergent oil wedge, the oil lm can be formed and
there are three views for the denition of the location for the termination point of
the oil lm for the part of the diffused oil wedge.
1. Sommerfeld boundary condition
Positive pressure can be formed in the convergent area and, likewise negative
pressure in the diffused area and the pressure distribution are antisymmetric,
Fig. 5.10 Boundary

conditions of oil lm
which means the pressure p = 0 in the position of hmax and hmin. In physically
this condition is impossible to be satised, since oil lm cannot withstand the
negative pressure at high everlasting load.
2. Half Sommerfeld boundary condition
The oil lm pressure in the convergent area is similar with the Sommerfeld
condition and the pressure is zero in the diffused area, which means the pressure
p = 0 in the position of hmax and hmin. In physically this condition is impossible
to be satised, because the flows in different area are different and the continual
condition may be broken.
3. Reynolds boundary condition
In the position of hmax, let p = 0, and this point is the initial point of the oil lm,
and the terminal point can be decided according to the season cracking of the oil
lm that can be found in the diffused area after the minimum gap. And this point
can meet the condition of p = 0 and p/x = 0 at the same time. Reynolds
boundary condition can guarantee the continuity of the flow.
5.3.3.2 Innite Radial Bearing with Complete Cycle (360)
1. Shaft center location and the gap shape

Fluid dynamic pressure can be caused when the oil has been brought into con-
vergent gap by the shaft neck rotation. The resultant force of oil lm pressure is
balanced with the load on the shaft neck and the balanced position is declined to
one side as shown in Fig. 5.11.
Equilibrium position O2 of the shaft center can be decided by the angle of
displacement and eccentricity ratio . is the angle between the line of centers for
bearing and shaft neck O1O2 and the line of action for load W. = e/c; e is eccentric
distance; radius clearance c = R r. According to the above gure, we can get: gap
h is the function of the , and in the O1O2P, it can be deduced with the sine
theorem:
Fig. 5.11 Shaft centerline

position
e/sin = R/sin as well as sin = e sin /R

And cos = (1 sin2)1/2 = (1 e2sin2/R2)1/2 = 1 e2sin2/2R2 +
In general, e/R 103 1, ignoring the higher order microscale, let cos = 1
According to the geometrical relationship:
h r e cos u R cos a e cos u R 5:48
h e cos u R r e cos u c 5:49
h c1 e cos u 5:50
The error for the gap expression is only 0.1 % and Eq. (5.50) shows that the gap
shape of the radial bearing is cosine function.
2. Solution to the Sommerfeld boundary condition
The Reynolds equation of the innite bearing expressed in the angular coordinate
is:
dp h hm
6ugR 5:51
d/ h3
Substituting Eq. (5.50) into the above equation and integrating:

"Z Z #
6guR du hm du
p C1 5:52
c 1 e cos u2 c 1 e cos u3
hm and C1 are the integral constant. The above equation can be solved with the
transformed angle . Sommerfeld dened the angle as:
e cos u
cos c 5:53
1 e cos u
Therefore:
cos c e
cos u 5:54
1 e cos c
1=2
1 e2
du dc 5:55
1 e cos c
The integral value of Eq. (5.52) calculated by the transformation mentioned

above is:
Z
du 1
2
c e sin c 5:56
1 e cos u 1 e2 3=2
Z
du 1 e2 c e2
3
c 2e sin c sin 2c 5:57
1 e cos u 1 e2 3=2 2 4
So
" #
6ugR c e sin c hm e2 c e2
pc 2 c 2e sin c sin 2c C1
c 1 e2 3=2 1 e2 5=2 2 4
5:58
By using Sommerfeld boundary condition, as well as = 0 and = 2, p = 0.

When = 0, , 2, , and have the same value, therefore, the boundary conditions
expressed with the transformed are:
when = 0, p = 0;
p(0) = p(2).
So the rst boundary condition can be get: C1 = 0
2
The second boundary condition can be get: hm 2c1e
2 e2
a. The expression of pressure distribution is
6ugRe 2 e cos u sin u

pu 5:59
c2 2 e2 1 e cos u2
Equation (5.59) is antisymmetric to = , which means the negative pressure

can be caused in the diffused area.
b. According to Fig. 5.11, the load component that is vertical to the direction of
line of centers O1O2 is:
2 3
Z2p Z2p
dp
W sin h BRp sin /d/ BR4p cos /j2p
0 cos /d/5
d/
0 0
5:60
Z2p 2
dp 12pguBR=c e
BR cos /d/
d/ 2 e2 1 e2 1=2
0
c. In a similar way, the load component in the direction of line of centers can be
solved:
Z2p
W cos h BRp cos /d/ 0 5:61
0
W 0, so cos = 0, as well as = /2, and then sin = 1.

So the orbit of shaft center with Sommerfeld solution is vertical to the direction
of load W. This conclusion is obviously unreal since the negative pressure part has
been included when integrating the pressure. Actual orbit of shaft center is shown
as the Fig. 5.12, and the radius of the circle R c (radius clearance).
Fig. 5.12 Orbit of shaft

center
d. One nondimensional number is introduced as Sommerfeld number,
2
gN R 2 e2 1 e2 1=2
S BD 5:62
F c 12p2 e
e. Load coefcient of the radial bearing is F2/uB, where, = c/R and is the
relative clearance.
Fw2 12pe 1
5:63
guB 2 e2 1 e2 1=2 pS
f. Friction force on the bearing bush surface of bearing (y = 0) can be deduced

with Eq. (5.25):
1=2
guBR 4p1 e2
F1 5:64
c 2 e2
The friction force on the shaft neck (y = h) can be calculated with Eq. (5.26):
guBR 4p1 2e2
F2 5:65
c 2 e2 1 e2 1=2
The difference between friction forces of the shaft neck and bearing to the
bearing center is:
RF2 RF1 Fe 5:66
The friction forces on the shaft neck and the bearing bush are shown as the
Fig. 5.13.
Fig. 5.13 Frictional forces

between shaft and bearing
bush
3. Solution with the Reynolds boundary condition

Reynolds boundary condition: when = 2( < 2 < 2), p = dp/d = 0.
The solution with Reynolds equation is complicated and will not be expatiated
here. The basic process is following as:
(1) the friction force on the shaft neck can be calculated with the Reynolds
boundary condition,
" #
Wc e sin h 2p2 S
F2 5:67
R 2 1 e2 1=2
where
S Sommerfeld value;
angle of displacement.
(2) torque equilibrium condition
F1 R F2 R eW sin h 0 5:68
5.3.3.3 Finite Radial Bearings
For the nite radial bearings, flow condition can be existing in the bearing axial
direction (z direction), p/z > 0. After applying the two-dimensional Reynolds
equation, Eq. (5.10) can be get (it is supposed that g is constant and the following
equation can be got with the speed condition).

@ 3 @p @ 3 @p @h
h h 6gu
@x @x @z @z @x
Let x = R, the above equation can be turned into:

@ @p @ @p @h
h3 R2 h3 6guR
@u @u @z @z @u
Substituting the h = c(1 + cos) and u = R into the above equation, we can get:

@ @p @ @p
h3 R2 h3 6gR2 xce sin / 5:69
@/ @/ @z @z
where, angular velocity of the shaft (rad/s).

Equation (5.69) is the second order elliptic type partial differential equation and
only can be solved with the numerical computation method on the computer. The
real radial bearings are nite and the lubrication only can be analyzed with the
calculation result of the above equation that is not satised with the analysis of the
ideal bearing.
After the numerical calculation of Eq. (5.69), the results can be shown in the
Figs. 5.14, 5.15 and 5.16. These gures and relevant equations can be applied
directly to the bearing design.
Adding some points:
(1) Figure 5.14 shows the relationship between load coefcient F2/uB, eccen-
tricity ratio , minimum oil lm thickness Hmin.
Fbearing load, relative clearance = c/R, dynamic viscosity, ubearing
surface velocity, Bbearing width, eccentricity ratio = e/c,
eeccentric distance, radius clearance c = R r, Hmin = hmin/c (oil lm
thickness with dimensionless).

between load factor and
eccentricity ratio, minimum
oil lm thickness

between capacity coefcient
and oil spilling coefcient

between capacity coefcient
and resistance coefcient
(2) Figure 5.15 shows the relationship between load coefcient F2/uB and
leakage oil mass coefcient q/uBD.
qleakage oil mass from the ambitious of the bearing two ends, as well as the
flow in the z position (flow along axial direction), Dbearing diameter.
(3) Figure 5.16 shows the relationship between load coefcient F2/uB and
resistance coefcient f/.
ffriction coefcient, f = F2/F, F2load on the shaft, Fbearing load.
(4) Power loss of the friction heating N = fFu.
(5) Bearing temperature tb = ti + 0.8t
where
ti inlet oil temperature;
t bearing temperature rise, t = fFu/coil q;
Coil lubricant specic heat, about 16752090 J/(kg K);
oil density, = 850900 kg/m3;
q leakage oil mass, m3/s.
5.3.3.4 Parameters Selection of the Radial Sliding Bearing Design
1. Width diameter ratio B/D

(1) The bigger B is, the higher the load capacity is;
(2) When the heating and bending deformation is bigger, B/D need to be suitable;
(3) Common value:electric motor 12, machine tool 1.54, gasoline engine 0.41.2.
2. Relative clearance
(1) The smaller is, the higher load capacity, friction, and temperature rise are,
and leakage oil mass will be reduced;
(2) Under the condition of heavy load and low speed, need to be smaller; under
the condition of high running accuracy, is much smaller;
(3) Under the condition of the light load and high speed, need to be bigger;
(4) Common values: electric motor, turbine 0.0010.002, machine tool spindle
0.00010.0005.
3. Minimum oil lm thickness hmin

The lubrication should be kept to be better, and hmin k (Ra1 + Ra2) need to be
required. And Ra1 and Ra2 are the surface roughness of two surfaces, k = 23.
4. Viscosity
(1) Load capacity and the friction heating can be influenced by the viscosity;
(2) Bearing temperature can be supposed by experience. After selection ,
calculating the oil lm thickness and temperature rise, and need to be
selected again when the condition can not meet the requirement.
5. Bearing average temperature tb
tb = ti + 0.8 t, tb 75 C, ti = 2040 C, oil outlet temperature 6570 C.
5.4 Fluid Dynamic Instability
In general, bearing operating condition can be seen to be stable that means the axis
position, the lm shape, deviation angle and some other factors do not change with
time. However, the actual situation is not like this since the fluid dynamic pressure
bearing will produce unstable phenomenon, especially in high speed rotating
machinery (such as the turbine compressor, turbine generator). In general, this
instability can be divided into two forms as half-speed whirl motion and oil lm
oscillation.
5.4.1 Oil Film Instability
Newkirk found the oil lm oscillation phenomenon in the supporting bearing of

compressor rst in 1924 and mentioned it is caused by the instability of the oil lm.
As shown in the Fig. 5.17a, when the radial bearings are applied to the stable
load W and the shaft neck center should be in the position of balanced point O. At
this time, the resultant force of the oil lm is totally balanced to the W and the
resultant force is not on the direction of line of centers OO, but deviated to a angle
of . If there are some disturbances in the outside surrounding atmosphere,
5.4 Fluid Dynamic Instability 127
Fig. 5.17 Oil lm instability.

a Bearing, b half-speed
vortex, c oil whipping
instantaneous displacement will be produced for the shaft neck that means the shaft
center will move from O to O. It is obvious that the oil lm acting force W in the
new position of shaft center is not balanced to the load and it can lead to the shaft
center motion. The following situation could be caused according to the real
working condition.
(1) Shaft center can return to the balanced point O from O quickly and then
operate continually.
(2) Shaft center will move as vortex motion with the elliptic close trace sur-
rounding to the balanced point O and the swing is often small as shown in
Fig. 5.17b.
(3) During the vortex motion process of shaft center surrounding to the balanced
point O, the swing will be increased gradually and lose the stability and lead
to the broken of the oil lm between the shaft neck and the bearing surface,
which situation can be named as the oil lm oscillation as shown in Fig. 5.17c.
5.4.2 Half-frequency Whirl
Half-frequency whirl is also named as the half-speed vortex motion. In order to

analysis conveniently, it is supposed that the O is superposed to O, as shown in
Fig. 5.18. If the shaft center move to the point of O instantaneously, the angle
between the oil lm pressure W and the line of centers is the displacement angle .
It is obvious that the shaft center does not move to the direction of the bearing
center O, but do vortex motion surrounding to the point O and the vortex motion
direction is the same as the rotational direction. The load W and direction can be
changed with the change of the vortex motion position, and it can be continual only
if the points of O and O are not superposed.
Let the angular speed of the vortex motion for the shaft center be 0 that can be
calculated according to the flow continual condition. As for the bearing with light
load, the pressure gradient along the circumference direction is small, so the flow
Fig. 5.18 Half frequency

whirl
caused by the pressure gradient can be ignored. In the position of AB, the flow is
1
2 rxBc e, and in the position of CD, the flow is 2 rxBc e (B is the bearing
1
width). The difference between the inlet and outlet flow can ll the space formed by
the back of shaft neck in the process of vortex motion, as:
1 1
rxBc e rxBc e 2rex0 B 5:70
2 2
then
1
x0 x
2
The above results indicate: the vortex frequency of the shaft center is about half
of the rotation frequency of the shaft neck, so it also can be named as the
half-frequency whirl. It can be proofed with the practice that half-frequency whirl
can be discovered under the condition of the shaft neck with low speed. If the load
is much smaller that means the eccentricity ratio is also smaller, so the
half-frequency whirl is much easier to be caused.
5.4.3 Oil Oscillation
When the shaft neck speed is nearly equal to the twice of the rst-order critical
speed of the bearing system, the bearing system will be resonating with the fre-
quency of rst-order critical speed and the shaft center will be in the vortex motion
status in the same direction of the shaft rotation speed, which can be named as the
oil lm oscillation. Oil lm oscillation and half-frequency whirl are the same as the
phenomenon of self-excited vibration of bearings.
When the eccentricity ratio decrease (the bearing speed increase and the load
decrease), the oil lm oscillation is much easier to be caused.
5.4 Fluid Dynamic Instability 129
Fig. 5.19 Curve for vortex

frequency and amplitude with
changing shaft speed
Oil lm oscillation is different from the common mechanical resonance, since it

can be exist ongoing over a wide speed range and cannot stop even changing the
shaft neck speed. However, changing the rotating speed can avoid the mechanical
resonance.
The evident difference between the oil lm oscillation and the half-frequency
whirl is: the vortex frequency of the oil lm oscillation 0 = k1, is not related to
the shaft neck speed ; but for the half-frequency whirl, 0 = /2, is related to .
Figure 5.19 shows the changing situation of the vortex frequency 0 and swing
with the changing of the shaft neck rotating speed (for short bearing).
If is twice of the rst-order critical rotating speeding, that is 2k1, rst-order
oil lm oscillation will be produced.
If is twice of the second order critical rotating speed, that is 2k2, high-order
oil lm oscillation will be produced.
If is twice of the third order critical rotating speed, that is 2k3, high-order oil
lm oscillation will be produced.
5.4.4 Oil Film Instability Restraint
The common measures to prevent the instability of the oil lm are:

(1) Make the rotor to be dynamic balance and decrease the interference force;
(2) Assemble the bearing housing onto the elastic support to decrease the
vibration;
(3) Avoid the shaft rotating speed to be equal to the system critical speed;
(4) Increase , or decrease B/D;
(5) Apply the bearing structure with the ability of resistance vibration (Fig. 5.20):
elliptical bearing, multi-lobe bearings, multi-oil wedge bearings and tilting pad
bearings.
Fig. 5.20 Structures for anti-vibration bearing. a Elliptical bearing, b multi-lobe bearing,
c Multi-oil wedge bearing, d tilting-pad bearing
5.5 Hydrostatic Lubrication
Hydrodynamic bearings generating fluid dynamic pressure mainly depends on the

relative movement between the shaft neck and bush, the convergence gap and the
viscosity of the oil, so that the external load can be supported. However, under the
condition of the low relative speed or starting and stopping status, hydrodynamic
pressure is not sufcient to support the external load that could easily lead to the
direct contact between shaft neck and bush, so hydrodynamic bearings are not
suitable for the low speed, light load condition. Hydrostatic bearing is mainly
relying on the pressure by the external oil to support the load and it is obvious that
the oil pressure is increasing with the improvement of the load. In most cases, the
load improvement can lead to the decrease of the oil lm thickness. In order to
increase the rigidity of the bearing; the throttling element is arranged between high
pressure oil source and the bearing. Therefore, the typical hydrostatic bearing
system [3] has a constant flow system and constant pressure system. The working
principle of hydrostatic bearing will be introduced in the following.
5.5.1 Working Principle
Take thrust bearing as an example, as shown in Fig. 5.21, when the high pressure oil
has been flowing into the oil cavity, the total supporting surface will be pressed and
the resultant force of the pressure distribution is equal to the external load. It is
obvious that only if the oil flow in the supplying oil cavity is equal to the outlet flow
from the bearing supporting surface, this kind of pressure distribution can be ensured.
5.5.1.1 Hydrostatic Bearing with Constant Oil Flow
As shown in Fig. 5.21a, the supplying oil flow can not change with the variation of
the load, but the oil pressure is changing in the process. This kind of bearing is not
suitable to the unbalance load and can not supply the oil to many cavities with one
pump, so it is not applied so often.
5.5 Hydrostatic Lubrication 131
Fig. 5.21 Hydrostatic bearing system. a Constant current system, b Constant voltage system
5.5.1.2 Hydrostatic Bearing with Constant Oil Pressure
As shown in Fig. 5.21b, the supplying oil pressure ps cannot change with the
variation of the load, but the oil flow is changing in the process. Throttling valve
can be used to change the oil pressure pb, so that can be suitable for different load
There are two key elements for the hydrostatic bearing with constant oil
pressure:
Relief valvesthe valve is used to adjust the supplying oil pressure ps, ps > pb;
Throttling valveincreasing the flow resistance and producing the pressure
difference, self-adjusting oil cavity pressure pb.
When ps is not changing, ps > pb, throttling valve can make pb increase with the
improvement of F.
This kind bearing is suitable to the unbalanced load condition and can be used
for the one pump to many cavities or many bearings. As shown in Fig. 5.22, the
plate is loaded with F and there are some tilting for the plate, so the oil lm
Fig. 5.22 Constant pressure oil hydrostatic bearing

thickness in the right cavity is reduced and so does the flow, which lead to the
pressure difference on two sides, so the cavity pressure pb2 is improved. With the
same theory, the left cavity pressure pb1 is reduced, so a torque can be caused to
balance the additional torque because of the eccentric load, in order to prevent the
tilting of the plate.
5.5.1.3 Throttling Valve
There are many kinds of flow controller as the xed and variable throttling valves.
For the xed throttling valve, flow resistance cannot change, such as the capillary
restriction and thin-walled throttling valve with holes as shown in Fig. 5.23.
1. Capillary throttling valve
The basic knowledge of the flow for viscous fluid in the long and thin tube (as the
capillary) has been introduced in the basic theory of the fluid lubrication, and it can
be deduced that when the flow in the capillary is laminar, the flow equation can be
as:
pDPde4
Qe 5:71
128gLe
From Eq. (5.71), It could be seen that pressure drop can be produced for the flow
through the capillary, and the flow Q is proportional to the pressure drop DP. Based
on this point, the capillary can be applied to be the throttling valve; besides, it is
found that the flow of the capillary is also proportional to viscosity of the flow.
These two features are so important that any capillary can be used to be the
throttling valve as long as it has the two features mentioned as follows.
Le/de > 20;
Le is bigger than initial length of the laminar flow with constant speed,
as: Le > 0.065deRe
Fig. 5.23 Flow controller. a The capillary throttling valve, b the thin-walled hole throttling valve
where, Re is the Reynolds number of the fluid flow in the capillary, and the
expression can be as:
vde
Re 5:72
V
where
v flow velocity of the viscous fluid in the capillary (cm/s);
V kinematic viscosity of the viscous fluid (cm2/s);
de inner diameter of the capillary (cm)
2. Thin-walled hole throttling valve

For the thin-walled hole throttling valve, the small holes mean that diameter d is as
smaller as they can be and the length L is near to 0. Besides, the flow equation for
the viscous fluid through the small holes can be as:
s
apd 2 2DP
Q 5:73
4 q
The prerequisite for the above equation is the flow viscosity is much too smaller
or DP is bigger and flow velocity is higher. From the Eq. (5.73), it is found that
pressure drop Q is proportional to pressure drop DP. The flow throttling valve can
be produced based on this feature. Besides, it is also found that the flow through the
small holes is not related to the viscosity.
In reality, the diameter and the length of small hole have only the certain values.
It can be proved that all the holes with diameter d = 0.351.2 mm and length
L 3 mm can be seen as the small holes.
3. Variable throttling valve
The most common variable throttling valve is the throttling valve with sliding valve
that can adjust the pressure difference in the two oil channels automatically and
make the bearing stiffness innite. As shown in Fig. 5.24, when applying the load
W, the excursion of shaft neck to down e, pb1 is reduced, increasing of the pb3 (the
feedback cavity 1 and 2 can work), moving to left side for sliding valve, the length
of throttling clearance 1 increasing, improvement of the hydraulic resistance,
reduction of flow and pb1; for contraction in length for the throttling clearance 2,
hydraulic resistance will be reduced and the increasing of the flow, pb3 and p
(p = pb3 pb1), till to p A = W.
Fig. 5.24 Sliding valve

feedback hydrostatic bearing
5.5.2 Design Principle of Capillary Throttling Journal

Hydrostatic Bearing
The bearing design and calculation methods can be referenced in the related
monograph and manual. In this book, design principle is the main content that is the
loading equation, the deduction of stiffness equation and the selection of the
important design parameters.
Such as the four-chamber hydrostatic journal bearing in the Fig. 5.25, the load
W on the shaft neck can move down to e (offset), which can make the oil lm
thickness in cavity 3 decrease and the pressure pb3 increase; the oil lm thickness in
cavity 1 can be increased and the pressure pb1 will be decreased. For the cavities 2
and 4, they are symmetrical and the pressures are balanced. When the shaft neck is
balanced, the bearing load capacity can be as:
W Apb3 pb1 5:74

Fig. 5.25 Four oil chamber journal bearing
5.5.2.1 Pressure W1 of Single Oil Cavity to the Shaft Neck
According to Fig. 5.25, the pressure of single oil cavity to the shaft neck is:
W1 Woil cavity Woil seal pb A 5:75
where, A is the effective area for single oil cavity; subscript b stands for inside of the
oil cavity.
5.5.2.2 Flow of the Capillary
The capillary flow can be calculated with the hydromechanics:
pde4 ps pb0
q0b0 5:76
128gle
where, subscript 0 means light condition for the bearing.
5.5.2.3 Outlet Flow on the Single Oil Cavity Cover
The flow q1 on the oil cavity cover (single surface) with length L of along the
x direction can be considered rstly.
Fig. 5.26 Flow from single

oil cavity cover
From Eq. (5.18), the flux in unit length could be got:

1 h3 @p h
qx u1 u2 5:77
12 g @x 2
Surface tangential speed u1 = u2 = 0, and the pressure on the oil cavity cover
along the width l direction can be changed from pb to 0 and is presenting as linear
variation.
@p pbo
So, pressure gradient in the x direction:
@x l
1 h30 pb0 h30 pb0
So qx (l, L, b as Fig. 5.26)
12 g l 12gl
h pb0 L
3
q1 qx L 0 (ignoring the pressure gradient in the z direction, for length
12gl
in z direction x direction)
In a similar way, oil mass in another three oil cavity covers can be calculated and
the total flow qb0 is equal to the sum of four sides.
h30 pb0 L h30 pb0 b L=R 2h1 Rh30 pb0
qb0 5:78
6gl 6gl 6gl
where
R bearing radius;
1 central angle of the oil cavity with half width (21 = b/R).
Under the no-load situation, e = 0, = 0, h0 = c(1 + cos 1) = c(1 + 0) = c,
which means that the oil lm thickness is equal to the radius clearance c.
5.5.2.4 Bearing Load Capacity
Outlet flow qb0 for the oil cavity is equal to the inlet flow qb0, as:
q0b0 qb0 under no-load situation)
Substituting Eqs. (5.76) and (5.78) into the above equation, and get:
pde4 ps pb0 L=R 2h1 Rh30 pb0

5:79
128gle 6gl
After load, the clearance of the oil cavity 1 and 3 will be changed. Substituting
Eq. (5.50) h1 = c(1 + cos 1), h3 = c(1 cos 1), c = R r, = e/c into
Eq. (5.79), (pb0 pb1, pb3, h0 h1, h3), and get:
ps
pb1 5:80
64le 2h1 L=RRc3 1 e cos h1 3
1 3pde4 l
ps
pb3 5:81
64le 2h1 L=RRc3 1e cos h1 3
1 3pde4 l
64le 2h1 L=RRc3

Let k 5:82
3pde4 l
is fluidic resistor ratio, and is an important design parameter. It can be dened

as:
fluid resistance of a restrictor under no load

k
fluid resistance of oil seal of an oil cavity under no load
Substituting Eqs. (5.80)(5.82) into Eq. (5.74):
F 1 1
5:83
Aps 1 k1 e cos h1 3 1 k1 e cos h1 3
Developing (1 cos 1)3 and (1 + cos 1)3 in the above equation according to
the Newton binomial and using the rst two items:
F 1 1
5:84
Aps 1 k1 3e cos h1 1 k1 3e cos h1
After simplifying,
6ekAps cos h1
F 5:85
1 k2
Or
6ekAps cos h1
F (e e=c; eccentricity ratio 5:86
c1 k2
where eshaft neck displacement after being loaded.

Bearing stiffness can be as:
@F 6kAps cos h1
K 5:87
@e c1 k2
ps pb0
64L=R3pd
2h1 Rc le
3
Through qb0 = qb0, we can get pb0 4l k
e
Let ps =pb0 b
is throttling ratio and is an important design parameter. It can be dened as:
oil supply pressure inlet pressure of throttling valve

b
oil cavity pressure under no load outlet pressure of throttling valve under no load
5:88
So:
b 1k
where, according to / = 0, = 1, and let be the minimum value, which means

that under the same load W, if the axial displacement is minimum, the stiffness will
be the highest.
So the optimal design parameters for the capillary throttling journal hydrostatic
bearing are:
k1
5:89
b 1k 2
Substituting into Eq. (5.87), the best stiffness could be got:
3Aps cos h1
K 5:90
2c
Substituting into Eq. (5.88), the charge oil pressure will be:
2F
ps 5:91
3Ae cos h1
There are two determination methods for ps and in Eq. (5.91):

According to the requirement, selecting e and = e/c, and then solve ps.
Selecting K, through Eq. (5.90) to solve ps and through Eq. (5.91) to
solve .
5.6 Special Sliding Bearings
With the development of science and technology, the requirements for bearing
rotating speed become higher and higher, and under the speed more than 50 104
r/min, the bearing with oil lubrication can not be used almost. Oil lubrication can
only reduce the friction for the bearing and the power consumption is relatively
higher, and it will become higher and higher as time goes, which reduces the
mechanical transmission efciency and increases the operation cost undoubtedly;
besides, the intrinsic features of oil decide some forbidden area for the lubrication
area, such as oil volatilization under some high temperature, solidication under
some low temperature, deterioration under some radiation environment and so on.
However, the emergence of some special sliding bearing broke the forbidden area,
and meets the needs.
5.6.1 Gas Bearing Lubrication Theory
Gas lubrication is a high technology developed rapidly in the middle of twentieth

century and it broke the boundaries of only liquid lubrication can be applied and
make the lubrication technology a qualitative leap. The gas bearing [4] is the core
product based on the gas lubrication that is machinery foundation element using the
gas lm to support the load.
The main feature of the gas lubrication is the compressibility of the gas, so the
gas density can be seen as a variable that means the Reynolds equation with
variable density can be applied.

@ qh3 @p @ qh3 @p @ @
6 U qh 2 qh 5:92
@x g @x @y g @y @x @t
Viscosity of gas is lower, such as the air viscosity in the 20 C is lower 4000
times of the viscosity of spindle oil, so friction horsepower loss can be ignored in
general situation for gas lubrication. Besides, the viscosity of the gas can increase
with the improvement of the temperature and the pressure. So heating effect of the
gas lubrication is just important for the much higher speed condition. And in
general condition, the gas lubrication calculation is considered in the isothermal
status and the viscosity can be seen as a constant.
Gas density can change with the variation of the temperature and pressure, the
gas state equation is:
p
RT 5:93
r
where
T absolute temperature;
R gas constant, a constant for certain gas
For the general gas lubrication, it can be seen as the constant temperature pro-
cess, and the error is not exceeding a few percent. At this time, the state equation
can be changed to:
p kq 5:94
where, k is the proportional constant.

In addition, when the gas lubrication process is much too rapid and there is not
enough time for the transmission of quantity of heat, this process also can be seen as
adiabatic. The gas state equation in the adiabatic process is:
p kqn 5:95
where, n is the specic heat ratio of gas that is related to the atomicity in the gas
molecule. For the air, n = 1.4.
For gas lubrication in the constant temperature process, substituting Eq. (5.94)
into the Reynolds Eq. (5.92):

@ @p @ @p @ @
h3 p h3 p 6kg U ph 2 ph 5:96
@x @x @y @y @x @t
Equation (5.96) is the fundamental equation for the gas lubrication calculation.
For dynamic pressure lubrication, the pressure in convergent or divergent
clearance for the liquid lubricant can be greater or less than the environmental
pressure and the lubrication lm pressure have nothing to do with environmental
pressures. However, for gas lubrication, the gas lm pressure always surpasses the
environmental pressure, which is due to that the surrounding gas can get into the
gap freely. So the load capacity for gas lubrication can increase with the rising of
environmental pressure, and absolute pressure must be used in the Reynolds
equation.
5.6 Special Sliding Bearings 141
For gas lubrication, surface machining accuracy is the important factor affecting
the lubrication performance. In general, gas lm thickness and surface roughness
have the same order of magnitudes and the surface microscopic shape can affect the
gas lm pressure. Surface ellipticity and waviness will cause gas alternating
expansion and compression, and lead to the reduction and improvement of the oil
lm pressure, so the pressure distribution and flow conditions can be changed.
Boundary condition of pressure distribution for gas lubrication is relatively
simple, and gas viscosity basically remain unchanged, which makes lubrication
calculation tends to be simplied. However, Reynolds equation contains a variable
such as the density that depends on gas state in lubrication. Even applying the
simplest isothermal process, gas lubrication equation is nonlinear, which will cause
difculty in mathematical treatment.
For gas bearing, stability of bearing rotor system can be reduced because the
lubrication medium is compressible fluid. Aerostatic bearing usually does not open
oil cavity, because gas lm resonance will be caused after containing gas in the oil
chamber.
Commonly used forms of throttling valve for aerostatic bearings have pore type,
slot type, the porous type and so on. Pore type can make outlet gas spread to
surrounding area and the surrounding pressure will be reduced with the increases of
the distance to hole. Therefore, the gas pressure between holes is lower and the load
capacity can also be reduced. If the throttle device is made of several slits, the load
capacity and stiffness of bearing can increase greatly. For the extreme cases, the
throttling device can be made of porous material sintering with small metal pellets;
the gas can flow onto the bearing surface through the gap between the particles,
which can make the bearing be with higher capacity and stability.
With the expansion for the application of gas lubricated bearing in the high-tech
elds, some traditional assumptions as well as the neglected factors must be taken
into account. For example, under the condition with minimal thickness of gas lm,
the surface roughness and gas molecular average free path must be considered and
the gas can not be seen as the continuum; under the condition with high- speed
flow, the assumption about the isothermal flow, gas laminar flow, gas inertia effect
and the possibility of shock wave should be analyzed carefully. Anyhow, the gap
reduction, improving rigidity, improve precision, exploring reasonable design
methods, and even the combination between the gas bearing and automatic control
technology to be a kind of special mechanical and electrical integration of the
components will be the trend of future research. Fluid lubrication theory consid-
ering the compressibility of the fluid has been published in 1913 by Harrison.
Compressible Reynolds equation has been deduced referenced on the isothermal
assumption and keeping the density item in continuity equation. From now on, the
gas lubrication bearings have really been into the way of research and development
[5, 6]. Lubrication theory and application for the gas bearing has been starting later
than abroad. Especially in the aspect of application and experimental technology,
there is still certain disparity compared with developed countries. So at the same
time of the theory study, the advanced bearings technology should be popularized
and applied energetically [7].
5.6.2 Magnetic Suspension Bearing Principle
For magnetic suspension bearing, hereinafter referred to as magnetic bearing, the

rotor can be suspended by magnetic force so that there is not mechanical contact
with the stator. Magnetic bearing has extensive application prospect. In the eld of
aviation and spaceflight, the draper laboratory rstly applied the magnetic bearings
on the space guidance and inertia wheel successfully in the 60s [8]. Because the
magnetic bearing has no friction, no wear, without lubrication and sealing, high
speed, high precision, long life, and a series of advantages, especially suitable for
high speed, vacuum, super clean, and other special environment, and can be widely
used in mechanical processing, turbo machinery, aerospace, vacuum technology,
rotor dynamic characteristics identication, and testing and other elds. So the
magnetic bearing has been recognized to be a very promising bearing.
Figure 5.27 shows the simple magnetic suspension system, which consists of
rotor, sensors, controllers, and actuators of four parts and the actuator include
magnet and the power amplier. It is supposed that on the reference position if a
downward disturbance is applied on the rotor, it will deviate from the reference
position. Then, the sensor can detect the displacement of rotor deviating from the
reference point, and the microprocessor as a controller will transform the dis-
placement into a control signal, then the power amplier will convert a control
signal to control current that can generate the magnetic force in the performing
magnet, which can drive the rotor returns to its original equilibrium position.
Therefore, regardless of the rotor affected by upward or downward disturbance, it
can be still in balanced state.
According to the magnetic force supplying forms of the magnetic bearing,
magnetic bearings can be divided into three kinds [9, 10]:
1. Active magnetic bearing
It also can be named as the positive magnetic bearing, and the magnetic force
can be supplied with the electromagnet. In general, a simple active magnetic
bearing system contains rotor, sensor, controller, and power amplier.
Fig. 5.27 Simple magnetic levitation system

5.6 Special Sliding Bearings 143
2. Passive magnetic suspension bearing

It also can be named as the passive magnetic bearing, and the magnetic force can
be supplied with the permanent magnet. This bearing does not need the control
system and it can make the rotor be suspending with the power of the magnetic
eld.
3. Mixed magnetic suspension bearing
For this bearing, the magnetic force can be supplied with the electromagnet and
permanent magnet. This bearing is a combined bearing with the active magnetic
bearing, passive magnetic bearing, other auxiliary bearing, and stabilized
structures. Such as for the cone mixed magnetic bearing, besides the advantages
as the without contact, without wear, high speed, high precision, without
lubricant and sealing, smaller volume, simple design, the two magnetic elds are
separated and the load capacity is much higher too.
References

4. Wang Y (1999) Gas lubrication theory and the design of gas bearing. China Machine Press,
Beijing
5. Li S, Zhang P, Qu Q (1999) Application and development trend of gas lubrication bearings
technology. Lubr Eng 2:910
6. Harrison WJ (1913) The hydrodynamical theory of lubrication with special reference to air as
a lubricant. Trans Camb Philos Soc 22:3954
7. Zhou H, Liu Y (1981) Principle and calculation of gas dynamic pressure bearing. National
Defence Industry Press, Beijing
8. Petela G, Botros KK (1995) Magnetic bearing control of flexible shaft vibrations based on
multi-access velocitydisplacement feedback. ASME J Eng Gas Turbines Power 117:188
197
9. Huang D (2006) Situation and development of magnetic suspension bearing research. Machine
Tool Hydraul 6:1921
10. Huang Y (2001) Research on magnetic suspension spindle system with structural dynamic
characteristics. Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan
Chapter 6
Rolling Bearing Lubrication Theory
If the lubrication between the rolling element and raceway for the rolling bearing is
insufcient, scratches, pitting, and scufng to different extend will be caused on the
rolling elements and raceway, meanwhile, whether the proper lubricant lm can be
formed or not is important for the fatigue lifetime of the contact area between the
rolling elements and the raceway.
Elastic hydrodynamic lubrication has been seen as the signicant progress for
tribology in twentieth century that revealed the lubrication mechanism of the highly
stressed machine parts (such as rolling bearing). It has been developed on the basis
of other theories. In the 1780s, two important theories in mechanics eld appear at
the same time such as the Reynolds lubrication theory and Hertz theory. The former
theory can be used for the lubrication design of the area contact friction pair; while
the latter is used to calculate the contact strength of the point or line contact area.
Until the latest 40 years, the two theories have been combined to analyze the
tribology issues of the point or line contact pair, which is the elastic hydrodynamic
lubrication (EHL) or elastohydrodynamic (EHD).
6.1 Rigid Contact Lubrication Theory
The contact between the rolling elements and the raceway in the rolling bearings is
the contact between the curve surfaces. Referring to the concept of equivalent
cylinder, this contact situation can be transferred into the contact between a
cylindrical and plane or a ball and plane. This method can effectively simplify the
mathematical model and it will be convenient for analysis and calculation.
146 6 Rolling Bearing Lubrication Theory
6.1.1 Geometric Analogy and Clearance Equation
In the following part, the line contact bearing will be taken as an example and
analyzed.
6.1.1.1 Contact Between the Cylindrical Surface with Cross-Section

Shape and Flat Surface
The contact between the cylindrical surface with any cross-section shape and flat
surface can be equivalent to the contact between the parabolic cylinder with the
same radius of curvature at the contact point and the flat surface. As shown in
Fig. 6.1, the contact cylinder radius is R and the clearance on the middle line is h0,
and then the clearance h could be obtained between the cylinder and flat plain when
the distance to the middle line is x. So h can be expressed as:
" #
p x 2 1=2
h h0 R R2 x2 h0 R 1 1 2 6:1
R

x2 x4
h h0 R 1 1 2 4 . . .. . . 6:2
2R 8R
Due to x/R is much too small, innitesimal of higher order in the Eq. (6.2) can be
neglected and the clearance equation can be expressed as:

x2 x2
h h0 h0 1 6:3
2R 2h0 R
Equation (6.3) is for the parabolic cylinder with the curvature radius of R for
peaks.
Fig. 6.1 Equivalent cylinder

6.1 Rigid Contact Lubrication Theory 147
Fig. 6.2 Clearance between equivalent cylinder and oil lm
6.1.1.2 Contact Between Two Cylinders
When two cylinders contact with each other, it can be replaced with the contact
between an equivalent surface and a flat surface as shown in Fig. 6.2.
It can be supposed that the radius of two cylinders are R1 and R2, respectively,
and the gap between central lines is h0 . So the gap equation can be as follows:
8 p p
< h h0 R1 R21 x2 R2 R22 x2 h0 x2
x2
2R1 2R2
6:4
: h0 x 2 1 1 h0 1 x 2
2 R1 R2 2h0 R
where R1 R11 R12 (outer contact)

R R1 R2 (inner contact), R1 < i2.
1 1 1
6.1.2 Martin Line Contact Lubrication Theory
6.1.2.1 Pressure Distribution
In 1961, Martin rst analyzed the lubrication issue for the contact between two rigid
cylinders depending on the Reynolds classical theory. He supposed that: contact
bodies are rigid; lubricant is in the isothermal state that means the viscosity are
the same and the fluid is incompressible. This lubrication issue can be expressed
with the innite Reynolds equation. As follows:
dp hh
12gU 3 ; 6:5
dx h
where U = (u1 + u2)/2 is entrainment velocity or mean velocity; u1 and u2 are the
tangential speed of the contact points for two cylinders; and h is the oil lm
thickness for the position of dp/dx = 0 and the related location of x x.
x2
Through Eq. (6.4), the gap equation can be obtained as: h h0 1 2h0 R
where Requivalent radius of curvature.
For integrating the Reynolds equation, angular transformation can be imple-
mented and can dene tgc p
x
2Rh 0
Then h h0 1 tg2 c h0 sec2 c 6:6
h h0 sec2 c 6:7
p p
dx 2Rh0 dtgc 2Rh0 sec2 cdc 6:8
Substituting Eqs. (6.6)(6.8) into Eq. (6.5):

p
2Rh0 dc sec2 c
dp 12gU dc 6:9
h20 sec2 c sec4 c
h2 p
0
Let dimensionless pressure p 12gU p 2Rh
, the above equation can be changed
0
to:
cos4 c
dp cos2 cdc dc 6:10
cos2 c
Through the integration:

c sin 2c 1 3 sin 2c sin 4c
p c c 6:11
2 4 cos2 c 8 4 32
There are two integration constants c and c in the above equation and they need
to be determined by two boundary conditions:
the condition of the oil lm at starting point: x = , as well as the
position of = /2, p* = 0, substituting into above equation, it can be
obtained:
p 1 3p
c 6:12
4 cos2 c 16
6.1 Rigid Contact Lubrication Theory 149
the condition of the oil lm at end point can apply the Reynolds
boundary condition: in the position of x x, as well as the position of
c c and h h, p* = dp*/dx = 0 (also dp*/dx = 0, p* 0 and this
position is not the outlet boundary). Substituting into above equation, it
can be obtained: sec2 c 1:2256 or c 25:4118 .
So h h0 sec2 c 1:2256h0
p p
And x 2Rh0 tgc 0:47517 2Rh0
Dimensionless pressure distribution p* can be obtained nally

1 p sin 2c 3 p sin 2c sin 4c
p c 1:2256 c 6:13
2 2 2 4 2 2 16
6.1.2.2 Load Capacity in Per Unit Length
ZX Zc
F 24gUR 2
pdx p sec cdc 6:14
L h0
1 p2
After substituting p* in the Eq. (6.13), after integration:
F guR gUR
4:892 4:9 6:15
L h0 h0
gUR gUR
Or h0 4:892 4:9 6:16
F=L F=L
Equations (6.15) or (6.16) can be named as Martin formula. Equation (6.15)

presents the load capacity of the oil lm for two rigid cylinders without considering
the end leakage and the isoviscous condition.
6.1.2.3 Boundedness of Martin Equation
Martin equation is suitable to the condition with high speed but not for the high
load, the reasons are as follows:
(1) High pressure in the contact area makes the lubricant viscosity increase
greatly. For the general mineral oil, the viscosity in the condition with the
pressure of 300 MPa is 1000 times bigger over the normal pressure According
to Eq. (6.16), it can be seen that h0 can increase with the improvement of .
(2) Elastic deformation can be caused on the contact surface because of the
pressure. The deformation can increase the surface curvature radius, and h0
can increase with the improvement of R according to the Eq. (6.16).
It can be concluded that the influence of pressureviscosity effect and elastic
deformation must be considered for the accuracy analysis of the lubrication issue
for the point or line contact pair and it belongs to the elastic hydrodynamic
lubrication theory.
6.2 Elastic Hydrodynamic Lubrication Theory
Elastic hydrodynamic lubrication is a form of fluid lm lubrication, and the elastic

deformation of the supporting surface is very large. It is usually related to the
mechanical parts with high stress and low inosculation (such as rolling bearings).
For soft supporting materials such as elastic colloid seals and rubber tires, this kind
of lubrication mechanism also can be applied. The common points of these
applications are that part elastic deformation of two contact bodies which have
supplied the adhesive fluid lm that can prevent the interaction between the micro
convex bodies. Elastic hydrodynamic lubrication usually appears in the lm with
thickness of 107 h 106 m, and in the contact area with lubricating lm
parameters of 3 10. Adding the elastic deformation equation into the fluid
lubrication theory of the rigid surfaces can be named as elastic hydrodynamic
lubrication theory. py [1] mentioned the analysis method of elastohydrody-
namic lubrication entrance area in 1949, for the rst time to deal with elastohy-
drodynamic lubrication problem by combining the Renault fluid lubrication theory
and Hertz elastic contact theory and put forward to the approximate solution of the
isothermal elastohydrodynamic lubrication problem with line contact. Besides, he
also makes a huge contribution for revealing the hydraulic lubrication mechanism
of rolling bearing.
6.2.1 Approximate Solution for Line Contact EHL
Ertel-py put forward to an approximate solution of the isothermal elastohy-

drodynamic lubrication problem with line contact according to the contact model
between equivalent elastic cylinder and rigid surface.
6.2.1.1 Elastic Deformation of Line Contact
Figure 6.3 shows the line contact between an elastic cylinder (radius of R) and rigid
surface. Before the load of W, it can be presented with dashdotted line. The full line
6.2 Elastic Hydrodynamic Lubrication Theory 151
Fig. 6.3 Hzline contact
for the condition of load applying and the contact stress on the contact surface is
distributed as the ellipse.
According to Hertz theory, the gap equation out of the contact area is:
" r r!#
2bp0 x x2 x x2
h 0 1 ln 1 6:17
E b b 2 b b2
W
Known as p0 p2 bL, L is cylinder length.
Let EL = Elame constant.
" r r!#
x x2 x x2
d4 1 ln 1 6:18
b b 2 b b2
It is known that is the function of x, and only when |x/b| 1, is meaningful.

Substituting the above relational expression into Eq. (6.17):
W
h d 6:19
EL L
6.2.1.2 Reynolds Equation Considering the PressureViscosity Effect
Substituting pressureviscosity relational expression = 0ep from Barus into the

innite Reynolds equation, as:
dp hh
12Ug0 eap 3 6:20
dx h
dp hh
eap 12Ug0 3 6:21
dx h
Rp ap
Let q 1a 0 deap 1ea , named as induced pressure, then:
dq 1 d ap dp
e eap 6:22
dx a dx dx
Substituting the above equation into Eq. (6.21), the Reynolds equation consid-
ering the pressureviscosity effect can be obtained
dq hh
12Ug0 3 6:23
dx h
Equation (6.23) indicates that Reynolds equation considering the pressurevis-

cosity effect is the same form as the isoviscous Reynolds equation, and only for the
dependent variable, the pressure p can be replaced as the induced pressure q.
6.2.1.3 Analysis and Discussion
Ertel and py make the ingenious deduction for the line contact of elastohy-
drodynamic lubrication problem is as follows:
(1) the pressure in the contact area is high, eap ! 0; q 1a 1 eap ! 1a =
constant, dq=dx 0.
According to Eq. (6.23), in the contact area, h h h0 , which means the oil
lm thickness in the contact is constant, so under the same load condition, the
deformation of the elasticity cylinder under the condition of oil lm and
without oil lm are the same. It can be deducted further that the pressure
distribution is the same no matter whether for the existing of the oil lm
according to the Hertz distribution in the contact area.
(2) the elastic deformation without oil lm can be kept out of the contact area
(because the pressure out of the contact area is smaller)
The gap shape of entrance region (x\ b) can be calculated according to the
following equation:
W
h h0 d 6:24
EL L
(3) as shown in Fig. 6.4, convergent gap in the entrance region can be formed and
also generate dynamic pressure p. In the position of x b, the condition of
the pressure to be equal should be matched as q 1=a. So the oil lm
thickness h0 can be calculated.
Fig. 6.4 Distribution for

p and q
(4) Ertel-py theory only considers the situation in the entrance region, but
the situation of the export zone is much more complicated so Hertz pressure
distribution and deformation should be adjusted too. It is obviously that
Fig. 6.4 cannot meet the flow continuity condition. In the contact center,
dp=dx 0, only velocity flow exists and the flow is Uh0 . But in the position of
x b, pressure gradient dp=dx 2p0 =b, so the pressure flow also exists
in the export zone and the total flow in much more than the contact center.
In order to keep the flow continuity condition, the only way is that elastic
deformation is near to recover in the export zone that means the decrease of the gap
can make the formation of necking and the related minimum thickness of the oil
lm hmin = 0.75h0 (h0 is calculated according to the py equation). Besides, the
secondary pressure peak can be formed in the corresponding position as shown in
Fig. 6.5.
Fig. 6.5 Necking down and

secondary pressure peak
6.2.1.4 py Oil Film Thickness Equation
As described above, wedgy gap equations in the entrance region is:
W W
h h0 d as: h h d 6:25
EL L EL L
Substituting into Eq. (6.23):

W
dq d
12Ug0 EL L3 6:26
dx h
Through dimensionless method, let

W 2 q
q 6:27
EL L 12Ug0 b
x x=b 6:28
H hEL L=W 6:29
H0 h0 EL L=W 6:30
According to gap equation:
H H0 d 6:31
Substituting relational expressions mentioned above, dimensionless Reynolds

equation can be changed into:
dq d

3 6:32
dx H
According to the boundary condition, when x* = , q* = 0. Denite integral

can be used to calculate the value of q* in the position of x* = 1, as:
Z1 Z1
d d
q jx1 dx dx 6:33
H3 H0 d3
1 1
In the integral formula, H0 is unrelated to x* and is the function of x*. The

numerical integration method can be applied to calculate the denite integral value
of a series of H0, and then the result can be formulated to the empirical correlation,
as:
11
q jx 1 0:0986H0 8
6:34
When x = b, q = 1/, which means that in the position of x* = 1,

W 2 1
q jx 1 6:35
EL L 12Ug0 ba
Substituting Eq. (6.35) into Eq. (6.34):

11=8
W 2 1 W
0:0986 6:36
EL L 12Ug0 ba EL Lh0
Besides; EL pE0 6:37

1=2
8 WR
b 6:38
p LE0
Substituting into Eq. (6.36):

1=11
h0 Ug0 a 8=11 E 0 LR
1:95 6:39
R R W
That is the famous py equation in the elastohydrodynamic lubrication

theory.
Dimensionless py equation is as follows:
G U 8=11
H0 1:95 ; 6:40
W 1=11
where H0* = h0/R(oil lm thickness parameter); G* = E (material parameter);

U gE00UR (velocity parameter); W EW
0 RL (load parameter).
6.2.2 Numerical Solution for Line Contact EHL
py calculation formula has not considered the difference of elastic deformation

of the cylinder under the condition of with or without lubricant and the situation of
the export zone, so it cannot reveal the essence of the elastohydrodynamic lubri-
cation completely. DowsonHigginson mentioned the isothermality solutions for
the line contact of elastohydrodynamic lubrication based on the system numerical
calculation.
6.2.2.1 Basic Equation
The calculation of elastohydrodynamic lubrication needs to solve the equations

below.
1. Reynolds equation
Applying the one-dimensional Reynolds equation with the variable of h and q:

d qh3 dp d
U qh 6:41
dx 12g dx dx
where, the mean velocity U 12 u1 u2 ; h; g; q are the function of x.

For the solution, Reynolds boundary condition needs to be applied as
In the oil lm at starting point x x1 , p 0; and in the oil lm at terminal point
x x2 , p ddpx 0.
Where, x1 needs to be selected according to the degree of the oil supplying
situation, in general, x1 5 15b;
x2 is the boundary of the oil lm natural broken in the export area and can be
determined in the calculation process.
2. Oil lm thickness equation
As shown in Fig. 6.6, the oil lm thickness expression in the position of any point
x for the contact between elastic cylinders is:
x2
h x hc c x; 6:42
2R
Fig. 6.6 Clearance shape

where
hc oil lm thickness in the center position before deformation;
R equivalent radius of curvature;
c x elastic deformation in each point due to pressure distribution
3. Elastic deformation equation

For the line contact problems [2], the lengths and radiuses of curvature of contact
bodies are much bigger than the widths, so it can be seen as the plane strain state
that is equal to the straight elastic half-innite body which is applied with dis-
tributed load as shown in Fig. 6.7. The elastic deformation for each point on the
surface along the vertical direction can be deducted according to the related theory
of elastic mechanics
ZS2
2
v x 0 ps lns x2 ds c; 6:43
pE
S1
where
s the additional coordinate in the horizontal direction that means the distance
between any linear load psds and the origin of coordinates;
p(s) load distribution function;
s1 ; s2 the coordinate of the starting and ending point for the load p x;
E0 equivalent elasticity modulus;
c undermined constant
4. Relationship between viscosity and the pressure

In general, Barus equation can be used
g g0 eap 6:44
Fig. 6.7 Elastic deformation

5. Relationship between density and the pressure

According to the experimental curves, the following equation could be obtained:

0:6p
q q0 1 6:45
1 1:7p
6.2.2.2 Solution Method to the Reynolds Equation
According to the Eq. (6.41), it can be concluded that the pressure distribution p can
be influenced by the variable as g, h and q.
(1) the maximum increment of q with p is 33 %, so the change of q has little
influence on the solution and it need not be considered in the elastohydro-
dynamic calculation process;
(2) g will changed exponentially with p;
(3) h to the power three can be contained in the Reynolds equation.
It indicates that viscositypressure effect and the elastic deformation have a
signicant influence on the solution of the Reynolds equation for elastohydrody-
namic problems.
Let q x 1a 1 eap induced pressure
Through the parameters transformation, Reynolds equation can be changed into

d dq d
qh3 12g0 U qh 6:46
dx dx dx
Solve q x, and p x could be obtained:
1
p x ln1 aq x 6:47
a
There are two methods to solve the transformed Reynolds equation, such as the
normal solution and the inverse method:
Normal solution: nite difference or nite element method can be used directly
to solve the above differential equation according to h(x).
Inverse method: integral form of the Reynolds equation can be solved with p
(x) and get h(x).
6.2.2.3 Solution Method for Elastic Deformation Equation

Rs
The integral part I s12 p x lns x2 ds, in Eq. (6.43) is a singular integral and
the singularity s x, so integrand in here is insignicance.
This is one of the difculties for the elastic deformation computation.
There are two solutions: one is to use the subsection integral; the other is to make
continuous distribution pressure p(x) to be decentralized.
6.2.2.4 Solution Sequence
1. Normal solution
Solve p(x) according to h(x), and compare the new value to the old one of the p(x), then
makes them meet the requirement of convergence precision. The method is simple and
suitable to the light or middle load condition.
2. Inverse method
(1) Solve dp/dx of each point according to the given pressure p(x), meanwhile,
Reynolds equation will be algebraic equation containing h(x) to the power
three. Through calculating this equation, an oil lm thickness curve h(x) can be
obtained;
(2) Deformation (x) can be received with the elastic deformation equation
according to pressure p(x) and then another oil lm thickness curve h(x) can be
obtained;
(3) Compare two oil lm thickness curves, and modify the pressure according to
the deviation to get the proper convergence precision.
Features: it is proper to calculate the high-load condition but too complicated.
6.2.2.5 DowsonHigginson Line Contact Oil Film Thickness Equation
Based on the system numerical calculation, Dowson et al. put forward the calcu-
lation formula to minimum oil lm thickness of the line contact elastohydrody-
namic lubrication twice successively.
Formula published in 1961
G 0:6 U 0:7
Hmin 1:6 ; 6:48
W 0:13
where Hmin* = hmin/R, dimensional expression of above equation can be:
1:6a0:6 g0 U 0:7 R0:43 E00:03 L0:13

hmin 6:49
W 0:13
G0:54 U 0:7
Adjusted formula in 1967 : Hmin 2:65 6:50
W 0:13
Dimensional form is
2:65a0:54 g0 U 0:7 R0:43 L0:13

hmin 6:51
E 00:03 W 0:13
There are not big difference between the application of Eqs. (6.49) and (6.51),
because for the steel part with the lubrication of mineral oil, G 5000, while
2:65G0:54 1:6G0:6 .
It must be mentioned that Dowson equation is for calculating minimum oil lm
thickness hmin in the necking place; py equation is for calculating oil lm
thickness h0 in the contact area in the entrance of x = b; Dowson equation proves
the oil lm thickness hc in the contact center is near to the calculated result from
py equation and meanwhile, the ratio between minimum oil lm thickness and
the center value is hmin/hc = 3/4.
There are some limits for the DowsonHigginson equation. When material
coefcient G* < 1000, as well as the material with low elasticity modulus has been
used with the low viscosity lubricant, or the light load with coefcient of W* < 105
or insufcient lubricant or the viscosity decreasing caused by the shear temperature
with the high speed condition. For the condition mentioned above, there is a big
error through the Eqs. (6.49) and (6.51).
6.2.3 Key Influencing Factors on Loads Distribution

and Oil Film Shape for EHL
(1) load parameter W*it has small influence on the oil lm and some influence
on the pressure distribution which tends to Hertz distribution. The secondary
peak can be decreased when the location can tend to the export.
2. velocity parameter U*U* increasing, oil lm thickness can become bigger,
which means that velocity and the viscosity has a big influence on the oil lm.
There will be much deviation between the pressure distribution and the Hertz
situation and the secondary peak will become higher rapidly, when U*
increasing.
(3) material parameter G*for general engineering materials, G* has little
influence on the pressure distribution and the oil lm. However, for the
material with low elasticity modulus such as the rubber, joint prosthesis, it
needs to be considered from another point.
6.2.4 Line Contact Lubrication Equation and State Diagram
There are many lubrication conditions with line contact, such as elasticity-variable
viscosity, elasticity-constant viscosity, rigid-variable viscosity, rigid-constant vis-
cosity, and so on. According to different working condition and postulated con-
dition, different formulae can be applied.
According to lubrication condition with line contact Fig. 6.8, some formulae can
be selected and there are three dimensionless parameters in the gure:
Viscosity parameter: gv G W 2 U 2

3 1
6:52
Elastic parameter: ge W U 2

1
6:53
Oil film thickness parameter: h Hmin

W U 1 6:54
Phase diagram can be divided into four areas by the lines intersecting in B point,
and the formulae which are t for each area are following as:
Fig. 6.8 Lubricate state diagram for line contact elastohydrodynamic

6.2.4.1 Rigid-Constant Viscosity (R-I)
In this area, pressure cannot make the viscosity change clearly and the elastic
deformation is small, so viscositypressure effect and elastic deformation can be
ignored. This statue is t for the metal contact pair at high speed and light load with
any lubricant, so the oil lm thickness can be calculated with Martin rigid-constant
viscosity lubrication formula.
Martin formula h 4:9

Or Hmin 4:9U W 1 6:55
6.2.4.2 Rigid-Variable Viscosity (R-V)
The elastic deformation of the surface is so small that can be seen to be rigid.
Meanwhile, viscositypressure effect cannot be ignored. This situation is t for the
metal friction pair influenced by the viscositypressure effect at the medium load
and surface elastic deformation and the oil lm thickness can be calculated with the
Blok formula.
Blok formula h 1:66g2=3v

Or Hmin 1:66G U 2=3 6:56
6.2.4.3 Elasticity-Constant Viscosity (E-I)
In this area, the viscosity can kept unchanged and surface elastic deformation plays
an important role on the lubrication. This situation is t for the lubrication condition
with signicant surface deformation and little influence of the pressureviscosity
effect, such as the rubbers contact pair with any lubricant or the metal contact pair
with water lubrication. The Herrebrugh equation can be used to calculate the oil
lm thickness.
Herrebrugh equation h 3:01g0:8 e

Or Hmin 3:01U 0:6 W 0:2 6:57
6.2.4.4 Elasticity-Variable Viscosity (E-V)
In this area, both pressureviscosity effect and elastic deformation have great
influence on the oil lm thickness. For the metal contact pair with lots of lubricant
under the high load condition, the oil lm thickness can be calculated according to
the DowsonHigginson equation.
DowsonHigginson equation:
h 2:65g0:45
v ge
0:06
6:58
modified to h 1:65g0:75
v ge
0:25

Or Hmin 2:65G0:54 U 0:7 W 0:13 6:59
For the calculation of the oil lm thickness, gv and ge are need to be calculated
rst and then the related formulae can be selected according to the state diagram in
Fig. 6.8.
It should be mentioned that the state diagram in Fig. 6.8 is only for calculating
the minimum oil lm thickness hmin, and py has to be used if the oil lm
thickness h0 in most contact area need to be calculated.
6.2.5 Point Contact Lubrication Equation and State

Diagram
The common situation of point contact is forming the ellipse contact area caused by
the contact between two ellipsoids. Because point contact elastohydrodynamic is
two-dimensional lubrication problem that is much more complicated than the line
contact, so the development of the point contact elastohydrodynamic lubrication is
much slower.
6.2.5.1 Computational Formula
After 1976, Hamrock and Dowson implemented the systematic numerical calcu-
lation for isothermal ellipse contact, and the calculation formula about the point
contact oil lm thickness is as following:
The minimum oil lm thickness parameter:
hmin G0:49 U 0:68
Hmin 3:63 0:073

1 e0:68k 6:60
Rx W
Central oil lm thickness parameter:
hc G0:53 U 0:67
H 2:69 1 0:61e0:73K 6:61

C Rx W 0:067
In Eqs. (6.60) and (6.61), there are three dimensionless parameters as:
(1) G aE 0 material parameter;

1 1 1 c21 1 c22
where 6:62
E0 2 E1 E2
And c1; c2 Poissons ratio.
g0 U
2 U velocity parameter; 6:63
E 0 RX
1
where U U1 U2 surface average velocity 6:64
2
U1 ; U2 tangential speed of the contact points on two surfaces.
W
3 W load parameter: 6:65
E 0 R2X
In Eqs. (6.60) and (6.61), K is ellipticity,
0:64
a Ry
k 1:03 6:66
b Rx
In Eq. (6.66),
RX equivalent radius of curvature for two surfaces on the xoz plane;
Ry equivalent radius of curvature for two surfaces on the yoz plane;
8
> 1 1 1
>
<R R R
x 1x 2x
6:67
> 1
> 1 1
:
Ry R1y R2y
where
R1x ; R2x radius of curvature for two curved surfaces on the xoz plane;
R1y ; R2y radius of curvature for two curved surfaces on the yoz plane;
Fig. 6.9 Oil lm thickness and pressure distribution in contact area. a Contour map of oil lm in
point contact b Contour map of pressure
6.2.5.2 Oil Film Shape and Pressure Distribution
As shown in Fig. 6.9, two curved surfaces are rotating with each other and the
velocity of contact point is along with the x direction. The oil is mainly flowing
along with x direction and also some with y direction (end leakage). The oil lm
thickness and pressure distribution in the contact area are shown in Fig. 6.9.
(1) Oil lm shape of point contact elastohydrodynamic lubrication in the center of
the contact area is a horseshoe indentation and can form the constriction in two
sides and export area. As shown in Fig. 6.9a, the minimum oil lm thickness
can be found in the two sides named as earlobe.
(2) Pressure distribution of point contact elastohydrodynamic lubrication exists
the crescent-shaped secondary pressure peak area and the pressure peak in the
portrait central plane is highest and the distance to the contact center is longest
as shown in Fig. 6.9b.
6.2.5.3 Lubrication State Diagram of Point Contact
Hamrock and Dowson (in 1979) mentioned the lubrication state diagram of ellipse
contact and four dimensionless parameters have been applied as
Oil lm thickness parameter (Fig. 6.10):

hmin W 2 Hmin W 2
hf 6:68
g20 U 2 R3x U 2
aW 3 G W 3
Viscosity parameter: gv 6:69
g20 U 2 R4x U 2
Fig. 6.10 Lubricate state

diagram for k = 1 elliptical
contact [3]
2=3
W4 W 8=3
Elastic parameter: ge 6:70
g0 U E Rx
3 3 0 5 U 2
0:64
a Ry
Elasticity k 1:03 6:71
b RX
However, all current lm thickness formulae are limited for a certain lubrication
state or some partial area and are picked in the form of constant coefcient and
constant index. On the lubricating state diagram, the isograms of the existing lm
thickness formulae are straight lines with different slope but the isograms of lm
thickness with completely numerical results are curves, so only two calculation
results near by the intersection between straight and curve lines are close to each
other and the difference will be improved with the increasing of the distance to the
intersection. Especially in the junction of different lubrication states, the existing
formula error can be up to 6090 %; errors will be larger for the situation exceeding
formula limitations. So a unify formula without the need for checking the lubri-
cation chart, simple, practical, and accurate is needed for us and some scholars put
forward to the unication lm thickness formula as follows:
Minimum film thickness hmin Agnr 6:72
Central film thickness he Cgne 6:73

8
< A 3t
where C 10:8t2 21:6t 7 6:74
:
n 2:5t2 3:6t 1:9
When t < 5/9, it belongs to R-I lubrication states; when t > l, it belongs to E-I
lubrication states; when 5/9 t l, it belongs to E-V lubrication states; when hmin and
he are smaller than 4.9, it belongs to rigid-constant viscosity (R-I) lubrication states.
The mechanics department of Harbin institute of technology has implemented
some completely numerical calculations, and practical measurements of the oil lm
thickness under different working conditions and between t = 0.56 and 0.95 for the
line contact elastohydrodynamic lubrication and the results indicate the accuracy of
the calculation result with unication lm thickness formula which is much higher
and much t for the real measurement.
6.3 EHL Theory in the Bearing Application
6.3.1 EHL Theory Application
(1) According to the load, speed, geometry, surface roughness, lubricants, and
other known conditions, oil lm thickness of bearings with line contact and
point contact can be calculated to estimate the lubrication condition.
For the lubrication analysis mentioned above, the surface is supposed to be
smooth, but the real surface is rough, so the lubrication state is not only related to
the oil lm thickness, but also on the roughness.
General oil lm thickness ratio of rolling bearings can be used to estimate the
lubrication situation, and can be expressed as
hmin
K p
; 6:75
r21 r22
where r1 , r2 root mean square deviations of the roughness for two surfaces
(r 1:25Ra ).
When K [ 3, it is full elastohydrodynamic lubrication states and the asperities
contact cannot exist and the lubrication states is better;
When 1\K\3, it is partial elastohydrodynamic lubrication states and there is a
little asperities contact and wear and the lubrication states is normal;
When K\1, it is boundary elastohydrodynamic lubrication states with the heavy
wear so the lubrication states is worse.
(2) According to the calculation value of K, the working condition, structure,
lubricant, and roughness can be improved to get the better lubrication states.
Or the lubrication methods can be changed to get lubrication states with
boundary lm and rigid lm.
(3) The oil lm friction of elastohydrodynamic lubrication and the friction tem-
perature can be calculated (drag force) to realize the mechanical optimization
design.
6.3.2 EHL Calculation in the Rolling Bearing
For ball bearings, the contact between ball and inner/outer ring can be seen as point
contact between two ellipsoids but the contact area can be an ellipse under load, and
the lubrication fluid can be seen as two-dimensional flow. For roller bearings, the
contact between rollers and inner/outer ring can be seen as line contact between two
cylinders but the contact area can be seen as an elongated rectangle under load, and
the lubrication fluid can be seen as one-dimensional flow. Film thickness formula
and lubrication state diagram for two kinds of bearing are different, so the elasto-
hydrodynamic lubrication design will also bedifferent. In this sector, only elasto-
hydrodynamic design for rolling bearing in line contact will be introduced.
The working conditions for bearings are different, and the degree of deformation
effect and viscositypressure effect are different, so the minimum oil lm thickness
calculation formula for different working condition are also different.
According to the line contact lubrication state Fig. 6.8, Y-axis means the vis-
cosity parameter gv and X-axis means the elastic parameter ge :
1=2
a2 W 3
gm 6:76
g0 uR2 L3
1=2
W2
ge 6:77
g0 uERL2
where
a viscositypressure coefcient, Pa1 ;
W maximum external load for roller elements, N;
R comprehensive radius of curvature (m), R Dw 1
c=2, the contact between
rollers and inner ring can be seen as minus, so Ri can be obtained; the contact
between rollers and outer ring can be seen as positive, so R0 can be obtained;
c Dx =Dpx cos a; 6:78
a is contact angle of the bearing, Dx is the diameter of the rolling element, m;

Dpx is the pitch diameter of the rolling element set, m;
L effective roller length, m;
g0 dynamic viscosity of the lubricant in the entrance, Pa s;
E comprehensive elasticity modulus for two surfaces, N/m2 ,

1 1 1 v21 1 v22
; 6:79
E 2 E1 E2
6.3 EHL Theory in the Bearing Application 169
where v1 and v2 are Poissons ratio of two surface material. When E1 E2 ,
E1
E ; 6:80
1 v2
u average velocity of the contact area between inner/outer ring and rolling
elements, m/s,
p
u jni n0 jDpw 1 c2 6:81
120
At the beginning of design, according to gv and ge in Fig. 6.8, choose the

appropriate bearing lubrication type from four areas, and the minimum oil lm
thickness can be calculated according to related formula. R-I area is for
rigid-constant viscosity area, so the Martin formula can be applied and suitable for
the condition of high speed and light load.
g0 uRL
hmin 4:9 6:82
W
E-V area is elastic-variable viscosity area, so the Dowson formula can be applied
and suitable to high load condition.
a0:54 g0 u0:7 R0:43

hmin 2:65 6:83
E0:03 W=L0:13
R-V area is rigid-variable viscosity area, so the Blok formula can be applied and
suitable to the condition of middle load, and the pressureviscosity has a larger
influence than deformation effect.
hmin 1:66g0 ua2=3 R1=3 6:84
E-I area is elastic-constant viscosity area, so the Herrebrugh formula can be used
for the situation of deformation effect being bigger than pressureviscosity effect.
g0 uR0:6 L0:2
hmin 2:32 6:85
E 0:4 W 0:2
For the rolling bearing with line contact, the common Dowson formula can also
be expressed as following: Contact area between rollers and inner ring,
E 0:03
hmin 0:154a0:54 g0 u0:7 D0:43
w Dpw 1 c
0:7 1:13
1 c0:7 6:86
q0:13
Contact area between rollers and outer ring,
E0:03
hmin 0:154a0:54 g0 u0:7 D0:43
w Dpw 1 c
0:7 1:13
1 c0:7 ; 6:87
q0:13
where qload for a unit of length of the roller, q W=L, N=m.

It must be mentioned that the calculation of elastohydrodynamic oil lm men-
tioned above must be established under the premise of efcient lubricant in the
contact area. All formulae mentioned above do not consider the influence of the
temperature on the viscosity.
[Example] a cylindrical roller bearing NU310E, contact angle a = 0,
Dpw = 80 mm, Dw = 16 mm, L = 16 mm, the maximum load of roller
W = 3000 N, the rotating speed of inner ring ni = 3000 r/min, outer ring being
xed, elasticity modulus of bearing steels E1 = E2 = 2.07 1011 Pa, Poissons
ratio v1 = v2 = 0.3, oil dynamic viscosity g0 = 0.025 Pa s, pressureviscosity index
a = 2.2 108 Pa1 , surface roughness r1 = r2 = 0.2 m. How to solve the
minimum oil lm thickness?
Solution:
(1) calculating the geometrical parameters: c 0:2; Ri 6:4 mm 0:0064 m;
R0 9:6 mm 0:0096 m
(2) calculating the average velocity in the contact area between inner ring and
rolling elements u 6:032 m/s
(3) calculating comprehensive elasticity modulus E 2:275 1011 Pa
(4) calculating viscosity parameter, elastic parameter (responding to the contact
area between inner ring and rolling elements) gv 719; ge 12:65
(5) checking the lubrication statues (Fig. 6.8) E-V area, applying the Dowson
0:7 0:43
formula (Eq. 6.83) hmin 2:65 aE0:03gW=L
0 u R
0:54
0:13 , calculating the oil lm thickness
hmin 5:54 107 m 0:554 lm.

Above calculations are for the minimum oil lm thickness in the contact area
between inner ring and rolling elements. The R values are different, and the min-
imum oil lm thickness in the contact area between outer ring and rolling elements
is much bigger and can be calculated with the same steps. Now applying the
Eq. (6.87)
E 0:03
hmin 0:154a0:54 g0 u0:7 D0:43
w Dpw 1 c
0:7 1:13
1 c0:7
q0:13
Solution: hmin 0:662 lm.

6.4 Boundary Lubrication Theory 171
6.4 Boundary Lubrication Theory
When the rolling bearings cannot form the elastohydrodynamic lubrication lm and
hydrodynamic pressure lm, some surface lm can be formed on the friction pair
using some lubricants with additive so that the friction and wear can be reduced,
which can be named as boundary lubrication states.
Boundary lubrication states extensively exist in the real mechanical equipment
and even for the surface being in the fluid lubrication condition, the boundary
lubricant also can exist for a long time that is caused by the factors of start, stop,
overload operation, assembly errors, and so on.
6.4.1 Boundary Lubrication Mechanism
Boundary lm is a kind of thin lm with the function of lubrication because of the

absorption or chemical reaction of the molecules in the lubricant on the metal
surface. The thickness is only several molecules. The boundary lubrication mainly
depends on the boundary lm to get the lubrication function.
Boundary lm has been attached to the metal surface and it separates two metals,
so the relative motion is between the boundary lms. The shear strength of
boundary lm is low, and the friction is also lower according to the adhesive theory
for the sliding friction, so the friction and wear can be reduced as the lubrication.
When boundary lm is broken, the metal peaks will contact with each other. For the
friction pair in the boundary lubrication, there are some parts with the contact of
boundary lms, and some contact between the metal peaks. When the area covered
by the boundary lm is much bigger, the friction will be smaller.
6.4.2 Boundary Film Types and Characteristics
According to the different structural properties, boundary lms can be mainly

divided into physisorption lm, chemisorption lm, and chemical reaction lm.
1. Physisorption lm
(1) when the lubricant with oiliness agent contact with metal, physisorption lm
can be formed because of the attraction of the polar molecules on the metal
surface, e.g., stearic acid molecule adsorption lm.
(2) features: low melting point, broken with the temperature increasing, suitable
for the low speed and light load.
2. Chemisorption lm
(1) some thin lm can be formed due to the action for chemical bond force of the
polar molecules such as the lm produced with the stearic acid and metal
cupric ion
(2) features: It is suitable for medium speed, medium load and moderate tem-
perature range condition and the lm will be broken if the temperature is much
higher.
The boundary layer molecules for boundary lubrication are directional align-
ment, and the property is different from liquid state. Polar molecules on the
adsorption lm are parallel and perpendicular to the friction surface, which can get
many adsorption molecules and in the sliding process and under the action of
friction, adsorbed molecules will slope and bend, so the molecules brush can be
formed to reduce the resistance, and the friction coefcient between adsorption
lms will be lower and the direct contact between the friction surfaces can be
effectively prevented.
Fatty acid molecules can be adsorbed with each other but the lengths of the
molecular chains are different, so the lubrication effect of adsorption lm is also
different. The acetic acid molecular chain is the shortest and stearic acid has longest
molecular chain so the adsorption lm can be much thicker. In general, friction
coefcient for boundary lubrication can be reduced with the increasing of the
polarity molecular chain length and nally to be a stable value.
Polar molecules in the oil have dual effects to the wear. On one hand, polar
molecules can form the adsorption lm to avoid the direct contact between the
metals, so friction and wear can be reduced; on the other hand, when there are some
cracks existing on the metal surface, polar molecules will promote the expansion of
the crack under the action of pressure.
Therefore, some points should be mentioned in order to use the adsorption lm
for lubrication:
(1) reasonable selections of the friction surface material and lubricant and also
controlling the friction surface roughness.
(2) adding some necessary oiliness additive, such as higher aliphatic acid, alcohol,
ester, and so on. But the content should be less than 10 %.
(3) the adsorption lm can only work under the condition of normal temperature
or 1 or 200 C condition and the relative speed between friction pairs also
cannot be much too higher, so the working condition should be controlled.
6.4 Boundary Lubrication Theory 173
3. Chemical reaction lm
(1) for the lubricating oil with extreme pressure additive containing sulfur,
phosphorus, chlorine, and other effective atomic, some chemical reactions can
be formed between active atoms and metal under the friction heat of high
temperature (150200 C), so the strong chemical reaction lms can be
formed.
(2) features: thicker lm, higher melting point, low shear strength, much more
stable, suitable to the condition of high speed, high load and high temperature.
Chemical reaction is mainly for preventing the adhesive effect and can be
applied for the lubrication of the heavy-duty gear and worm gear drive, and the
oxidation lm is the most common chemical reaction lm.
The common additive in the chemical reaction lm includes
(1) sulfocompound, such as three polyisobutylene sulde, dibenzyl disulde, and
so on. The load capacity is higher and with small friction and wear.
Phosphorous compound, such as triethyl phosphate and tricresyl phosphate.
(2) nitrogenous derivative as phosphate, phosphite ester, and vulcanizing
phosphate.
(3) borate under the non-water condition has better extreme pressure features as
an extreme pressure additive.
matters needing attention for the application of extreme pressure additive:
(1) extreme pressure additive must be matching with the oiliness additive. For the
better matching between oiliness agent and extrusion agent, the stable and low
friction coefcient can be ensured even for the lower or higher temperature.
(2) extreme pressure additive has some causticity for the metal, so the material
matching is to prevent the corrosive effect.
(3) corrosive action of the extreme pressure additive to the metal should be
minded, so the amount of extreme pressure additive should be controlled
strictly.
6.4.3 Influencing Factors on Boundary Lubrication Film
(1) additive molecular structurelong chain, multilayer, strong polarity, smaller

friction coefcient.
(2) temperaturedifferent temperature range for different boundary lm.
(3) velocitysmall influence.
(4) loadthe adsorption lm has no influence for smaller load but it break at high
load. For the reaction lm, load has no influence.
(5) surface roughnessthe friction coefcient will be higher with the roughness
increasing.

between frictional coefcient
and temperature of lubricating
oil with different additives
As shown in Fig. 6.11, three solid lines of curves I, II, and III are, respectively,
the relationship curves between the friction coefcient and temperature for nonpolar
base oil, the oil with oiliness agent and the oil with extreme pressure agent. The
dashed line IV shows the relationship between the lubricant with composite addi-
tive between extreme pressure agent and oiliness agent and the temperature. It can
be seen that internal friction coefcient in the whole temperature range is very high
for curve I, but the curve II performs well in antifriction effect under the low
temperature condition, and adsorption lm will be failure after being up to critical
temperature Tm , so the friction coefcient is rising rapidly. Curve III has little
lubrication effect before the reaction temperature reaches Tr and the friction coef-
cient is bigger, and after forming the chemical reaction lm, the friction coefcient
will be reduced sharply. If the appropriate additive formulation can be selected,
applying the composite additive between the extreme pressure agent and the oili-
ness agent, the friction coefcient can be kept smaller even under the low- and
high-temperature area as the curve IV in Fig. 6.11.
6.5 Recearch Development for the Rolling Bearing

Lubrication Mechanism
Under the high stress of 14 GPa condition, the premise of the long lifetime (rolling
contact number greater than 109) for the bearing is that manufacturing technology
can guarantee the enough smooth surface and the elastohydrodynamic oil lm can
be formed and the rolling surfaces can be effectively separated [4]. Many factors
such as steel quality, contact surface quality, lubrication condition, load, operating
temperature, and internal tting stress condition, bearing dynamic characteristics all
have the influence with different degrees on the bearing lifetime. The simulation of
whole-bearing dynamic characteristics with system theory method mainly relies on
the elastohydrodynamic simulation.
6.5 Recearch Development for the Rolling Bearing Lubrication Mechanism 175
6.5.1 EHL Simulation Study in the Rough Surface
The research on elastohydrodynamic simulation of the real rough surface for

bearing is mainly the flowing three aspects in the recent years [5].
1. Elastohydrodynamic of the rough surface
Compared to the smooth surface, the elastohydrodynamic oil lm pressure is pre-
sented as fluctuation characteristic which means that the pressure at the peak
position of the microbulge on the rough surface will be increased and the pressure
in the valley position will be decreased. This kind of life evaluation for the real
rough surface is the premise to predict the bearing lifetime. The stress eld theory
for the contacting subsurface is applied to evaluate the relative influence of the
roughness parameter on the lifetime [6]. From the calculated result of the given
contact surface, it indicates that average lifetime L10 can be improved dramatically
with the reduction of the rms slope of surface or the more negative degree of the
surface slope coefcient, but in comparison with the increase in average lifetime
L10, the reducing degree of Rq is much smaller. Meanwhile, the rheological char-
acteristics of non-Newtonian fluids for the bearing lubricant should be considered.
In the latest years, the research of the real elastohydrodynamic calculation for the
rough surfaces developed rapidly and with the help of the multiple networks
computing technology, the calculating time with computer can be reduced and the
storage space also can be reduced. These kinds of computing technology will be
helpful to understand the oil lm forming process between the rough surfaces and
increase the stress level for the contact between microbulges (micro elastohydro-
dynamic). The real performance of the bearing under the mixed or boundary
lubrication condition also depends on the chemical component and the additive of
the lubricant that also effects the bearing lifetime. Therefore, additional bearing life
experiment is necessary to prove the bearing life prediction.
2. Elastohydrodynamic lubrication failure
Under the real working condition, the lubricant pollution or impurity particles have a
signicantly influence on bearing life. These studies focused on the following two
aspects: (1) the mechanism and prediction of the failure caused by the impurity
particles between the bearing raceway and rolling element. (2) How to theoretically
clarify the partial failure reduce the bearing fatigue life. On many situations, life
prediction is started from dry contact stress calculation. When rolling element is
rolling on the failure raceway, if you want to simulate the real failure surface real-
istically, it will occupy a lot of computer memory and long computation time.
3. Boundary lubrication and grease lubrication
For smooth surfaces and lubricant with Newtonian fluid rheology properties, under
the isothermal conditions, elastohydrodynamic oil lm thickness can be predicted.
Modern calculation method can be also used to predict it including the rough and
failure surface, and consider thermal effect and the status of the rheological char-
acteristics of non-Newtonian fluid. However, all these analyses assumed that there
is enough lubricant to ensure that the entrance is full of lubricant. It is supposed that
this condition cannot be received, the poor lubricant situation will be discovered in
the elastohydrodynamic contact area and the oil lm thickness will be reduced to
about a half. When the high-oil viscosity and high speed lead to the insufcient oil
supplying in the entrance, the poor lubrication will be discovered even with enough
lubricant. Grease-lubricated bearings almost are operating in boundary area. For the
elastohydrodynamic lm thickness of the grease, there were different literatures
reporting different results, but with following agreements:
(1) Initial oil lm thickness of the grease is bigger than the base oil lm thickness
but it will be reduced with the increasing of the velocity.
(2) If without the replenishment of the grease, the oil lm thickness will be
decreased with the time going. Except the low speed condition, the oil lm
thickness is thinner than the base oil lm.
(3) Stable lm thickness ratio of the grease will be reduced with the increase in the
speed, and under the high-speed condition, it will be close to 70 % of the base
oil lm thickness. For the complement mechanism of the base oil in the
grease-lubricated bearing, the accurate understanding is also missing.
Recognizing the essence of the oil lm for grease lubricant and identifying the
forming process of the oil lm and lling process of the lubricant cannot be
realized in the recent years and the bearing lubrication performance cannot be
predicted according to the basic grease performance.
6.5.2 Grease Lubrication Mechanism
Grease lubricating bearing accounts for the 70 % of the total bearing quantity, so
grease lubrication is important for the bearing. However, for the lubrication
mechanism for the grease-lubricated bearing, there is not a common cognition until
now [5].
Grease is a kind of plastic lubricant composed of one (or more) kind of thick-
eners and one (or more) kind of lubricating liquid. From the research of the soap
grease structure, it indicates that soap oil dispersion system is a kind of two-phase
dispersion system composed by the dispersed phase as the soap crystal or soap
micelle or soap ber and dispersed medium as the nonpolar liquid. Our native
scholars mentioned a new structure concept which means that grease is a kind of
dispersed structure system and oil is the dispersion medium, and soap oil gel ion is
the dispersed phase. According to soap oil gel particles dispersions concept, the
base oil in the grease exists in three different forms, as shown in Fig. 6.12, namely,
the expanded oil, capillary adsorption oil, and free oil. The oil inside the soap ber,
as well as in the soap molecules intracell can be named as expanded oil that can be
influenced by the soap molecule c-terminus ion eld and sustained within the
crystal lattice, so it is hard to squeeze out, but it also can be released out after
breaking of the soap ber c-terminus under the high shear force. For the oil inside
Fig. 6.12 Sketch for base oil

of grease. 1 hydroxyl bond
2 Polar group 3 free oil
4 Capillary oil 5 Pufng oil
the two-dimensional arranged layer of the soap molecule dipolymer, the force
sustaining inside the structure is poor because of the van der Waals force at the end
of soap molecules hydrocarbon chain, but inside the two-dimensional arranged
layer of the soap molecule dipolymer has a kind of function like the capillary effect,
and the sustaining force for oil in this part is different from that one on the surface
of the soap ber, so the former can be named as capillary adsorption oil and the
later can be named as free oil that is outside of the soap ber as the gap between the
soap bers, so the sustaining force is smaller and easy to be separated out from the
system. For example under the action of gravity, free oil will be separated out rst
and capillary adsorption oil can also be drawn out under the condition of enough
outside force. Three types of oil are different which means that they are sustained
with different forces and complexities which are also different, but they are also
related with each other, because under the certain conditions, three types of oil can
be transferred from each other. For example, signicant phase change occurs for
soap oil gel particles, expanded and capillary adsorption oil will be separated out
from the particles and become the free oil, or the reverse process occurs, free oil can
be expanded into the bers.
O Halloran colored the sodium base grease and put into the deep groove ball
bearing 6204-2Z, and after operating 2 h, it can be found that soap and base oil can
flow inside of the bearing together.
Horth made the operating experiment with the same method, and the results
show that canal type grease almost cannot flow inside the bearing and noncanal
type grease can flow.
Milne used the transparent resin as the outer ring, and ll some grease into the
cylindrical roller bearing with inner diameter of 25.4 mm, and the consistence of
calcium base grease is 320. The bearing will rotate with the speed of 1000 r/min
and a small quantity of grease can be the residual on the raceway. At this time, the
grease inside the bearing has three kinds of states: a little grease residual in the
friction position; grease accumulating inside of the cage; plenty of grease outside
the bearing and inside the sealing cover.
Some scholars thought that the movement of grease lled inside bearing can be
divided into two stages along with the rotation of the bearing. In the early stages of
the bearing movement, most grease can be squeezed out of the raceway and
accumulating inside the cage and sealing cover, and form an outline outside of the
rolling elements. During this process, bearing temperature rises quickly due to the
redundant grease resistance, while most redundant grease at the early stage of
bearing operation is being squeezed out. However, residual grease on the raceway is
still more than the actual demand, and the grease being squeezed near the raceway
can also be brought into the raceway by rotating the rolling elements. Small amount
of grease can be squeezed out in the bearing operating process. The bearing tem-
peratures continue to rise, until the redundant grease has been all squeezed out, so
this stage can be called the running-in stage of the grease. According to the factor of
grease quality, lling quantity in the bearing, this period could last 10 min, or even
a few hours.
For the lubrication mechanism of the grease in the contact position, there are
some viewpoints as follows:
(1) base oil in the grease can play the function of lubrication. The people holding
this kind of view think that base oil can be brought onto the contact surface of
friction pair with the function of metallic soap or thickener and can be released
out by the external force for lubrication. This kind of view only nds the base
oil which has the real function of lubrication and they are according to the
following experimental results: for the grease with different thickeners and the
same base oil, their friction coefcients are the same.
(2) the whole grease plays the function of lubrication. British scholar Lansdown A R
thought whole grease plays the lubrication function.
(3) only a small quantity of grease lm in the friction position can be used for
repeated lubrication. After the redundant grease has been squeezed out, the
remaining grease will be on the contact surface between rolling element,
raceway, and cages. That means a thin layer lubrication lm can be formed
with the wedge function and then it can be with the bearing normal operating
stage. Lubrication action for a long time mainly depends on this layer of
grease lm.
6.5.3 Grease Lubrication Migration Mechanism
In the lubrication process of rolling bearings, lubricant on the raceway has been
squeezed out of the contact zone, meanwhile is constantly strip into the entrance, so
the migration phenomenon of lubricant near the contact zone will be formed.
Migration phenomenon for the grease-lubricated bearing contain: basic oil
separation, evaporation and inltration migration; adhesive migration under the
condition of shear, extrusion, mixing and vibration; migration under the condition
of the temperature gradient; return migration of the lubricant out of the raceway in
function of the surface tension; droplet migration and lubricant oxidation migration
in the outlet cavity, and so on.
It is determined by the structural properties of lubricant itself and the base oil
contained inside can be precipitated from grease because of heat, vibration, pres-
sure, and other factors that can be named as migration of base oil. Under the
condition of mechanical force, surface tension and other factors, in the grease
lubrication process adhesive migration, temperature difference migration, return
migration, the inltration migration, and the droplet transfer phenomenon can be
found; and under the high temperature condition, oxidation, and other permanent
migration phenomenon can be found for the lubricant.
1. Base oil migration
(1) Evaporation migration: Through the test of the lifetime for grease-lubricated
bearings, if the base oil content is decreased to half of before, the grease will
lose the ability of lubrication. Evaporation migration of the base oil is another
reason for the loss besides the oxidation migration.
(2) Oil separation: This feature is related to the stability of rubber matrix for the
grease that is the ability to prevent the separation of the base oil in the storage
and application process and it can be found in any kind of grease. For the
grease with poor stability of rubber matrix, the base oil will be easily separated
out from the grease, that is, the soap oil separated easily. The stability of
rubber matrix for the grease depends on many factors such as the soap oil
solubility, environment temperature, and so on.
Farrington and Humphreys [7] made a tting formula according to their oil
separation experiments
T
L 6:88
a bT
where
L weight percent of the separating oil;
T time;
1 initial oil separation ratio;
a
1
b
nal oil separation ratio
(3) Permeability: Permeability characteristics are necessary to study the mass

transfer process of porous media. Framework of grease is the three-
dimensional network structure made by thickening agent, so this structure
can be approximately seen as the porous media and the related research can be
implemented according to the mass transfer method instead of the porous
media.
In 1856, Darcy put forward the Darcy law according to the research of the flow
of water through the dinas and it is extensively used in the mass transfer method of
the porous media. The Darcy formula is as:
BDP
v ; 6:89
gL
where
B permeability;
v flow velocity;
DP pressure difference;
L sample thickness
The earliest application of Darcy formula in the grease research has been
implemented by Sisko and Brunstrum [8]. They established a set of experimental
facility to measure the osmotic pressure of the grease, from which the base oil
migration can be reflected from another side.
2. Adhesive migration
When studying the lubrication characteristics of grease-lubricated bearing, it can be
found that besides the redundant grease on the raceway, and some grease also can
be adsorbed on the rollers with van der Waals force. Therefore, relative motion
between the grease on the raceway and rollers will be caused under the drive of
rollers and it will also lead to the adhesive phenomenon.
3. Temperature difference migration and return migration
For the grease-lubricated bearing, the contact area is between the rough peaks and
the transient temperature of the contact area is very high; besides, there will be a
higher temperature gradient between the grease in the contact area center and the
two sides which will lead to the grease migrating from the center of contact area to
the two sides position. In essence, this kind of migration can be seen as a process of
energy transmission.
4. Droplet migration and oxidation
Larsson [9] thought that grease is hard to flow by itself and efcient lubricant
cannot be ensured in the entrance which only depends on the return migration, so
there must be other migration method. In the entrance, the pressure will be reduced
suddenly and the cavitation will be caused, so drops of lubricant will be formed
which will be falling on the raceway and can supply the lubricant in the entrance
area. Their thoughts have been proved according to experiments.
When the operating temperature exceeds a certain value, lubricant oxidation can
play a signicant function and lead to lubricant failure. Wirkstrom and Jacobson
[10] found that when the environment temperature is low, the oxidation has little
influence and even flash temperature is caused sometimes. Therefore, the grease
oxidation only depends on the environment temperature.
5. Migration equilibrium of the lubricant near the contact area for the
grease-lubricated bearing
From the analysis mentioned above, there are some migrations which can be found
for the grease and some is for the grease supplying and other is for the grease loss.
These kinds of interaction of the restraining factors make the lubricant migration in
the entrance to be a kind of dynamic equilibrium.
According to lots of experiments, it can be proved that the lubricant supplying in
the entrance contains the base oil separated out from grease, accumulated base oil
and thickening agent on the raceway, accumulated drops on the raceway, adhesive
lubricant on the rollers, and backflow of the base oil on the raceway. The lubricant
loss mainly contains: lubricant temperature migration under the action of the
temperature gradient, oxidation failure, evaporation migration. Only under the
interactions of several factors, the lubricant exchange near the contact area is also a
kind of dynamic equilibrium.
6.6 Genetic Algorithm in the Cylindrical Roller Bearing

Thermal Elastohydrodynamic Numerical Analysis
Lots of EHL numerical analysis methods have been developed at home and abroad,
and the general characteristics for the solution of the oil lm pressure are to solve
the discrete Reynolds equation set with complex numerical iterative technique. The
pressure variation is in the oil lm with only 0.11 , and the viscosity of the
lubricant is sensitive to the pressure and temperature, which leads to the system
with strong nonlinearity and cannot obtain the analytical solution at present. Even
the stability of numerical solution is very poor, so theoretical system of mathematic
has not been formed until now. Therefore, establishing the algorithm with structure
stability, fast convergence speed, and high precision is always the most challenging
subject in the eld of elastohydrodynamic and the goal for each researcher in this
eld.
The author of this book applied genetic arithmetic (GA) for the numerical
analysis of the non-Newtonian fluid (TEHL) for the line contact in the cylindrical
roller bearing [11]. Meanwhile, for the slow solution speed and low efciency of the
GA, the new mesh method in the entrainment velocity direction has been mentioned
and also makes the solution speed and accuracy to increase after analyzing the
foundation of the current mesh method. According to the current elastohydrody-
namic characteristics in the isothermality condition and the heating condition,
proper individual structure program of the real value coding and the production
method of initial population increasing the solution efciency and stability have
been put forward; according to the research of the elastohydrodynamic numerical
analysis and genetic arithmetic principle, the proper mathematical model of thermal
elastohydrodynamic lubrication optimization and tness function have been
established and the tness function has also been determined and also proper
iteration termination condition has been mentioned. Through the deeply research of
the principle and characteristics of genetic algorithm and the related operator, the
selection operator, crossover operator, and mutation operator, the appropriate
genetic calculation of elastohydrodynamic lubrication and overall calculation pro-
cess have been designed and the solution methods of the possible linear contact
non-Newtonian Thermal Elastohydrodynamic problems with genetic algorithm
have been studied further, and the test method for central lm thickness and the
minimum lm thickness of the calculation results has also been proposed.
The advantages of the application of genetic algorithm in line contact thermal
elastohydrodynamic complete numerical analysis including: simple solution idea,
good robustness, and ease of programming. If the initial population can be designed
appropriately, this method also can be applied to the moderate load and heavy
elastohydrodynamic conditions.
The overall calculation process of the application of the genetic algorithm in line
contact thermal elastohydrodynamic problems is shown in Fig. 6.13.
The following example is an application of the genetic algorithm. The basic
working condition is: dimensionless load W* = 8e5(pH = 0.8147 GPa), dimen-
sionless velocity U* = 1.5e11, slip ratio S = 1. The scope of the initial population
has 20 individuals and there are 246 nodes. The lubricant parameters and the solid a
and b can be seen in the Table 6.1.
According to the GA theory, after random and continuous operation of
Elastohydrodynamic genetic analysis program for 14 times, analysis of the results is
shown in Fig. 6.14. The results show that, under the same equivalent radius, load
parameters, velocity parameters, and slip ratio condition, the dimensionless mini-
mum lm thickness value calculated by Wen Shizhu is 0.0815, and the GA cal-
culation results will be smaller and with relative deviation of [8.2 %, 0.37 %], the
absolute value is less than 10 %. The calculation results of average value of GA
minimum lm thickness is 0.0778, deviation of 4.54 % compared with the results
calculated with formula, and fluctuation interval of all results relative to the average
is [5 %, 5 %]. The central lm thicknesses calculated by Murch formula and
Wilson formula, respectively, are 0.1101 and 0.1002, and the GA results are in
between and the average value is 0.1037. Compared to the calculation results from
two formulae, the deviations are 5.81 and 3.49 %, respectively. The average
fluctuation interval of all GA results is [1.35 %, 1.35 %]. The fluctuation of
central lm maximum temperature is small, and the relative average deviation is
less than 0.04 %.
According to the analysis mentioned above, genetic algorithm can be effectively
used to solve the line contact thermal elastohydrodynamic problem also with good
numerical stability and convergence efciency. And the deviation of numerical
calculation can be controlled in small range.
6.6 Genetic Algorithm in the Cylindrical Roller Bearing 183
Fig. 6.13 Flow chart for GA numerical analysis

Table 6.1 Related parameters for solid and oil

Parameter Value
Lubricating oil viscosity, g0 , Pa s 0.08
Lubricating oil density, q0 , kg/m3 890
Density of solid a and b, qa;b , kg/m3 7850
Lubricating oil specic heat capacity, C, J/(kg K) 2000
Specic heat capacity of solid a and b, ca;b , J/(kg K) 470
Lubricating oil thermal conductive coefcient, k, W/(m K) 0.14
Thermal conductive coefcient of solid a and b, ka;b , W/(m K) 46
Viscous pressure coefcient, a, Pa1 2.19 108
Viscous temperature coefcient, b, K1 0.0476
Dimensionless material coefcient, G* 5000
Environment temperature, T0 , K 313(40 C)
Roller equivalent radius, R, mm 27
Fig. 6.14 Comparison of different results. a Central lm thickness, minimum lm thickness, and
highest central oil lm temperature emerged by GA in different process and results obtained by
formula calculation, b Relative mean value deviation of GA run results
In addition, the author has also researched the numerical solution of EHL lm
thickness for the rib of tapered roller bearing [12] and the calculation methods of oil
lm thickness of the bearing with polyimide cage [13].
References 185
References
1. py AH (1949) Oco poaeco eop ca eopyex

pecx oepxoce. a 30:126184
2. Timoshenko S, Goodier JN (1973) Theory of elasticity. McGraw-Hill, New York
3. Dowson D, Higginson GR (1997) Elasto-hydrodynamic lubrication. Pergamon Press, London
4. Ioannides E (1997) EHL in rolling element bearings, recent advances and the wider
implications. First World Tribology Congress
5. Xinglin LI, Chengtao W (1999) New trend in rolling bearing elastohydrodynamic lubrication.
Bearing 3:3840
6. Tripp JH, Ioannides E (1990) Effects of surface roughness on rolling bearing life, Proc. Japan
International Tribology Conference. Nagoya 797820
7. Farrington BB, Humphreys RL (1939) Effect of pressure on lubricating greases. Ind Eng
Chem 31:230235
8. Sisko W, Brunstrum LC (1961) Permeability of lubricating grease. NLGI Spokesman 25
9. Larsson O (1995) Oil dropfomation at the outlet of elastohydrodynamic lubricated point
contact. Tribology 117:7479
10. Wirkstrom V, Jacobson B (1997) Loss of lubricant from oillubricared near-starved spherical
roller bearings. Proc Instn Mech Engs 211(Part J):5165
11. Qiu M, Lu J, Yin Y (2009) Numerical analysis of non-Newtonian TEHL line contact problem
based on real-coded genetic algorithm. Tribol Int 42(7):10521060
12. Ming QIU, Jinshun LI (2000) Numerical solution of elastohydrodynamic lubrication lm
thickness for tapered roller bearing rib 6:79, 30
13. Ming QIU (1997) Oil lm thickness in a bearing with polyimide cage. J Luoyang Inst Technol
18(4):3033
Chapter 7
Bearing Lubrication Application
Lubrication has an important influence on the bearing fatigue life, friction, wear,
temperature and vibration. Bearings cannot work without normal lubrication. It can be
found that about 40 % of the bearing damage is related to poor lubrication by ana-
lyzing the causes to the damage of the bearing. Therefore, well-lubricated bearing is an
effective method to reduce the bearing friction and wear. In addition, bearing lubri-
cation also has the function of heat emitting, anti-rust, sealing, cushion, and so on.
7.1 Lubricant
Lubricating materials include liquid, solid, gas, and semi-solid. Liquid lubricant is oil
lubrication. Semi-solid is grease with ointment state under the normal temperature.
7.1.1 Oil Lubrication
Lubricants according to the source can be divided into three categories of animal,
vegetable oil, petroleum oil (mineral oil), and synthetic lubricants. Petroleum lubri-
cant accounts for 97 % of the lubricant materials. Besides the lubrication function,
lubricant has the function of cooling, anticorrosion, cleaning, sealing, and buffer.
1. Lubricating oil composition
In general, lubricating oil is made up of base oil and additives. Base oil is the main
part that decides the basic properties of the lubricating oil. Additives are the key
part of the lubricating oil can make up and improve the insufciency of base oil
performance, also giving some new performance [1].
Base oil can be mainly divided into mineral and synthetic oil. Mineral oil is
widely used, and the application quantity accounts for big proportion (about 95 %),
188 7 Bearing Lubrication Application
but some applications, the synthetic oil must be applied so that it can be developed
rapidly. Additive is the essence of modern advanced lubricant, the correct selection
of reasonable join can improve the physicochemical characteristics and can give the
lubricant a new special performance or strengthen a certain original performance to
meet the higher requirements. According to the quality and performance require-
ment of the lubricating oil, the accurate selection, balancing performance, and
reasonable preparation of the additives are the key to ensure the quality of the
lubricating oil. In general, the common additives include viscosity index improver,
pour point depressant, antioxidant, dispersant, friction moderator, oiliness agent,
extreme pressure agent, antifoaming agent, metal passivating agent, emulsier,
anticorrosive agent, anti-rust agent, demulsifying agent.
2. Lubricating oil physicochemical characteristics
Lubricating oil is a kind of complicated compound of hydrocarbons, its real
application performance is a comprehensive effect during the complicated physical
and chemical transformation. The basic performances of lubricating oil contain the
common and special physicochemical characteristics.
Common physicochemical characteristics include appearance (chroma), density,
viscosity, flash point, solidifying point and pour point, pH value and neutralization
value, moisture content, mechanical impurities, ash and sulphated ash, and carbon
residue. Besides, each lubricant should have some special physicochemical char-
acteristics presenting their performances. Its special physicochemical will be more
outstanding with higher requirements and stronger specicities. Special physico-
chemical characteristics include oxidation stability, thermal stability, oiliness and
extreme pressure, corrosion and rust, antifoam, hydrolytic stability, demulsibility,
air release value, rubber sealing, shear stability, solubility, volatile, antirust, and
electrical property.
3. Lubricating oil viscosity
Common physicochemical characteristics have been introduced in details in the
sector of lubrication foundation, so it will not be stated in details in this book. The
viscosity of lubricating oil is important for the oil lm thickness and temperature
rise and the viscosity performance will be introduced in the following parts.
(1) categories of the viscosity
Lubricating oil viscosity includes dynamic viscosity, kinematic viscosity and rel-
ative viscosity.
Newton mentioned the assumption that viscous shear stress is proportional to
shear strain rate, which is known as Newtons viscosity law,

s gv 7:1

where, is shear stress, as well as the friction force in unity area, = F/A; v is shear

strain rate, as well as the rate of shear strain changes with time, v dc=dt. It can be
known that shear strain rate is equal to the gradient of the flow velocity along the
7.1 Lubricant 189
fluid thickness direction. The constant of proportionality can be dened as flow

dynamic viscosity. All fluid obeying Newtons law of viscosity can be named as
Newton fluid. Non Newton fluid cannot conform to the law of fluid, or it has not the
property of Newton. According to practices, it can be proved that most lubricating
oil especially mineral oil belongs to Newton fluid. According to the International
System of Units (SI), the unit of dynamic viscosity is Ns/m2 or Pa s or mPa s. In the
engineering application, cGs system is applied and the unit of dynamic viscosity is
Poise that can be simplied as P; 1 P = 1 dyne s/cm2 = 0.1 N s/m2 = 0.1 Pa s. The
unit of P is much too big, so hundredth of the unit can be applied named as cP, so 1
cP = 1 mPa s. When imperial unit is applied, the unit of dynamic viscosity is Reyn,
1 Reyn = 11 bf s/in2 = 1.45 105 P. The range of the dynamic viscosity for
different fluids is very wide. The dynamic viscosity of air is 0.02 mPa s, and the
dynamic viscosity of water is 1 mPa s. The viscosity range of the lubricating oil is
2400 mPa s, while molten asphalt can reach 700 mPa s.
The ratio between dynamic viscosity and the fluid density is called kinematic
viscosity. The unit of m2/s can be applied in the International System of
Units and Stoke can be applied in the unit of cGs, and simplied as St.
1 St = 102 mm2/s = 104 m2/s. In general, hundredth of the unit of St is cSt, 1 cSt
= 1 mm2/s. Lubricating oil density = 0.71.2 g/cm3 and the typical value for
mineral oil density is 0.85 g/cm3, so cP) = 0:85 cSt can be applied to the
approximate calculation.
Capillary viscometers applied in industry include Redwood, Saybot, and Engler
viscometer, corresponding to the Redwood viscosity, Saybolt viscosity and Engler
viscosity. These three are the relative viscosity and have the similar viscosimeter
structures, only the fluid volume and capillary size are different. Redwood vis-
cosimeter is usually used in the United States, and Saybolt viscosimeter is usually
used in the UK; besides the Engler viscosimeter is usually used in the Russia,
Europe, and China. The conversion relation of the three kinds of viscosimeter can
be seen in Fig. 7.1.
(2) The relationship between lubricating oil viscosity and temperature
Viscosity variation with the temperature is an important feature of the lubricant. In
general, the lubricating oil with higher viscosity is much more sensitive to the
change of temperature. Many researches on lubricant viscosity-temperature char-
acteristics have been carried out and followed by lots of equations. Some equations
are deducted according to the fluid flow model and some are just the summary of
experience data. Therefore, each kind of equation has the related boundedness.
Table 7.1 shows the common formulas between the viscosity and temperature.
Since 1992, viscosity index (VI value) has been applied to show the change
scope of the viscosity for each kind of lubricant with the temperature, which is also
a kind of common empirical method. The method to determine the viscosity index
is to compare the test oil with two standard oils. When standard oils were selected,
the VI value of the two standard oil were dened as 100 and 0, but also to make
their kinematic viscosity under the temperature of 210 F (99 C) is the same as the
Fig. 7.1 Viscosity conversion
Table 7.1 Relationship for common viscosity and temperature

Proposer Relationship Introduction
cT
Reynolds = be Easy form and calculation, but inaccuracy. Usually applied
from 20 to 80 C
Andrade-erying = bea/T Generally applied in high temperature.
Slotte = a/(b + T)c Fairly accurate, generally used to analyze
Vogel = aeb/(T+c) Very accurate, especially used in low temperature
Walther-ASTM + a = bd1/Tc Generally used to draw viscosity-temperature gure
test oil. And then the VI value of the test oil can be calculated according to the
kinematic viscosity at the temperature of 100 F (38 C). As:
VI L U 100=L H 7:2
where, L, H, and U are the kinematic viscosity of the 0VI standard oil, 100VI
standard oil and test oil under the temperature of 100 F.
The VI values of most industrial lubricating oil are between 0 and 100, and the
lubricating oil with high viscosity index shows that its variation with temperature is
small, so the viscosity-temperature performance is better.
7.1 Lubricant 191
(3) The relationship between lubricating oil viscosity and pressure

When the pressure on liquids increases, the distance between molecules will
decrease and the intermolecular attraction will increase, which causes the increase
of the viscosity. In general, the change of viscosity with pressure will become much
more signicant when the pressure of mineral oil exceeds 0.02 GPa, and the
variation-rate of viscosity will also increase with the improvement of the pressure.
When the pressure is increased to several GPa, the viscosity will increase several
orders of magnitude, until the pressure higher enough, mineral oil will loss the
liquid nature and become a waxy solid. It can be concluded that for the hydrody-
namic lubrication at heavy load, especially for elastohydrodynamic lubrication
state, pressure-viscosity is an important problem. Many empirical formulas about
viscosity and pressure have been mentioned so far, and Barus formula which can be
used for liquid with proper accuracy is commonly used (1893), and easy to do
mathematical operation. As:
g g0 eap 7:3
where
viscosity at pressure p;
0 viscosity in the atmosphere;
viscosity-pressure coefcient of the fluid
Barus equation cannot be applied at high pressure, and Cameron et al. (in 1962)
mentioned the power function of viscosity-pressure relationship = 0(1 + cp)16
(c is the constant related to the 0 and temperature). After the 1970s, composite
viscosity-pressure relationship formula has been proposed, which means when
p < pc, = 0e1p; when p pc, = 0e1p+2(pp)c. where, pc is transition
pressure and pc=300500 MPa; and the two viscosity-pressure coefcients are
1 = (1.22.0) 108 m2/N, 2 = 0.1 108 m2/N.
In many lubrication calculations, the influence of the temperature and pressure
should be considered together. On the basis of extensive experimental researches,
Roelands (in 1966) mentioned a much more practical viscosity-pressure formula in
his Ph.D. paper, as:
z T 135 s0
p
g exp ln g0 2:76 1 2:76 7:4
1:962 108 T0 135
where
z viscosity-pressure index;
s0 viscosity-temperature index;
T0 lubricating oil temperature in the entrance
4. Lubricant additive
An additive in lubricating oil is one or several compounds, so that some new
features can be got or some origin features can be improved. The functions of
additives include antioxidant, anti-wear agent and friction improver (aka oily
agent), extreme pressure additive, detergent, dispersant, foam inhibitor, corrosion

rust inhibitor, flow improver, viscosity index improver, etc. Additives on sale in the
market are generally the compounds with more than one additive, and the pro-
portion of every single additive is different.
5. Synthetic lubricating oil
Synthetic lubricants have many kinds and can be divided into six classes, such as
synthetic hydrocarbon oil, ester oil, phosphate ester, silicone oil, fluorine oil, poly-
ether, etc. Besides, there are other synthetic oils such as polyphenyl ether, triazine,
etc. Due to their difcult preparation and exorbitant price, they are rarely used.
6. Selection of lubricating oil
The lubricating oil selection should depend on such factors as working load,
velocity, temperature, and environmental conditions. The working load of kinematic
pair is directly related to the flowability and abrasion resistance of the lubricating oil.
The viscosity of the lubricant is higher for the kinematic pair with high load and the
oiliness and extreme pressure characteristic are better; when the load is small, the
viscosity needed for lubricant will be smaller, so the requirement of oiliness and
extreme pressure characteristic are lower. In order to reduce friction and power
consumption and heating generation, a lower viscosity lubricant is needed when the
velocity of the kinematic pair is high. At low speed, the oil with high viscosity
should be needed and the working temperature can influence the viscosity variation
and oxidation rate of the used lubricating oil. The viscosity will become lower with
the temperature rising and become higher for the opposite condition. The oxidation
speed of lubricants will be accelerated until metamorphic and lifetime will be shorten
under high temperature, so at high temperature, the lubricating oil with high vis-
cosity, high pressure-viscosity index, high flash point and good antioxidation sta-
bility should be applied. Besides, the moisture circumstances and medium
environment are also needed to be considered. The lubricants in the ultra-high
vacuum condition (1.33 106 Pa) should have a lower evaporativity. The lubri-
cants in the radiation condition should have a stronger radioresistance. And the flame
retardant material should be selected at high temperature and flammable medium.
7.1.2 Grease
1. Main indexes of grease

Grease is formed by thickening the lubricating liquid (base oil). The main indexes
of the grease are consistency or work cone penetration. The quality characteristics
and evaluation indexes commonly used include physical state, chemical composi-
tion, liquidity, mechanical property, protective property, chemical stability, and
colloidal stability.
The main performance indexes are dropping point, consistency, and mechanical
stability. Dropping point means the temperature which makes the colloidal grease
change to liquid, and is the index for heat-resisting of grease. In general, the
7.1 Lubricant 193
working temperature of grease should be 2030 C lower than the dropping point.
Consistency refers to the hardness-softness of a grease. The grease with bigger
deformation under the external force is soft, hard conversely. Cone penetration is to
measure the consistency, the grease with big cone penetration is soft and the
consistency is small. Mechanical stability refers to the ability to resistant the
mechanical damage.
2. Grease selection
In the selection of grease, the grease function should be rst dened such as the
function for the condition of low friction lubrication, protection, sealing. For the
antifriction grease, the scope of high and low temperature resistance, load, and
speed are factors needed to be considered. As protective grease, contact medium
and material need to be considered and the protective properties and stability of the
metal and nonmetallic should be taken into account. As sealing grease, the material
and media connecting with each other need to be considered and the suitable grease
can be selected according to the compatibility between the grease and material
(especially the rubber) [2].
7.1.3 Solid Lubricant and Gas Lubricant
Common solid lubricants include graphite, molybdenum disulde, graphite fluor-

ide, boron nitride and PTFE. The rst four are layered lattice material, and the last
one is plastic applied under the condition of heavy load and high temperature. There
are certain domestic researches on the application of solid lubricants [3], which has
a better performance than liquid lubricant under harsh conditions.
Gas lubricant includes the air or inactive gas and mainly applied under the
condition of high speed and lubricating oil or grease cannot be used. A few
applications also can be applied, such as CO2 and CH4 for the close states and only
have small influence on the environment. The gas lubricant can make bearings with
the features such as small friction, nonpollution, high running accuracy, working
under high or low temperature condition [4]. There have been lots of domestic
researches.
7.2 Sliding Bearing Lubrication
In order to lubricate the sliding bearing reasonably, the friction states of the sliding
bearing need to be understood. There are different lubricating needs for different
lubrication states. The sliding bearings with boundary friction and fluid friction
need to be considered in different situations.
7.2.1 Sliding Bearing with Boundary Lubrication
Sliding bearings with boundary lubrication were not applied on the important
equipment with low operating accuracy and most of them are made of copper alloy;
besides, the sleeve, bearing bush, and sliding plate are also made of engineering
plastics.
Lubrication type of sliding bearing with boundary lubrication can be divided into
manual and centralized lubrication. For the manual method, oil cup and nozzle can
be used for stand-alone equipment where it is convenient for manual lling; for the
centralized lubrication method, oil feeder should be used for concentrating equip-
ments and with many lubricant input holes, where it is not convenient for the
position with separated articial method, such as rolling mills. These bearings are
generally required to open the oil groove that can be shaped as X or when
the bearing runs in reciprocating motion, shape for the bearing with single
direction motion, besides the oil groove, oil tank is also needed. For the viscosity of
the lubricating oil with no strict requirement, the oiliness additives should be
contained in the lubricating oil. The viscosity can be determined by the equipment
operating environment and the higher viscosity can be selected when the temper-
ature is high and the oil flows easily.
Generally, such bearings has short lifetime and bearings belong to the
quick-wear parts, so the sufcient replacement parts must be prepared in advance.
However, several kinds of the sliding bearings have the longer lifetime; the PV
values are much lower than the allowable values of the bearing material. The proper
lubricating oil or grease can bring the good maintenance. For example, the lifetime
of copper bushes used for the belt conveyor in the plant of Wu Gang Company can
exceed 20 years, but for the other working conditions such as the belt machine in
sintering plants and iron mills, where the copper bush have so short lifetime that
cannot exceed 1 year, and most of them must be replaced after they operate for only
half year or some parts are used less than three months.
7.2.2 Sliding Bearing with Dynamic Lubrication
After the operation of the sliding bearing with hydrodynamic lubrication, a layer oil
lm can be formed in the bearing that can separate the bearing bush and sleeve to
get the liquid lubrication. Bearings with higher operating accuracy can be used for
the important equipment and the shaft speed is higher than normal. This kind of
bearings can be made of Babbitt, or aluminum alloy.
Hydrodynamic lubrication must contain the following conditions: the friction
surfaces should have sufcient relative moving speed (bearing is stationary, the
shaft must be rotational); the relative speed should be stable so that the stable oil
pressure can be ensured and the shaft rotating direction can not be changed; the
stable load is needed, so if the load is not too high, the contact stress can not make
7.2 Sliding Bearing Lubrication 195
the bearing material deform; friction surfaces should have a certain geometrical
shape to ensure the wedge can be formed; oil supplied should be sufcient; the oil
should have good quality and stable viscosity, besides, there are no corrosion
between the friction surfaces, no foam and no hard impurities. The amount of the
bearing that can meet the above requirements is limited and the common bearings
include big generator bearings, turbine (steam turbine) bearings, water pump
bearings, big drum wind bearings, rolling mill oil lm bearings, etc.
Lubrication methods for hydrodynamic lubrication sliding bearing mainly
include oil ring lubrication, the pressed oil supply lubrication and the combined
application between the oil ring and oil circulation. Only for the level journal
bearings, the oil ring lubrication can be applied, such as the water pump, fan, and
large motor. The diameter of the oil ring is generally 1.52 times larger than the
journal, and the depth the oil ring immerse into the oil groove is 1/41/6 of the oil
ring diameter. Pressed oil supply lubrication can be applied for any kind of
hydrodynamic lubrication sliding bearings. The combined application between the
oil ring and oil circulation belongs to the early application forms and big motor
bearings can be seen in the big steel mill in 4050 s of last century. For the
hydrodynamic lubrication sliding bearings, the only one oil chamber can be pro-
duced on both sides (unload area) and the oil groove can not be produced on the
loading surface of the bearing. If done, the oil lm pressure can not be formed and
the lm thickness can be affected severely.
7.2.3 Lubrication Types
For general sliding bearing, the lubrication type can be determined by the coef-
cient k in Eq. (7.5):
p
k pm v 2 7:5
where
Pm average pressure of the shaft journal, MPa;
V linear velocity of the shaft journal, m/s
When k 6, grease lubrication can be applied with general grease cup;
When k > 650, oil lubrication can be applied with needle valve oil cup;
When k > 50100, oil lubrication can be applied with oil cup or splash lubri-
cation, and the cooling system with water or circulation oil is needed;
When k > 100, lubricating oil can be used with the pressed oil lubrication.
Besides the lubricating oil and grease, solid lubricants, such as graphite,
molybdenum disulde, water, or gas also can be applied for some special condition.
7.2.4 Lubricant Selection
General principles of the viscosity selection of sliding bearing are: the lubricating
oil with small viscosity can be selected to reduce friction power consumption under
the high speed and light load condition; under the heavy load and impact load
condition, the lubricating oil with high oiliness and viscosity can be used in order to
form the stable lubricating lm; for the static pressure or dynamic static pressure
sliding bearing, the lubricating oil with small viscosity can be chosen; for the rough
surfaces or un-running surfaces, the viscosity should be higher; the viscosity
selection of the bearing with hydrodynamic lubrication can be checked by calcu-
lation. Besides the viscosity, solidifying point, flash point, etc. are also the indexes
of the lubricating oil. Lubricating oil brand for sliding bearings can be referenced in
the related manuals.
For the selection of the grease used in sliding bearings, penetration, dropping
point, and work environment are the main selection requirements [5]. The pene-
tration can be selected according to the grease lling method so that the grease can
be easily lled into bearings without loss and the oil lm can be formed; for
centralized lubrication systems, grease should be soften to keep the pumping per-
formance of the system, which means the penetration should be big and can up to
270 or more. For the manual grease gun and grease cup, the penetration is 240260;
the dropping point should be 20 C higher than the operating temperature in order
to avoid the grease being thin with the influence of the work temperature and
prevent the grease loss, which will lead the bearing premature wear because of
lacking grease. For some place with water spraying or wet environment the grease
with water resistance, such as calcium, aluminum, and lithium base grease should
be chosen but not the sodium base grease. Under the condition of high temperature
and dry environment, sodium base grease, sodium-calcium base grease, or high
temperature synthetic grease can be applied. For the condition of high temperature
with steam, compound lithium base grease (or aluminum) should be considered.
Under the condition of low temperature or wide temperature range, silicon base
grease with wide temperature range should be adopted. For the bearing bear super
heavy load condition, grease with extreme pressure additives should be adopted. In
order to get longer lifetime, grease with antioxidant additives should be adopted. If
the environment atmosphere surrounding the bearing needs to be required strictly,
grease with small volatility should be used. In summary, it should be fully con-
sidered for the grease selection. When there are some conflicts, the grease selection
should be depended on the primary and secondary conditions.
7.2.5 Lubrication System
The so-called lubrication system means a series of elements, such as lling oil,
drain oil, and their accessory devices can supply lubricants on certain position. The
7.2 Sliding Bearing Lubrication 197
system can be divided into ve types, such as circulating lubrication system,

centralized lubrication system, spray lubrication system, bath and splash lubrication
system, total loss of oil, and grease lubrication system.
The lubrication system design should depend on the characteristics of each
mechanical equipment and service conditions, but it also can be selected by the
working condition or the lubrication system made of different elements.
1. Oil lubrication system
Oil lubrication system of sliding bearings can be contained in the total lubrication
system of the current device and is always a mixture of a variety of lubrication
types. The structure is much complicated and the oil lines for different devices are
different with each other. It generally can be composed by the hydraulic pump, oil
tank, lter, cooling device, heating device, sealing device, buffer device, safety
device, alarm, etc.
2. Grease lubrication system
The grease is non-Newtonian fluid, so the special nature should be considered when
design or selection the grease lubrication systems and other main devices. The
grease lubrication system can be composed by the grease tin, pump and the channel.
Grease tin can be applied to stock grease and the volume depends on the grease
input ability, which is generally 100250 times of grease input ability. Grease is not
like the oil with good flow ability, so the grease tin should be xed in the upper
position in order to ensure the grease can be sucked into the pump smoothly; in
grease lubrication system, all the grease lling pump is the plunger pump because
of its good sealing and higher working pressure. Gear pumps and vane pumps do
not have these advantages. In general, the grease tin, pump, drive device and
reversing valve together to form a grease lubrication station; in the grease lubri-
cation system, the pressure loss in the channel is many times higher than that of the
oil lubrication system, but it can be controlled between the range of 4.0 and
6.0 MPa, since the pressure loss is much too high, the grease can not be sent to the
lubrication position without higher pressure pump. The oil separation phenomenon
can be caused for much grease at 10.0 MPa.
7.3 Rolling Bearing Lubrication
For the rolling contact pair, especially under the condition of high speed and high
pressure, the lubricant can be brought into the contact area by the motions between
rings, rolling elements, and cages, so that a layer elastohydrodynamic lubrication
lm can be formed. On one hand, the lm can separate the surfaces with relative
motion to reduce friction and wear; on the other hand, the shearing action of the lm
can play a huge influence on the kinetic effect of the rolling elements. For example, it
can make the rolling elements acceleration, deceleration, slipping, deflection, etc.
Further, it can cause the collision between the rolling elements and cages, and even
the serious consequences such as rolling bodies stuck. Elastohydrodynamic
lubrication state is related to the average lm thickness (or the minimum lm

thickness) and synthetical roughness of the friction surfaces. In general, lubrication
state can be determined by the elastohydrodynamic lubrication lm thickness ratio .
Rheological property of lubricant has a huge influence on shear stress (friction force)
inside the lubricating lm. Elastohydrodynamic drag performance of point contact or
line contact mainly depends on the drag features of the lubricating lm between the
contact surfaces. However, the lubrication state in the contact area is very special.
For example, in the rolling friction pair, the lubricating lm is so thin and smaller
than 1 m in general; the lubricating lm pressure is higher than 1 GPa; shear strain
rate can be up to 1 107 s1; for the instantaneous contact states, the time of
lubricant through the contact area is only 1 103 s.
A large number of domestic and overseas experiments have proved that the
rheological property of elastohydrodynamic lubrication lm is much closer to the
elastic-plastic solid characteristic especially under high speed and high pressure
condition. It is observed that in the elastohydrodynamic contact area, the lubricating
oil can be as glassy state (a kind of frozen, tighten, and amorphous liquid). Besides,
the thermal effect caused by the environment temperature and the temperature rise
in the contact area also has a complicated influence on the rheological property of
the lubricant.
7.3.1 Lubrication Types
Whether a mechanical equipment can be made a full use depends on the bearing
lubrication. It can be mentioned that lubrication is the necessary condition to ensure
the normal operation of the bearing and plays an important role on improving the
load capacity and lifetime. No matter which lubrication type was applied, in rolling
bearings lubricant can play important roles such as: reduce friction and wear
between the metals; reduce the contact stress through the lm formation improving
the contact area; ensure the bearing works normally for a long time under the
contact stress with high frequency and extend the fatigue lifetime; eliminate the
friction heat and reduce the bearing surface temperature to prevent burns, dust, rust,
and corrosion. The lubrication design of rolling bearing contains the determination
of the reasonable lubrication method, correct selection of the lubricant, the quan-
titative calculation of the lubricant and the determination of intervals.
Lubrication of rolling bearing can be divided into three kinds as oil lubrication,
grease lubrication and solid lubrication according to the type of lubricant applied. Oil
lubrication commonly used includes drop lubrication, bath lubrication, splash
lubrication, oil circulating lubrication, spray lubrication, oil mist lubrication, and oil
gas lubrication. Oil lubrication has a wider temperature range than other lubrication
method and is more suitable for high-speed bearings under heavy load conditions,
meanwhile, for the oil lubrication, the equipment maintenance and lubricant
replacement are also much more convenient and in the system friction pair such as
the gear can be lubricated at the same time. Grease lubrication methods commonly
7.3 Rolling Bearing Lubrication 199
used include manual lling type, grease cup lling method, pressed grease lling
method, and centralization lubrication, which have simple sealing device, cheaper
maintenance costs and lower cost, besides can be applied to the bearing works under
the low, middle speed, and middle temperature condition. Especially, the advent of
anti-wear additives in recent years, the grease performance has been improved,
which makes the grease applied much more extensively. Some domestic manufac-
turers of semiconductor chip use magnetofluid lubrication [6], in order to meet the
requirement of high clean production environment. If the oil or grease lubrication
can not meet the requirement of the bearing working condition, some solid lubri-
cation can be applied or try to improve the lubrication condition of the bearing. Solid
lubrication type can be divided into solid powder lubrication and self-lubricating
composite materials lubrication. Solid lubricant often use the solid lubricant powder
and coating, or use wear-resistant material with lower friction coefcient to replace
the lubricating oil and grease, which can separate the contact friction surfaces to
reduce the friction and wear between the metals, and then to meet the lubrication
requirement of rolling bearings worked under special conditions.
7.3.2 Lubricant Selection
In the accident of mechanical equipment, lubrication issue accounts for a large

proportion and inappropriate selection of lubricant is a key point in lubrication
accident. So in the rolling bearing lubrication design, lubricant selection plays an
important role and should be focused on.
Additionally, under some special conditions such as high speed, heavy load and
high temperature, the rolling bearing may need the requirements of antirust,
antioxidation, antiwear, and improving the adsorption capacity of the lubricating
oil. So lubricating oil selection should be the determination of the viscosity level
and the addictive type or different lubricant with certain additive.
1. Lubricating oil selection
(1) General selection principle for the lubricating oil
Working temperature, velocity, motion quality, load, structure features, environ-
mental conditions, bearing accuracy, bearing hardness, and other parameters are the
main considerations when choose the lubricating oil.
Working temperature can influence the viscosity variation and the lubrication
effect of the lubricating oil. At the low temperature, the lubricating oil with low
viscosity can be selected; At the high temperature, the lubricating oil with high
viscosity or with proper additives can be applied. When the temperature is higher
than 200 C, solid lubricant can be considered. The viscosity of lubricating oil can
change at different temperature. When the working temperature changes frequently,
the lubricating oil with better temperature-viscosity characteristic can be applied,
which means the viscosity changes little with the temperature rising or falling to
ensure the oil lm thickness in a certain range.
For the higher speed condition, the lubricating oil with lower viscosity can be
applied in order to avoid the improvement of the motion resistance and higher heat
generation; conversely, under the low speed condition, the lubricating oil with
higher viscosity can be applied in order to improve the load capacity.
The movement with impact, vibration, frequently variable load, variable speed,
start, stop, frequent inversion, and the repeat or interval movement has bad influ-
ence on the oil lm formation, so the lubricating oil with higher viscosity can be
selected. Sometimes, the grease or solid lubricant even can be applied to ensure the
reliable lubrication.
The heavier load the rolling bearing bear, the higher viscosity the lubricating oil
should have. Besides, the good oiliness and extreme pressure characteristic should
also be considered in order to avoid the lubricating oil being squeezed out from
bearing or direct contact caused between the metals.
For the bearing with smaller radial clearance and higher machining precision on
the friction surface, the viscosity of the lubricating oil should be lower.
When the bearing works under moist, corrosive gas, low temperature, dust,
strong radiation condition, the lubricating oil will be easily deteriorated, so the
lubricating oil should be selected with the ability of water-resistant, anti-wear,
anticorrosive, cold-resistant and radio resistance. Under the condition of spattering
of water, spraying of emulsion, air with humidity or serious dust and debris, the
lubricating oil cannot be selected and the grease can replace it.
For the bearing with rough friction surface, the higher viscosity can be selected
in order to support the higher partial pressure caused by the bad contact; for the
friction surface with higher accuracy, the viscosity should be lower in order to
reduce unnecessary energy consumption and temperature rise.
For the bearing friction surface with lower hardness, the lubricating oil with
higher viscosity should be selected and the oil amount should be sufcient.
Conversely, the viscosity can be reduced.
(2) Viscosity selection of the lubricating oil
According to the failure case of rolling bearing with oil lubrication, it can be seen
that that most failures were caused by the insufcient viscosity. The lower viscosity
is, the smaller load capacity of the oil lm will be and the oil lm also easily
broken, so the metal material on the bearing internal surface with relative move-
ment will contact directly that can increase the friction and wear, and short the
bearing lifetime, even cause bearing burning and broken accident. However, the
lubricating oil with higher viscosity can increase the frictional resistance and the
heat generated by stirring the lubricant, and the energy consumption of the system.
The lubricating oil of rolling bearing can be selected according to the bearing
structure types and other three kinds of working state parameters such as working
temperature t (C), velocity parameter dmn(mm r/min) and load P(N). The detailed
method can be seen as the Fig. 7.2.
Fig. 7.2 Relationship in kinematic viscosity of lubricating oil and load, velocity, temperature
2. Grease selection
Grease is a kind of lubricant composed by the base oil, thickening agent, and
additives. In which, the base oil accounts for about 7095 %, and the thickening
agent accounts for 530 %, additives account for remains.
Selection principle of the grease is similar with that of the lubricating oil and
mainly depends on the rolling bearing types, working condition such as the envi-
ronment humidity, operating temperature, velocity parameter dmn, load, and grease
lubrication method to determine the grease type, viscosity, and penetration.
Meanwhile, the dropping point of grease must be 2030 C higher than the working
temperature in order to ensure the lubrication; for the grease has poor flowability,
higher frictional resistance, lower mechanical efciency, lower heat conductivity, it
is not suitable for circulating lubricant. When used centralization lubrication, cone
penetration of grease should be upper than 300 (1/10 mm); in general, grease is not
sensitive to the temperature, and has higher adaptability to the change of load quality
and velocity, so it can be used for the machine with huge variation of temperature,
speed, reverse changes, and intermittent motion and can be applied to the machines
used in the eld of agriculture, construction and mines. Grease is not easily squeezed
out and flows out from the bearing, and need not to be replaced frequently, so the
sealing is simple and the grease itself has the sealing function. According to these
features, the grease can be applied on the pollution-free products with hard lubricant
lling situations, complicated sealing and some working places with much dust.
Selection of grease: Each performance of the grease is determined by the
thickening agent types and additives. The additives are mainly used to increase the
ability of the antioxidation, anticorrosive, and extreme pressure; thickening agent
types can influence the dropping point and water resistance property. And the
dropping point can influence the operating temperature range of the bearing.
Thickening agents include lithium base (ZL), calcium-base (ZG), sodium base
(ZN), aluminum base, barium base, and plumbum base.
Table 7.2 Selection for grease

Characteristic Kadmn (mm r/min) Radial load ratio Fr/C Axial load ratio Fa/C
Low pressure <100,000 <0.05 <0.03
Moderate pressure <300,000 <0.15 <0.10
High pressure 300,000 0.15 0.10
Much more accuracy selection method for grease depends on the bearing
working speed parameter dmn, which can determine the type of resistance of low
pressure, middle pressure, or high pressure of the grease. The selection method can
be seen as Table 7.2.
Where, Ka is the characteristic parameter, for the ball bearing, angular contact
ball bearing, four point contact ball bearing, spherical ball bearing and radial
cylindrical roller bearing, Ka = 1; for the spherical roller bearing, taper roller
bearing and needle roller bearing, Ka = 2; for the thrust cylindrical roller bearing
and full complement cylindrical roller bearing without cage, Ka = 3.
7.3.3 Lubricant Dosage
The lubricant amount should be suitable. If the amount is too much, the stirring heat
will be caused, which will influence the bearing temperature rise, aging of lubricant
and energy consumption of the system. For oil lubrication, the precipitate in the oil
pool can be brought into the bearing; for grease lubrication, the leakage degree will
be increased. Therefore, bearing amount should be determined correctly.
1. Determination of the oil amount for the oil lubrication
The oil amount can be different according to the lubrication types.
(1) oil amount for oil bath lubrication
For the general oil bath lubrication, the oil height should be in the middle of
the rolling element in the lowest position, namely the half height of the roller.
The ratio of the real working speed and the limit allowable speed should be
smaller than 0.4, and the oil height can be a little higher.
(2) oil amount for splash lubrication
Splash lubrication is splashing the oil with the rotating parts such as the gear to
lubricant the bearing. No matter form of the oil rotating device used, the oil
height can be determined by the recommended value when the gear is applied
as splash device. The deepest level is 3 times of the gear height and the
shallowest level is the 1/2 of the gear height.
(3) oil amount for oil circulation lubrication
For each working condition, the oil lling amount for circulating lubrication
can be calculated according to the following equation.
For general circulation lubrication:
1:5 105
Q f dnFr 7:6
Dt
For forced circulation lubrication:
1:89 105
Q f dnFr 7:7
Dt
where
Q inlet oil amount, l/min;
f friction coefcient of rolling bearing;
d bearing inner ring diameter, mm;
n bearing speed, r/min;
Fr bearing radial load, N;
t temperature difference between the oil outlet and inlet, C, in general t can be
decided as 15 C.
2. Determination of grease lling amount
Grease lling amount should be suitable. Excessive grease can not only be kept in
the bearing after operation, can also make the bearing temperature rise faster and
increase the rotating torque and serious leakage, nally, grease lubrication function
decline and aging will be caused. At low speed, even the grease inlet amount is too
much, no trouble can be caused, but when the speed is close to limit value, the
amount should be controlled seriously.
Common grease inlet amount can be determined by the ratio between allowable
limit rotating speed nj and bearing real working speed n.
When nj/n 1.25, grease inlet amount in the bearing should be accounted for
1/3 of the bearing free internal cavity;
When 1.25 < nj/n 1.5, grease inlet amount in the bearing should be accounted
for 1/32/3 of the bearing free internal cavity;
When nj/n > 1.5, grease inlet amount in the bearing should be accounted for 2/3
higher of the bearing free internal cavity.
Bearing free internal cavity V can be calculated with the following equation:
V GKV 106 7:8
where
V rolling bearing free internal cavity, m3;
Kv rolling bearing cavity coefcient, as in the Table 7.3;
G rolling bearing weight, Kg.
The determination of the grease inlet amount in the bearing free internal cavity
has been discussed above. However, the bearing is often mounted in the housing,
Table 7.3 Constant coefcient Kv

Types Cage mode Kv
Single row short cylinder roller bearing with double Pressed cage 50
guard outer ring and no guard inner ring Solid cage 36
Single row short cylinder roller bearing with double Pressed cage 55
guard inner ring and no guard outer ring Solid cage 37
Tapered roller bearing Pressed cage 46
Spherical roller bearing Pressed cage 50
Solid cage 28
Deep groove ball bearing Pressed cage 61
besides the bearing internal cavity, housing cavity should also be considered in
order to ensure the proper grease amount in the bearing. According to the experi-
ence, it is proper for the inlet amount to be 1/31/2 of the housing free cavity; under
the high-speed condition (near to limit rotating speed), the amount should be
accounted for 1/3 or less of the housing free cavity; under the low-speed condition
and strict sealing situation, the total cavity can be lled. The design structures of the
housing are different, so the inlet amount can also be different.
During the process of using grease lubrication, the new grease replenishment is
needed due to the aging, evaporation of base oil, grease loss, and other reasons;
meanwhile, the new grease can squeeze out the old grease through the sealing gap
in order to prevent the intrusion of the outside contaminant. Therefore, the grease
inlet amount and replenishing interval should not only consider the lubrication
factors of the rolling bearing, but also the sealing function in the supporting
position. In general, the replenishing interval is 1/3 of the lifetime and the
replenishing amount every time can be calculated according to the following
equation:
Q2 0:005 DB 7:9
where
Q2 replenishing amount of the grease, g;
D bearing outer diameter, mm;
B bearing width, mm
If the grease replenishing period were 1 year, the amount can be calculated
according to the following equation:
Q2 Kt DB 7:10
where Kttime factor, replenishing period is weekly, Kt = 0.002; replenishing

replenishment period is monthly, Kt = 0.003; replenishing period is yearly,
Kt = 0.004.
For the lubrication type of continuously replenish new grease, the amount can be
calculated according to the following equation:
Q3 0:2 2:0V 7:11
where
Q3 the replenishing amount of grease per unit time, Kg/h;
V bearing cavity, m3, determined by Eq. (7.12),
p
V BD2 d 2 109 G=7800 7:12
4
It must be mentioned that the free hub bearing has been produced, which means
there is no grease in the housing gravity. The features can be seen as: save lots of
grease; the grease quality must be controlled strictly and the mechanical
behavior and alternately stability must be better; the environment should not be
much too terrible. In the high temperature area there are lots of spraying water
cooling devices such as continuous casting and hot rolling line, where the free hub
lubrication can not be applied.
7.4 Bearing Lubrication for the Typical Equipment
7.4.1 Auto Bearing Lubrication
Auto bearings are mainly used on engines, wheels, water pumps, generators,
starters, etc. Most of the engine crankshaft bearing, connecting rod bearing, thrust
bearing on the crank shaft end and the camshaft bearing can use sliding bearing, and
for some engine bearings, the rolling bearing also can be adopted. For other parts,
mainly include fans, water pumps, generators, starter parts, the bearing can be
rolling bearing. In order to improve the service life of the bearing and auto, rea-
sonable lubrication must be applied [79].
1. Engine bearing lubrication
When the engine is operating, many surfaces of elements with relative motion are
motivating in small gap under the high-speed condition such as crankshaft main
journal and the main bearing, crank pin and connecting rod bearing, cam shaft neck
and the cam shaft bearing, piston, piston ring and cylinder wall, the valve-train
kinematic pair, and transmission gears. The friction should be produced on the
surfaces with relative motion, which can lead the decrease of the effective power for
the engine, increase of the wear on the working surface, the surface burned by the
frictional heat, and nally the engine cannot work. Therefore, in order to guarantee
the normal work of the engine and increase the service life, lubrication must be
fullled on the surfaces with relative motion. For the engine, integrated lubrication
is often applied, the oil circuit layout and oil circulation lines are roughly the same,
and only working condition of lubrication system and structure are different.
Engine lubrication system is composed by the oil pump, oil lter, radiator, oil
pan, suction lter, etc. Besides, there are several kinds of pressure valves with the
Fig. 7.3 Schematic diagram

for engine lubrication
system. 1 Oil pan, 2 oil
pump, 3 overflow valve,
4 lter, 5 lubricating oil
pressure switch,
6 bypass-valve, 7 rockshaft,
8 wheel shaft, 9 main
oil gallery, 10 main journal,
11 oil channel, 12 purge cock
function of pressure limiting, security and scavenge oil, and pressure gauge of
lubricating oil, thermometer and lubricating pipe assembled in the lubrication
system. Figure 7.3 is a schematic diagram of a six cylinder engine lubrication
system. Pressure lubrication can be applied on the main journal of engine crank-
shaft, crank pin and connecting rod bearing, cam shaft neck and rockshaft; splash
lubrication can be applied for the piston, piston ring, piston pin, cylinder wall, air
valve, tappet and push rod. When engine is working, oil pump 2 will suck the
lubricating oil in the oil pan 1 after ltrated by the suction lter, and then a certain
pressure can be formed which can press the oil into the oil lter. If the oil pressure
or the flow were too high, lubricating oil will be back to the entrance of the oil
pump through the overflow valve 3 in the oil pump. For the normal pressure and
flow condition, the lubricating oil can get into the engine main oil channel after
ltrated by the lter 4. There is a bypass-valve 6 in the cover of oil lter, if the lter
were blocked, the oil pressure will increase and then the lubricating oil will not go
through the lter 4 but go into the main oil channel 9 through bypass-valve 6.
Lubricating oil in the main channel will go through seven divided oil channels 11,
and can lubricate seven crankshaft main journals 10. And then, lubricating can go
through the titling oil channel, from main journal to rod journal to lubricate the
crank pin. The other four divided oil channels of the main oil gallery will go
through the camshaft bearings to lubricate the four camshaft journals. Meanwhile,
lubricating oil can go through the rst journal of the camshaft, and pass the upper
oil channel and valve rocker into the cavity of rockshaft, then flow out from the oil
channel in the rocker, dropping on the working surface of other elements of the
valve mechanism. Besides, lubricating oil pressure switch has been assembled in
the oil lter. If the oil pressure were lower than the certain value, the contact points
of the lubricating oil switch will be closed with the warning light shinning and the
buzzer will tingle to alarm. Oil cooler can be found in some other engine lubrication
system that can be assembled in front of the cooling liquid cooler. Only when the
engine has been working under the high load and high speed condition for a longer
time and the atmospheric temperature is much too higher, it can be used. In winter
7.4 Bearing Lubrication for the Typical Equipment 207
or the temperature lower then 20 C, this valve should be closed when the auto-
mobile run on the good road surface. In order to ensure the main oil gallery pressure
is not much too lower, whether the channel to the lter is open or not is controlled
by the oil inlet pressure-limiting valve.
2. Bearing lubrication in other parts
Bearings in other parts of the automobile such as fan, water pump, generator, starter
parts are rolling bearings. The lubricating system is not needed, so the lubrication is
relatively simple and most of them are lubricated by grease, and the lubrication
method is ll grease regularly to lubricate the working surfaces of the parts.
For example, the CA10B camion, the rolling bearings mainly used include the
water pump spindle bearing, generator bearing, transmission shaft cardan joint
needle bearing, middle supporting device of the transmission shaft, fork bearing
sleeve for clutch separation, front bearing for the rst shaft in the gearbox, clutch
release bearing, and hub bearing.
The common grease in the pump shaft coupling bearings is often the sodium
calcium base grease and those bearings are always sealing bearings. There are two
rolling bearings in the generator and the lubrication can be implemented by the
inltrating oil in the felt or apply the oiler to ll the oil into the oil cup with
No. 30 engine oil. Thin oil lubrication can be applied in the needle roller bearing
adopted in cardan joints. There are three cardan joints and each universal joint pin
has one oil lling hole, and gear oil or hyperbolic gear oil can be lled into the
bearing with the oil gun. There is one rolling bearing applied in the middle sup-
porting device with the oil lling hole where the oil gun can ll the No. 2 calcium
base grease. There are two bushes in the clutch separation fork bearing with oil
lling hole and the lubrication method is the same as above. For the rst shaft
gearbox bearing, the lower cover can be dismounted when lubricated and the
lithium base grease can be applied. For the clutch separation bearing, the lubrication
mainly depends on the oil stored in the felt. And the oil is lled through the oil pipe
in the clutch shell. The lubricating oil lled is the same with the oil in the engine. In
the both sides of the bearings in front and rear wheel, there is one pair of hub
bearings separately where double row tapered roller bearings are used. Pouring
grease lubrication can be applied. For the calcium base grease, 50007000 km per
stroke should be added. If the common used lithium base grease for the automotive
were applied, the interval can be extended and the grease can be replaced until
overhaul and cleaning.
7.4.2 Mill Bearing Lubrication
1. Rolling mill oil lm bearing lubrication

Oil lm bearing (Fig. 7.4) belongs to sliding bearing, but it is designed uniquely in
structure and can be specially applied for mill roller bearing. For the oil lm
bearing, the oil lm is formed by the relative motion of the bearing components
Fig. 7.4 Oil lm bearing in steel rolling
with the principle of dynamic pressure oil lubrication. After the formation of oil
lm on metal surface, the friction between the metal surfaces will be changed into
the friction between the internal molecules in the oil lm, so the liquid lubrication
states can be formed and the friction coefcient can be lower, about 0.0010.003.
The shape of shaft parts is a cone shaped sleeve tightly assembled on the cone shape
roll neck and the outer round surface of the sleeve is the journal. After polished, the
roughness can reach Ra 0.20 m. The shape of the bushing component is also a
round sleeve which is made of No. 25 forged steel and a layer of Babbitt alloy is
casted inside the sleeve, and the high tin alloys or NiCd alloy or aluminum alloy is
commonly used in the bushing component. The roughness Ra of the sleeve inner
hole is bigger than 0.2 m. Both ends of a roller are respectively provided by an oil
lm bearing, and locating bearing for one side, floating bearing for another side.
A thrust bearing is designed for the locating oil lm bearing, but not for floating
bearing. Besides, other structures are the same.
The lubrication system of oil lm bearing is the same important as the bearing
itself, the wrong design and repair will shorten the bearing lifetime, wrong lubri-
cation system and poor lubrication can also lead to the same result. Lubrication
system of oil lm bearing is a circulatory oil supply system and especially lubri-
cates the oil lm bearing. For multi-stand tandem cold rolling mill, the different
lubrication oil will be selected according to the different velocity parameter.
Therefore, plural lubrication system could be applied. For the lubrication system of
the oil lm bearing, the structure forms are the same and only the equipment
abilities are different.
For the oil lm bearing, the combined lubrication with dynamic and static can be
applied to ensure the existing of the oil lm under the condition of start, stop, and
low speed, which is the theoretical application. Under the low speed, stop and
starting condition, the static pressure lubrication can be used, and the dynamic
pressure lubrication can be applied at the high speed. For the dynamic and static
pressure bearing, the same lubrication system is used to supply oil and a new set of
static pressure lubrication system device can be added in the original system.
The superiorities of the oil lm bearing can be discovered constantly and almost
all strip steel rolling mill use the oil lm bearing, oil lm bearings use the specied
lubricating oil and the high content accounts for 1/3 of the total amount. The oil
used in the oil lm bearing need to be tested regularly and the viscosity variation
should be smaller than 21 mm2/s (37.8 C), the water content should be smaller
than 2 % (water content should be smaller than 0.5 % for the condition with static
system), acid value should be smaller than 0.5, where water soluble acid or alkali,
granular mechanical impurities, corrosive steel flakes, and brass flakes should not
exist. For the oil used in the rolling mill oil lm bearing, the viscosity has the
function relationship between the oil supply and the eccentricity radio. The detailed
calculation must be implemented in order to get the most optimum solution and
gain the perfect economic effect.
2. Lubrication for rolling bearing in rolling mill
The main equipment of rolling mill include working machine block, universal
spindle, and balancing device, pinion housing, main coupling, electromotor cou-
pling, electromotor, front and rear recoiling machine, and uncoiler. For the sup-
porting roller and working roller of the rolling mill, rolling bearings can be applied.
(1) Arrangement type
The early arrangement mainly uses two spherical roller bearings assembled in the
same roller neck which can meet the requirement in that time at the rolling speed of
600 rpm. But with the increasing of the rotating speed, the weakness become much
clearer, such as short lifetime, big oil consumption, low precision of the product,
terrible wear of the roller neck, and the big axial floating.
In recent years, the most extensive arrangement is the form of combining
cylindrical roller bearings and thrust bearings that can be used in the back-up roll of
rod-rolling mill, panel rolling mill, foil mill, double bracing rolling mill, and hot
mill. The tight t can be set between the cylindrical roller bearing inner hole and the
roller neck, which can support the radial load and has the advantages, such as the
high capacity of the load, high limit speed, high accuracy, rings separated and
interchanged, easily produced, lower cost, convenient installation, and removal; the
thrust bearing can support the axial load and detailed structure can be selected
according to the features of the rolling mill. Under the condition of low speed and
heavy-load, the thrust bearing with smaller axial clearance can be supplied to
support the thrust load. When the rolling speed is higher, angular contact ball
bearings can be applied; so that the limit speed is not only higher but also the
working clearance can be controlled strictly, which can make the mill roller be
guided in axial direction closely and support normal axial load. This arrangement
has not only the advantages of longer lifetime, higher degree of reliability, but also
higher accuracy and easily controlled.
Tapered roller bearings can not only support the radial load, but also the axial
load. It can overcome the drawback of the four row cylindrical roller bearings that
can only support the radial load, so the thrust bearing is not needed and the main
structure can be much more compact. Besides, four row tapered roller bearings have
the ability of misalignment and can be suitable for sealing structure in reducing the
oil consumption. The loose t can be applied between the tapered roller bearing
inner hole and the roller neck, and the installation and removal are much easier.
However, sometimes the slippage can be caused because of the loose t, so the
thread oil groove should be produced in the inner hole. This kind of arrangement is
still extensive, such as the work roll in four roller hot rolling mill, the roller in the
roughing mill and steel rolling mill roll, etc.
(2) Lubrication method
The lubrication principle of the roll bearing is nearly the same as other rolling
bearings, except for terrible working condition, so whether the working perfor-
mance can be showed fully mainly depends on the lubrication situation of the
bearing. The main lubrication methods include grease lubrication and oil lubrica-
tion. The grease also has the function of sealing, so the sealing structure and
lubricating device are much easier and it is convenient to add grease. In general, the
roll bearing can be lubricated with grease when the working condition is allowable.
The oil lubrications cooling effect is much stronger, so the pollutant and water can
be brought out from the bearing. For the oil lubricating in the roll bearing, four
methods are applied, such as pressure oil lubrication, spray oil lubrication, fog oil
lubrication, and gas oil lubrication. Pressure oil lubrication is the most effective
method for the general roller mill. Spray lubrication can bring the lubricating oil
into the bearing with the spraying hole xed in one side of the bearing with a certain
pressure and can be applied in the high speed condition or where the pressure oil
lubrication can not meet the cooling requirement. Fog oil lubrication can bring the
compressed air with oil fog into the bearing, and the oil amount is smaller and
cooling effect is much effective because of the function of the air, which can be
mainly applied on the roller mill with high precise and high speed condition or
where the roll bearing dismounted not often. For the pressure oil lubrication and
spray oil lubrication, the inlet and outlet oil pipe, oil pump, oil chamber and the
cooling system should be assembled, so the cost is higher and applied less.
(3) Common lubricating system for rolling mill
Lubrication system of the rolling mill includes the thin oil and grease concentration
lubrication system, fog lubrication and gas lubrication system.
There are big differences between each kind of roller mill structure and lubri-
cation requirement, so different lubrication system has been applied in the roller
mill. Some single diffused lubrication methods such as oil cup and oil ring can be
applied on simple sliding bearings and rolling bearings. For some important friction
pairs in the complicated complete machine, the thin oil or grease lubrication system
can be applied. According to the drive method, centralized lubricating system can
be divided into manual, semi-automatic and automatic operation. According to the
pipe arrangement, it can be divided into throttling, single-wire, two-wire system,

muti-wire, and progressive type.
Fog lubrication can use compressed air as the power to make the oil atomize and
then sent to lubrication position through the pipe and condensation hole, which can
be applied for the gear, worm gear, especially for rolling bearings of large size, high
speed, and heavy load. The lubrication and cooling efciency are higher and can
save the oil. The oil fog has a certain pressure (23 kPa), and can also prevent the
pollutant and water running into the friction pair, so the bearing lifetime can be
increased by 40 %. Fog lubrication system contains the moisture air lter, magnetic
valve, pressure regulating valve, oil fog generator, running pipe, condensation
nozzle, and measure control instrument. Oil fog generator is the core device. Air-oil
lubrication is much better than fog lubrication, which can send the oil through the
pipe to the lubrication position by the flow of the compressed air. The key of air-oil
lubrication system is the oil-gas commingler and distributor. Because of the com-
pressed air inside the bearing, though the lubrication position has been cooled, the
positive pressure is still kept which can prevent the pollutant and water invading, so
it has a better sealing function. Some domestic equipments have applied the air-oil
lubrication, judging from its usage, the lifetime of the bearing has been increased
clearly and the oil consumption has also been reduced greatly compared with other
methods of lubrication.
7.4.3 Large Size Motor Bearing Lubrication
Electromotor is the power source of metallurgical equipment and has many types.
Small and medium size electromotor all applied the rolling bearing and with simple
lubrication, so simple grease lubrication can meet the requirement. But for the large
size motor bearings, sliding bearings are generally used and thin oil lubrication can
be used. The sliding bearing is generally used in large size motor bearings in the
electrotherapy room of steel mill, so concentrated thin oil circulating lubrication
system can be applied to lubricate the large motor bearings in the whole main
electrotherapy room. In the hot strip rolling mills, there is a far distance between the
blooming mills and nishing mills, so several thin oil lubrication systems can be
applied for the lubrication.
The thin oil circulating lubrication system for large motor bearings is the same as
the common method which contains the oil tank, oil pump, and lter, pressure
regulating valve and automatic control and signal alarm device.
Oil ring lubrication has been designed for the common large motor bearing that
means besides the circulating lubrication system, the oil ring also can supply the oil
in case that circulating lubrication system is broken.
Large motors made in the 1970s have still adopted the circulating lubrication
system. But hydrostatic lubrication system has been adopted for many motors that
mean besides the normal oil circulation system, static pressure system has also been
applied at the same time in order to strengthen the lubrication. When the motor
starts, high pressure oil can be forced into the bottom of the bearing that can lift the
shaft neck and form a oil lm layer between journal and bearing, and then the motor
can be started. When a motor runs at a rated speed, the static pressure system will
automatically shut down. At this time dynamic pressure oil lm can be formed
between the bearing and shaft neck automatically. In the process of the motor starts
to stop running, the hydrostatic system also can be started to ensure the friction
surfaces of the bearing can be kept in the liquid friction situation all the time. When
the motor stops running, and then static pressure oil supply system can be stopped.
The oil pressure for the normal oil supply system is 0.30.4 and 7 MPa for the
static pressure system, some even higher, but the oil outlet amount is smaller, only
several liters per minute. The output volume for normal oil supply system is higher
that can be from several dozen liters to hundreds of liters per minute. In order to
simplify the device, oil sources of static pressure system can use that of normal oil
supply system and connect the oil pipes in the two oil supply systems. Oil exit pipe
in the static pressure pump has another pressure duct to the bearing bottom and the
oil outlet pipe of bearing is the same one with the oil return pipe in the normal
system.
References
1. Zhang J (2008) Modern lubrication technology. Metallurgical Industry Press, Beijing

2. Wang Y (2005) Lubricating material and lubricant technology. Chemical Industry Press,
Beijing
3. Hu P, Huang C (2003) Application research on solid lubricant in the bearing. Lubr Eng 2:1820
4. Wang Y (1999) Gas lubrication theory and the design of gas bearing. China Machine Press,
Beijing
5. Hu B (2006) Basic equipment lubrication. Metallurgical Industry Press, Beijing
6. Wang Z (2005) Research on magnetic fluid lubrication and seal in rolling bearing. Tribology
1:8890
7. Wu B, Li X (2002) Analysis on working conditions in automoblie bearing and selection on
grease. Bearing 1:3740
8. Cai Y, Qian J (1988) Automobile fuel oil lubrication system and cooling system. China
Machine Press, Beijing
9. Ren D, Liu G (2003) Automobile engine. China Machine Press, Beijing
Chapter 8
Friction and Wear Testing Technology
in the Bearing
Equipments are often broken because of the friction and wear of bearing under the
condition of high speed, high temperature, and heavy load. Therefore, during the
process of bearing design, manufacture and mounting, bearing friction and wear
performance should be considered. In this section, the measurement method of
friction torque, wear loss, friction temperature and traction force and the related test
rig will be introduced.
8.1 Friction Torque Measuring of the Bearing
Friction torque of the bearing is a main index to inflect the performance and internal
quality and also can influence the bearing vibration, noise, and lifetime. Bearing
friction mainly comes from the following ve points [1].
(1) pure rolling friction because of the elastic hysteresis material;
(2) friction caused by the differential sliding on the rolling surface;
(3) friction caused by the spinning sliding on the rolling surface of the rolling
elements along the central normal of the contact surface;
(4) pure sliding friction on the sliding contact position;
(5) adhesive friction of the lubricant.
These frictions are the root causes of the friction torques for bearing.
Bearing friction torque model can be different according to different working
conditions [2]. Bearing friction torque (hereinafter referred to as torque) is syn-
thesize resisting moment of the rolling and sliding motion on the internal elements
in the process of rotating. The range of bearing sizes, principle of measurement and
detection precision are different, so the principle and method of measurement are
also different. According to the principle, the method of measurements can be
divided into twisted shaft method, balance moment method (counterforce method),
and energy conversion method [3].
214 8 Friction and Wear Testing Technology in the Bearing
8.1.1 Twisted Shaft Method
Twist shaft method makes use of the changes of physical parameters (deformation,
stress, and strain) during the torque transmission process of the appendant elastic
component of rotating shaft, through the signal transformation device in the torque
transducer convert them into the relevant signals and then send to the measuring
instrument showing the torque values. It has the advantages of small volume and
higher detection precision. Not only the static torque can be measured, dynamic
value also can be included. The measurement system can connect with the com-
puter to realize the automatic measurement and the automatic processing for dia-
grams, which is much suitable for the middle and small bearing torque.
8.1.2 Balance Moment Method
When the bearing inner ring (outer ring) rotates, the friction torque must exist in the
outer ring (inner ring) to resist the rotation [3]. Friction torque can drive the outer
ring (inner ring) to rotate, so on the bearing inner ring (outer ring), a certain
opposite balanced torque can be applied to resist the rotation. This kind of mea-
surement using the differential sensor to test the friction torque can be named as the
balanced moment method. It can be expressed as follows: T = M; M = F L (T: the
main shaft torque to resist the bearing internal friction; M: tested bearing friction
torque; F: bearing internal friction; L: vertical distance between the load and shaft
center, named as arm of force). The arm of force is a certain value, so the measured
parameter (variable) is mainly the bearing internal friction. This kind of method
often needs big volume and the accuracy is lower, so can be applied for the static
torque of middle and small bearings without higher measurement accuracy and the
starting torque of large size bearings.
8.1.3 Energy Conversion Method
This kind of method adopts energy interconversion between energies to test the
torque. Bearing can rotate with the moment generator (electrical machine), the one
part of energy input can be changed as the bearing kinetic energy and the other will
be changed to heat energy or other energy, which are consumed because of bearing
friction [4]. The energy loss during the conversion process can be measured to get
the bearing friction torque indirectly, which can be named as the energy conversion
method.
8.2 Wear Loss Measuring of the Bearing 215
8.2 Wear Loss Measuring of the Bearing
Wear resistance is a main performance of bearings and it can be reflected by an

important parameter as wear loss. Wear loss of bearings can be expressed with the
quality and volume of the debris dropped from bearing or the wear depth. Wear is
one of the most important influenced factors for the failure of mechanical elements.
According to incomplete statistics, 1/31/2 of the energy is consumed by friction
and wear and 80 % of the failure of the mechanical elements are caused by wear.
Therefore, no matter in design process or in utility process, the monitor and mea-
surement of the wear loss are necessary. Wear is a complicated process, so pre-
diction accurately is much too hard. Until now, some tests and monitoring methods
about the wear loss are always the focus. With development of science and tech-
nology, wear problems have been inevitably found in the eld of aerospace,
advanced manufacture, communication and transportation, bioscience, and some
high-tech area. Therefore, how to measure accurately the wear loss of bearing and
prolong the service lifetime are the most urgent issue in many elds.
There are different expressions and measurements for wear loss and they can be
decided according to the difference of wear experiment and material. There are
many kinds of measurement methods for the bearing friction and wear experiments
[5], and in this part, the main method will be introduced.
8.2.1 Weight Method
Weight method is to decide the wear loss according to the weight difference. In
general, the wear loss because of friction can be tested by precise weighing
apparatus through weighing the weight difference before and after experiment of the
sample. The weighing process contains cleaning before and after the experiment,
stoving, stabilizing, and then weighting the weight difference, that is, the wear loss.
The features of this method:
(1) only for small size sample due to the test range limit;
(2) the tested wear loss is a total value;
(3) if big plastic deformation were found in the wear process, the value will be
invalid even the weight difference is small;
(4) for some mechanical elements with good wear-resisting performance, the
weight difference can be tested with longer test period;
(5) cleaning and stoving have to be implemented before and after the experiment
and then weighing can be conducted, otherwise the accuracy will be
influenced.
Fig. 8.1 Contact micrometer
8.2.2 Length Method
Length method [6] is to test the normal size difference before and after experiment
through contact or noncontact precision micrometer inspection instrument or the
distance difference between friction surface and certain reference plane, as shown in
Fig. 8.1. This method can test the wear distribution after wear of the friction pair,
but if the test data contain the deformation value, the accuracy will be decreased.
8.2.3 Radioisotope Method
Since radioactive has been found in the late of nineteenth century, there has been a
great development for radioactive isotope, especially in the eld of agriculture,
industry, medicine, biological science, and some related elds. In the middle of
twentieth century, radioactive isotope method was put forward to measure the wear
loss. The detail is to make the friction surface be treated by activation treatment of
radioactive isotope rst, and then the surface will have radioactive, so the debris
dropping into the lubricant will also have the radioactive and then measuring the
radioactive intensity of lubricating oil regularly or reduction in strength of the
radioactivity for activation metal or activation metal transfer, nally variation of
wear loss with time can be conversed and then corresponding amount of wear loss
can be obtained.
The biggest advantage of radioisotope method [79] is to get the wear loss
quickly with higher sensitivity, it can be up to 107108 g. Especially for that the
real wear process of the total element can be observed without dismounting any
parts and then some partial wear loss and friction surface also can be tested, which
make it to be an important method to study the wear of mechanical element. Even
the accuracy of this method is higher, but the security and cost limit the utility
range.
8.2 Wear Loss Measuring of the Bearing 217
8.2.4 Precipitation or Chemical Analysis Method
Precipitation or chemical analysis method [5] is to separate the grinding chip in

lubricating oil through sedimentation or ltration and then measure the abrasive
dust with weighing method; nally the wear loss can be got. Chemical analysis is to
measure the composition and weight of the abrasive dust contained in the lubri-
cating oil with the method of quantitative chemical analysis, which can not only
measure the weight of all kinds of wear elements, but also can determine the wear
parts according to the usage of materials. Both methods can measure the changes of
wear volume with time and are suitable for friction measurement of closed or
semi-closed lubrication system. However, the total wear loss of the whole surface
can be measured and the wear distribution is hard to be determined and also the
reasonable sampling of lubricating oil is the key to ensure measurement accuracy.
This method is restricted by the relative weight of debris, magnetism ability and
lubrication system, so it is hard to analyze accurately the polymeric materials
friction wears debris.
8.2.5 Proler Method
Proler method is to determine the wear loss by the measurement of surface prole
changes before and after the friction directly or draw the outline of several grinding
crack perpendicular to wear track on the surface prole with proler, and then
calculate the area between the baseline and grinding crack, divided by the corre-
sponding magnication with the average value, multiplying length of the grinding
crack; nally, the wear volume can be obtained. In order to draw correctly the
prole before and after the friction in the same position, microscope and locating
datum on the specimen can be applied to determine the test position. This method
can be applied to record the changes in the wear process and wear distribution. But
the measurement process is complex, the shape and size of the tested sample can be
limited to measurement range. Ultraprecision three-dimensional surface prole
optical measuring instrument from Taylor Hopson Co., Ltd. is shown in Fig. 8.2.
8.2.6 Displacement Sensor Method
Displacement sensor method [10, 11] is to put a sensor near the base board and get
the distance signal for increased value of gap between sensor and base board when
sample is going down after friction, and then magnify the signal to reflect the
friction and wear changes directly. This method has higher accuracy and the
Fig. 8.2 Contourgraph
resolution can be up to nanometer level, so it can meet the requirement of general

measurement for the wear loss and the online measurement also can be imple-
mented with this method.
8.3 Friction Temperature Measuring of the Bearing
The thermocouple method, the thin lm sensors, infrared temperature measurement,

resistivity method, and ber temperature detection method can be applied for the
bearing friction temperature measurement. The thermocouple method can only
measure the volume temperature of the object and the thin lm sensors and infrared
temperature measurement method can be mainly applied to measure the surface
temperature. For the resistivity method, the temperature inside the coil can be got
with calculation and with high accuracy, so it can be widely used in measuring coil,
winding, etc., especially internal temperature measurement for rotating coil in the
motor. Fiber temperature detection method is a kind of new measuring method.
8.3.1 The Thermocouple Method
The basic principle of thermocouple method is to weld two different materials

which are conductors or semiconductors and form a closed loop. Two different
metals can carry different number of electrons, so when there is a temperature
difference between the two attachment points of two conductors, electric discharge
phenomena from high potential to low potential will be caused and thus loop
current can be formed that will be higher with the increasing of the temperature
8.3 Friction Temperature Measuring of the Bearing 219
difference, which can be called thermoelectric effect. The working of the thermo-
couple bases on this principle. Thermocouple materials are generally more
expensive (especially for using precious metals), and temperature measurement
points is far away from the gage, so in order to save thermocouple materials and
reduce the cost, compensation wires can be applied as the extension of the ther-
mocouple cold end (free end) into control box with the relatively stable temperature
and connected to the meter terminals. It must be pointed out that the role of the
thermocouple compensation wire is only to extend thermal electrode, and make the
cold junction of the thermocouple move to the meter terminal in the control box,
which cannot eliminate the influence of temperature change on cold end for mea-
suring temperature and without compensation. Therefore, correction method should
also be applied to compensate the influence of the cold end temperature on the
temperature measurement.
The author of this book has applied the thermocouple to research the influence of
the friction heat on the friction performance of the friction pair, and also has a series
of discussions about the material microcosmic structure variation caused by the
friction heat [1215].
8.3.2 The Thin Film Sensor Method
The thin lm sensor method [16] is based on the resistance changes of some kind of
thin lm materials caused by the temperature and then convert to voltage signal to
measure temperature. In order to measure the surface temperature, the thin lm
should be coated on the surface and the lm should be thin and also in a small area
so that contact situation will not be influenced. This method is only suitable for the
full lm lubrication state measurement. For mixed lubrication state measurements,
the lm will not only change the contact condition, but also the thin lm sensor is
destroyed soon. This method has been used successfully for the surface temperature
measurement of the contact bodies with full lm lubrication. For the friction
temperature measurement with thin lm sensors method, the pressure is generally
not more than 1 GPa, and the pressure in the mechanical parts generally is greater
than 1 GPa. When, for example, in elastohydrodynamic lubrication contact pressure
exceeds 1 GPa, if thin lm sensors was used to measure temperature, an insulating
layer as aluminum oxide should be printed on the sensor structure rstly, and then
with a layer of manganese pressure sensor, followed by an insulating layer of
aluminum oxide, nally coated with a layer of titanium temperature sensor. Since
the pressure sensor has some influences on the temperature sensor, compensation
circuit can be applied to eliminate the effect, so that the temperature distribution can
be measured, and also this influence can be eliminated during the data process.
If applying the method motioned above to measure the temperature distribution
in the elastohydrodynamic contact area, the influence of other factors on the
measurement result should be considered. For example, the influence of the pres-
sure on the temperature sensor and the results, the difference between basic body
and the thermal expansion of the sensor layer, the influence of the expansion stress
of the sensor on the results, influence of the time constant of the sensor, influence of
residual magnetism and magnetic flux changes, influence of the capacitance
between two thin layers, influence of the sensor, insulating layer, physical char-
acteristics difference of substrate materials on the measurement results.
8.3.3 The Infrared Thermometry Method
The infrared thermometry method has been widely applied in the contact region
temperature test. Infrared thermometers can detect infrared radiation surrounding to
the frictional contact area of the optical opaque sample detected in the infrared
region. Under this condition, wavelength of the infrared radiation is a function of
temperature; based on this principle, Nagaraj and Shen [17, 18] measured friction
surface temperature rise, and also analyzed the influence of friction heat on the
adhesive wear. Infrared method is used to study the temperature in point con-
tact area, the oil temperature near the oil lm with minimum thickness can reach
360 C. Oil lm temperature, spherical surface temperature distribution, the
influence of sliding speed on temperature, surface temperature distribution, and
average temperature of lubricating oil distribution can be obtained by measurement.
Contact zone temperature measurement with infrared method is much more mature,
but it requires that one of two contact bodies is the material with strong infrared
transmissivity, for example sapphire, which is different from actual mechanical
parts contact. The advantage is that the temperature measurement for mixed
lubrication and the boundary lubrication can be implemented that can not be
conducted with thin lm sensor.
8.3.4 The Thermal Resistance Method
Thermal resistance method is to use resistance temperature sensor made of thermal

resistance or thermistor [19] to measure the object temperature. Thermal resistance
measurement range in industry can be 200 to 500 C extensively.
Thermal resistance materials should meet the following requirements: temper-
ature coefcient of electric resistance should be as big as possible and stable;
electrical resistivity should also be high; electric resistance should be in linear
relationship with temperature changes, and stable physical and chemical properties
in the whole measurement range should be ensured. Now, the common materials
include the platinum, copper resistance, and some latest thermal electric resistance
material as indium, manganese, and carbon.
8.3 Friction Temperature Measuring of the Bearing 221
8.3.5 The Optical Fiber Method
The optical ber method has special meaning under the condition of high direct
current electric eld, magnetic eld, strong high frequency eld, and microwave
eld where electric wire of thermocouple, thermistor, and electrical resistance
thermometer will lead to serious problems [20].
First, electric wire can form electromagnetic disturbance in the surroundings and
disturb the uniformity of the magnetic eld or make the incoming microwave
reflect. Second, under the condition of alternating eld with high frequency, the
wire can be picked up and heated by the inducted vortex. Thermal conductance of
electric wire can also lead to the disturbance of the measured temperature.
Nonelectric conduction of the optical ber has the important meaning for the
security during the measurement process. An optical property of this kind of
technology is so important, because it can separate the sensor with other parts of the
same system. Then, generality of the sensor structure can be magnied and the
measurement in long distance also can be implemented.
Any material whose optical performance changes with the temperature can be
used as the basic material forming the optical temperature sensor. Possible
parameters changing with temperature includes absorption or transmission, reflec-
tion, refraction, polarization plane rotation, and fluorescence or phosphorescence.
Optical ber sensors can be divided into the following two types: (1) for the rst
kind of sensor, the temperature can be got from sensor and modulation of the
reflected light intensity; (2) for the second sensor, temperature can be measured by
the change of optical radiation for the different wavelengths formed by the
incoming light. The generality of sensors is important, as one certain sensor can
only be applied to solve one certain problem, and optical ber sensors can provide
this kind of commonality. Most photosensitive materials are powder or liquid that
can be mixed with suitable solvents or adhesive to form different sensor structures.
One obvious application eld of ber optic temperature sensor is for
high-tension apparatus to make the test and monitor. The heat can be formed owing
to the current flow, so under some conditions, the heat rising can reduce the
performance of the elements or lead to some failure. Especially for some high
pressure components and electrical specication of the material have strong sen-
sitivity for the temperature, under some high pressure application conditions; this
method can be applied to test the winding temperature in the electrical transformer
(source) and the common thermocouple method has some possible short-circuited
danger, so cannot be applied.
8.4 Traction Force Measuring of the Bearing
Theory and test researches of elastohydrodynamic dragging force have the

important meaning on the bearing application performance, and have been an
important part of elastohydrodynamic research [21]. Elastohydrodynamic dragging
force is one of the important factors for the bearing dynamics research, and the
focuses are to choose correctly the rheological model of the lubricant and the
constitutive equations under the condition of elastohydrodynamic lubrication. It can
be shown that from the experiment, for two kinds of lubricant with similar viscosity
under the pure rolling condition, under the condition of constant load and speed and
also with the same sliding motion, the dragging force between them can be dif-
ferent, as much 10 times. In the engineering practice application, the dragging force
can be measured with experiments, so the elastohydrodynamic dragging force test
device is important for researching the dragging performance of the lubricant. The
test method and parameters are different, so the device structures are also different,
which can be divided into two discs test rig and ball-on-disc wear tester. The two
discs test rig is mainly for testing the elastohydrodynamic lubrication state with
linear contact [22] and the latter is mainly for the point contact elastohydrodynamic
lubrication state [23].
8.4.1 Line Contact EHL Traction Force Method
There are many types for two discs test rig and the main part has the same feature.
One shaft center is xed and the other is floating as shown in Fig. 8.3.
(1) two discs test rig supported by hydrostatic bearing
The structure of two discs test rig supported by hydrostatic bearing can be seen in
Fig. 8.4, which is based on the hydrostatic pressure supporting ball-on-disc test rig
developed by Henan University of science and technology and combined with other
structure design of two discs test rig.
Test samples of this test rig are steel discs with the parallel shaft line as shown in
the above gure. Both discs are assembled on the frequency control drive motor I
Fig. 8.3 Schematic diagram

for double disc test machine,
reprinted from Ref. [22],
copyright 1995, with
permission from Mechanical
Science and Technology
8.4 Traction Force Measuring of the Bearing 223
Fig. 8.4 Double discs tester with hydrostatic bearing, reprinted from Ref. [22], copyright 1995,
with permission from Mechanical Science and Technology
and II located on the lever position. Drive motor II is located on the bracket that can
freely rotate with static pressure vertical shaft in the horizontal plane and also can
move along the axial direction. Oil feeding line can bring the lubricant to the
entrance through the pressure pipe. In the experiment process, drive motor II with
bracket can move along the two degree of freedom as the up and down of the static
bearing or left and right direction, which can realize two function: (1) the uploading
and unloading from disc II to disc I with the static system can be implemented,
which is mainly depending on the up and down motion of the static supporting and
the loading value can be measured with the sensor in the bottom of the static
vertical shaft. (2) Under some load conditions, two discs can contact with each
other, and the original line contact can be extended into the area contact with small
squareness because of the elastic deformation. When two samples rotate with high
speed and enough lubrication, a layer of elastohydrodynamic lubricating lm can be
formed in the contact area. If the relative sliding motion can exist between two
contact surfaces, elastohydrodynamic dragging force will be formed through the
lubrication lm on two contact surfaces. Under the condition of this force, the disc
II and the drive motor II and the bracket can deflect along the shaft line of the static
vertical shaft, so that the shaft connected with bracket also can deflect, so with the
deflection of static torque sensor in the sliding rail, nally, the dragging force of the
elastohydrodynamic lubricating lm can be tested.
(2) two discs test rig supported by hydrostatic rail
The structure of two discs test rig supported by hydrostatic rail can be shown in
Fig. 8.5. The steel discs of test rig can be driven with two separated motors, and the
disc sample I and II are assembled on the drive motor I and II as shown in Fig. 8.5.
The drive motor I is assembled on the bracket I that is xed on the vertical sliding
rail and can move along the sliding rail in the vertical direction. The structure can
refer to the four-column hydraulic press guide pillar, and the force can be loaded on
the bracket I through the pressure sensor. Drive motor II is assembled on the
bracketIIthat is xed with the hydrostatic rail and the rail can move along with the
dragging force direction. Oil feeding line can bring the lubricant into the contact
area though the pressure pipe. In the experimental process, adjusting the loading,
the discIIwill contact with disc I and the forming principle of the dragging force is
the same as the two disc test rig supported by hydrostatic bearing. Under the
condition of the elastohydrodynamic dragging force, the sliding part of hydrostatic
rail can move along the dragging force. On one side of the motion, quartz resonant
force sensor can be assembled to test the dragging force.
8.4.2 Point Contact EHL Traction Force Method
The test device is shown in Fig. 8.6 that can be composed of the test balldisc,
drive part, oil supply and uploading system of hydrostatic vertical shaft, oil supply
and oil return system of the lubricating oil, heating and temperature control system,
cooling device and data acquisition and processing system.
Fig. 8.5 Double discs tester with static pressure guide rail bearing, reprinted from Ref. [22],
copyright 1995, with permission from Mechanical Science and Technology
8.4 Traction Force Measuring of the Bearing 225
Fig. 8.6 Diagram for

balldisc drag tester, reprinted
from Ref. [23], copyright
2002, with permission from
Engineering Sciences
In the electric spindles I and II located in horizontal position and vertical

position, a steel ball and a disc sample can be separately assembled on it and shaft
center lines of them are vertical with each other and also on the same vertical plane.
The electric spindle I is xed on the bracket that can rotate freely with the
hydrostatic vertical shaft, so the horizontal position can be adjusted to make the
steel ball contact with the disc in the position with different radius. In the experi-
mental process, the electric spindle and bracket can move along the shaft center line
direction of the hydraulic bearing, which has two functions: on one hand, hydraulic
system can be applied to move the bracket in the up and down direction to nish the
uploading and unloading of the steel ball samples to the disc samples and the load
can be tested with the sensor; on the other hand, the steel ball can contact with the
disc during the relative sliding process, so a layer of elastohydrodynamic lubrica-
tion lm can be formed. If there is relative sliding existing between two samples,
the relative dragging force will be caused on the contact surfaces through the
lubrication lm. Under the action of the dragging force, steel ball and the bracket
will deflect with the hydraulic shaft and press the sensor to get the nal dragging
force.
8.5 Bearing Tribo-tester of the Bearing
With the rapid development of aerospace, transportation, automotives, motorcycles

and other industrial, and the national defense strength enhancement in the recent
years, requirements for bearing performance in many elds have become much
higher and higher. Especially under the condition of simulated eld conditions, the
bearing lifetime, friction and wear performance test have signicant function for the
evaluation of bearing performance. In the following part, several kinds of special
test rigs will be introduced.
8.5.1 High-Speed Tribo-tester
High-speed tribo-tester [24] is the vertical type such as the Fig. 8.7 that is mainly
composed of the motive power, damping, clamping part and the loading device;
pivot can rotate with the motorized spindle by clamping system and the ball socket
can be kept still. So the relative speed between two samples can be changed by
changing the speed of main shaft. The load can be implemented by the below
sample, which means that the positive pressure between the pivot and ball socket
can be adjusted through the magnication of the loading lever with some weights.
The main features are:
(1) application of the pivot ball socket as the real elements;
(2) the contact states between the pivot and ball socket can be maintained and
even for the high-speed condition without vibration;
(3) vacuum diffusion oil pump and oil bathing lubrication can be applied;
(4) the maximum rotating speed for design can be up to 51,000 r/min;
(5) loading method can use the lever;
(6) easily mounting, reliable, without loosen and block situation.
Fig. 8.7 Structural diagram for high-speed friction and wear testing machine with pivot jewel
bearing, reprinted from Ref. [24], copyright 2008, with permission from Lubrication Engineering
8.5 Bearing Tribo-tester of the Bearing 227
Main compositions of test rig:

1. Dynamical system
The power of drive train system for this test rig is a high-speed electric spindle, and
the innitely variable speeds can be achieved with frequency converter. The
maximum speed is 51,000 r/min. It is mainly composed of the frequency converter,
high-speed electric spindle, air compressor, oil gas generator, and the water cooling
system.
2. Clamping system
The main function of clamping system is to x the sample and also realize the
mounting and dismounting the samples conveniently, reliably and without loosing
and blocking. At the same time, the alignment between the pivot and ball socket
should be ensured and so that the security and authenticity of the experimental
results can be also ensured.
3. Damping body structure
Figure 8.8 shows the damping body structure. In the below of the structure, there is
a support shaft installed in the taper hole in the bottom of the bearing housing,
which can make it swing within a certain range; in the upper position, there are 3
uniformly distributed extension springs. The lubricating oil can be lled into the
gap between the damping body and housing, and when there is a small swing of the
damping body, it will squeeze the lubricating oil in the gap, so a certain com-
pression damping can be formed. At the same time, the 3 uniformly distributed
extension springs in the upper also can form some certain elastic damping. When
sample vibrates because of high-speed rotation, compression damping and elasticity
damping can eliminate vibration caused by high-speed rotation. In the experiment,
Fig. 8.8 Structure diagram

for damping, reprinted from
Ref. [24], copyright 2008,
with permission from
Lubrication Engineering
gem bearing and sample can rotate smoothly and the operation is reliable, so a
series of friction and wear test can be carried out.
4. Loading system
Lever principle has been applied in the loading system and the load can be
implemented with the lower sample. In the experimental process, the load can be
composed of two parts. One is applied load after magnifying the quality of the
loading weights; the other is caused by the quality of the lever system. The arm of
force ratio of the lever has been known, after nding the location of the center of
mass for the lever system and the quality, the experimental load can be calculated.
5. Supporting system
Top cover, round foundation and the guiding vertical shaft compose the supporting
system together. Round foundation is the basic body for the test rig, and 3 guiding
vertical shafts can be xed in surrounding structure connecting with the top cover to
form a working room. The guiding vertical shaft can keep the assembly accuracy
between the top cover and round foundation, and also the coaxiality in the vertical
direction.
8.5.2 Heavy Load Sliding Friction Tester
Heavy load sliding friction tester [25] is shown in Fig. 8.9, which can be applied to
test the friction coefcient of the sliding bearing. It is composed of the subject,
sample xture, punching machine and computer data acquisition system. The
structure, technical parameter and principles can be as following.
Fig. 8.9 Structure diagram for heavy load sliding friction testing machine, reprinted from Ref.
[25], copyright 2005, with permission from Mechanical and Electrical Engineering Technology
(1) this kind of test rig has three transmission systems: one is for high speed, the
high-speed shaft connecting with the motor through the reducer, and then
driving the main shaft through the V-belt, the speed range is 501440 r/min;
the second is crank and rocker mechanism, decreasing the speed through the
reducer, and then driving the main shaft through the crank and rocker
mechanism, the speed range is 340 r/min and the titling angle is 20, the
maximum torque of the main shaft being 2500 N m; the third is chain drive,
decrease the speed through the reducer, and then drive the main shaft through
the chain, the speed range is 340 r/min. When the experiment is working,
only one set of mechanisms can operate and other systems can be dismounted.
Continuously viable can be conducted with the frequency converter controlled
by computer.
(2) this test rig use the hydraulic pressure machine for loading, so the flexibility is
higher and the range is 01000 kN. The pressure machine has the automatic
pressure maintaining and Supplementary pressure ability, so the uploading
process is stable.
(3) data collection system has been composed of data acquisition card, strain gage
with higher accuracy and the computer, which has the advantages as the high
accuracy, high sample rate, instantaneity display and high intellectualization.
(4) working principle: when the test rig is working, the motor can drive one of
three mechanisms and make the main shaft rotate that can connect the cou-
pling to drive the bearing inner ring to rotate. Pressure machine can load the
bearing outer ring through the xture. The whole system is balanced, so
kinetic moment of the main shaft is the same as the bearing friction torque.
Strain gage can be glued on the main shaft, so the deformation of the main
shaft can make the strain gage produce the electrical signal of the friction
torque. Oil pressure sensor can be applied to test the oil pressure electrical
signal and then transfer to bearing load. These two signals can be processed,
ensured, magnied, digital-to-analog conversion and nally processed by
computer, and then be saved continually. So the friction coefcient variation
curve and parameters can be displayed timely.
8.5.3 Spherical Plain Bearing Tribo-tester
Spherical plain bearing tribo-tester is shown in Fig. 8.10, which can test the friction
performance and wear lifetime [26, 27] for the spherical plain bearing under the
rotating and titling condition. It is mainly composed of the drive train system,
loading system and test system.
1. Drive train system
This spherical plain bearing tribo-tester applies the crank and rocker mechanism to
transfer the rotational motion of the motor to swing. One type can be as: innitely
Fig. 8.10 Composite swing joint bearing friction and wear testing machine, reprinted from
Ref. [26], copyright 2011, with permission from CN: 2010200522657
variable speeds can be realized with frequency converter 1 and through gear motor
1, through the crank and rocker mechanism 1 drive the main shaft 1 to swing,
realize the rotating motion for the test rig; second type is innitely variable speeds
can be realized with frequency converter 2 and through gear motor 2, through the
crank and rocker mechanism 2 drive the main shaft 2 to swing, and realize the
titling motion.
2. Loading system
This test rig uses the hydraulic pressure machine that is composed of the motor,
pump, lter, overflow valve, hydraulic control one-way valve, reversing valve and
pressure gage. When it is working, pressure gage can display the oil pressure of
hydraulic cylinder. Through this machine, the heavy load can be applied on the
bearing.
3. Test system
Test system is an important part of this test rig, and mainly composed of the
computer system, torque sensors, temperature sensors and displacement sensors.
The parameters of the torque sensor and displacement sensor can be monitored by
the computer system. Friction torque of the spherical plain bearing in the rotating
and titling motion can be monitored timely by the torque sensor. The friction
temperature can be monitored by the temperature sensor. Bearing wear loss can be
monitored by the displacement sensors. The whole test system can realize automatic
collection, recording all the way, automatic storage, online continuous
measurement.
8.5.4 Bearing Life Tester
Bearing life tester is applied in the rotating fatigue life experiment under the
condition of axial and radial load. Bearing fatigue life test results can reveal the
bearing structure design, manufacturing process, material quality, lubrication, etc.
Computer automatic monitoring can be applied to the test rig. According to the
actual working state of bearing, load, speed, store and print time interval can be
preset and the automatic monitoring parameters, such as the supporting and test
bearing temperature, vibration, motor current and speed should also be preset. The
experimental data can be saved automatically and printed. When abnormal phe-
nomena of the bearing or whole machine has been found, test rig can give an alarm
automatically to stop and also display the root cause. The working principle of the
spherical plain bearing test rig will be instructed as the following [28].
1. Main structure
The main structure of the test rig of insert bearing with housing can be seen in
Fig. 8.11. Shaft system is the core part of the test apparatus. The main shaft can use
the simply supported beam and two sets of test bearings have been arranged on both
ends of main shaft symmetrically. Temperature sensor and vibration sensor are
mounted on the housing to monitor the temperature of the bearing outer ring and the
vibration of the shaft system. The power source of the test rig is the variable
frequency motor that can drive the shaft to rotate. And then the drive shaft can drive
the main shaft through the coupling that can use the high strength nylon rope, which
can signicantly reduce outside interference because of the decentraction between
the main shaft and the drive device.
2. Loading system
Loading system uses the proportional hydraulic technology and the hydraulic
principle is shown in Fig. 8.12. Hydraulic loading system is composed of the
components as oil pump, lter, overflow valve, proportional pressure reducing
valve, cooler and directional control valve. Under the working process, two pres-
sure gages can show the oil pressure after pumping and the oil pressure in the
hydraulic cylinder separately and the load can be controlled by the proportional
pressure reducing valve. According to the load requirements of the test bearing,
Fig. 8.11 Structure diagram for bearing life test machine of insert bearing with housing, reprinted
from Ref. [28], copyright 2008, with permission from Bearing
Fig. 8.12 Hydraulic system

diagram, reprinted from
with permission from Bearing
Fig. 8.13 Principle diagram of the measurement and control system, reprinted from Ref. [28],
copyright 2008, with permission from Bearing
load, loading time and rotating speed can be input into the load spectrum and the
loading can be controlled automatically by computer.
3. Test and controlling system
Measurement and control system is an important part of the whole test rig and it can
be composed of the computer system, electronic control system, load control sys-
tem, frequency converter driving system and sensor system, as shown in Fig. 8.13.
Through the measurement and control software, RS-485 communication module
can be applied to monitor the parameters such as rotational speed, current, voltage.
Temperature, vibration and pressure sensors can be used to monitor the bearing
temperature, vibration and load signal, etc. The whole measurement and control
system can automatically control the procedure of test rig, and speed spectrum and
load spectrum can be preset for experiment. Experimental parameters can be tested,
controlled and recorded automatically. During the experiment process, when some
abnormal situations have been found, there will be automatic alarm and stop, and
also the root cause of the alarm and time will be record.
8.5.5 Bearing Friction Torque Tester
In the literature [29], one manufacturer of hub bearing developed an ABFT-1 hub
bearing friction torque test rig according to the measurement requirement from the
customer, and the working principle will be introduced as the following.
Fig. 8.14 Schematic diagram for bearing friction torque tester system, reprinted from Ref. [29],
copyright 2006, with permission from Bearing
ABFT-1 hub bearing friction torque test rig mainly includes the motor, main
shaft, experimental head, loading device and controlling device as shown in
Fig. 8.14. The motor is applying the 1:21 frequency control servo motor, so the
innitely variable speed can be realized. The motor drive the main shaft to rotate
and also the bearing inner ring in the experimental head and the bearing outer ring
is connecting with the torque sensor, both of them being xed in the test bed
together. During the experimental process, the radial load can be applied on the test
bearing by load mechanism, and the inner ring has been driven by the main shaft to
rotate, so certain torque will be produced in the outer ring, which can be transferred
to the torque sensor and then to the controlling system for processing, and nally
output. When the bearing friction torque is much too bigger (bigger than 3 N m), it
means that the bearing will be block or some abnormal status will be found, so the
controlling system will send the signal to the servo motor and loading motor to
stop, so that whole system can be safe.
1. Loading system
The loading structure of ABFT-1 hub bearing friction torque test rig can be seen in
the Fig. 8.15. In order to decrease the influence of external friction on the bearing
torque, pneumatic floating rail with ultralow resistance loading method is adopted.
At the same time, in order to increase the uniformity and stability of the loading
process, worm and gear system has been applied that is suitable for the power
transmission between the crossing shaft with big transmission ratio, stable ability,
small noise, compact structure and the function of self-locking. Rolling screw
changes the rotating motion to the linear motion, which has lots of advantages as
flexible operation, high accuracy and mechanical efciency, getting bigger thrust
from smaller torque, good friction property, vibration resistance, translation and
synchronicity. Servo motor drive screw can make the thread rod to rotate and then
drive the sleeve to upper direction by rolling screw, so that the spring will be
Fig. 8.15 Schematic diagram of load transmission, reprinted from Ref. [29], copyright 2006, with
permission from Bearing
pressed and the load will be transmitted to the floating bed for loading function. The
loading speed is controlled by the servo motor.
2. Test tool and controlling system
Test tool is shown in Fig. 8.16. The central shaft is embedded into the main shaft to
get the tight to suit to the bearing inner ring, so the bearing inner ring can be driven
for rotating. And outer ring can transfer the friction torque to the sensor through the
torque block, in order to conduct the friction torque test.
The automatic processing for collected signal is realized by measurement and
control technology using industrial control computer. The sampling time interval
can be set according to user need. Starting, maximum, average and the mean square
values of the friction torque can be calculated automatically. The system also has
the function of automatic monitoring, automatic print, saving the gathering data,
automatic alarm and stop. When the system detects that the friction torque is greater
than a set value, a stop signal will be sent to servo motor automatically. The special
Fig. 8.16 Structure diagram

for test tool, reprinted from
with permission from Bearing
monitoring software can be applied, so characteristic parameters can be set

according to user requirements.
8.5.6 Journal Bearing Tribo-tester
Journal bearing tribo-tester [30] is shown in Fig. 8.17. It is mainly composed of

power supply, power delivery, test equipment, loading device, temperature mea-
suring device and the friction coefcient measurement device. The speed of this test
rig is controlled by a servo variable frequency motor and load is applied by the air
cylinder, so the air pressure can be controlled by PID system to apply much more
accurate load that can be measured by the pressure sensor connected with the air
cylinder. Servo motor rotational speed can reach 3600 r/min and the maximum load
can be up to 8000 N. The temperatures of the lubricating oil and bearing surface
can be tested by the K thermocouple and the friction coefcient can be got from
conversion of measured friction torque, so that the bearing tribology performance
can be tested.
Fig. 8.17 Friction and wear testing machine for transverse bearing, reprinted from Ref. [30],
copyright 2010, with permission from Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
References 237
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Chapter 9
Fault Diagnosis and Status Monitoring
of the Bearing
Bearings are widely used in the mechanical equipment and whose working con-
dition is directly related to the operation states of the rotating elements. However, in
practice, some factors such as improper design or process of bearing, bad mounting
process, terrible working condition, impact load, etc., may result in various defects
to bearing functions after having worked for some time. Moreover, the defects will
cause complete failure with bearings continual working, so if the little problems
were not to be detected timely, it would destroy the elements nally [1]. Therefore,
good condition monitoring and fault diagnosis are important for the correct device
maintenance and management.
Bearing condition monitoring and fault diagnosis is a kind of technology to
understand and master the bearing operating status in the equipments, especially the
abnormal performance of the bearing, so as to nd the potential faults and predict
the developing trend in an early phase. In this sector, basic concept, research
content, analysis theory, and method will be introduced, and with the combination
of specic failure forms of sliding bearing and rolling bearing, the fault diagnosis
and condition monitoring of bearings will be explained.
9.1 Introduction
Mechanical fault diagnosis is the abbreviation of condition monitoring and fault

diagnosis, which is the science to identify the operating status of equipment. With
development of science and technology and modern industry, equipment enlarge-
ment, automation and complication have increased continuously, and the depen-
dence of the production on the equipment has increased, so any fault of the
equipment will lead to the huge loss. Therefore, during the operation process of the
equipment, condition monitoring and fault diagnosis have been paid attention.
240 9 Fault Diagnosis and Status Monitoring of the Bearing
Mechanical equipment fault diagnosis technology has a long history, at the

beginning of humans production with the mechanical equipment, simple moni-
toring method, and criterion for judging by the experience such as seeing, touching,
listening, smelling methods have been applied. With the continuous development of
production technology, diagnosis technology is also in constant progress. In the
1960s, on the one hand, with the development of production mechanization and
automation, there are much higher requirements for the continuity and reliability of
the mechanical equipment, which greatly promote the development of diagnostic
technology; on the other hand, the rapid development of electronic technology and
microcomputer provides a great technical support for the development of diagnostic
technology. So a variety of sophisticated electronic monitoring and fault diagnosis
equipments have been applied, which makes fault diagnosis technology a new
comprehensive subject in the 1970s [24].
The nation earliest to develop the fault diagnosis is the United States. In the
1960s, they started the organized work for study of diagnostic technique. Until now,
they have also been keeping the leading position in the led of aerospace, aviation,
military, nuclear, and other cutting-edge department. Britain started in the early
1970s, and now is keeping the leading position in the led of friction, wear and tear,
automobiles, aircraft engine monitoring, and diagnosis. Besides, Swedish bearing
monitoring technology, the infrared thermal image technology, Denish vibration
and noise monitoring technology, Norwegian shipping diagnostic techniques,
Japanese iron and steel industry, Chemical industry, Railway and other departments
of diagnostic technique all have their own superiority [5, 6].
In our country, this technology started late. Condition monitoring and fault
diagnosis technology has not been put in equipment management regulations
ofcially until 1983, but rapid progress has been made. In petrochemistry, metal-
lurgy, electric power, transportation and other industries, it has been widely used.
Especially for large rotating machinery fault diagnosis, a practical monitoring and
diagnosis system has been developed by ourselves and has got considerable benets
[711]. However, compared with the developed country, there is still a long way to
go, especially in the monitoring, diagnostic instruments and equipment, this tech-
nology still needs to be strengthened. In recent years, there have been many
changes in the fault diagnosis due to the high intelligent detection system, infor-
mation fusion technology, the development of chaos theory and fractal theory, so
the tasks of exploration, research and application in this eld are very arduous.
9.2 Basic Theory of the Condition Monitoring
Any abnormal performance of the mechanical equipment (e.g., vibration, noise,

temperature) during the operating process can be transferred to be the signal
through the sensor and we can diagnose the operating status of the equipment
according to the variation of the characteristic parameters. In order to get the
9.2 Basic Theory of the Condition Monitoring 241
correct, reliable and timely result, the following technical problems should be
studied.
(1) selecting the characteristic parameter as the diagnostic basis
(2) extracting required characteristic parameter from the measured signals
(3) recognizing the state of the equipment according to the parameter.
Some basic problems needed to be solved for the fault diagnosis, also such basic
components will be introduced here: selecting of the characteristic parameter,
processing, and analyzing of the signal and status recognizing.
9.2.1 Status Signal and Characteristic Parameter
In order to select appropriate diagnostic parameters, the characteristic of parame-

ters, selection principle, comprehensive, and compression methods should be
mastered.
9.2.1.1 Selection Principle
Besides the monitoring aim, convenience, and economic effectiveness the following
points should also be considered:
(1) sensitivity
High sensitivity characteristic parameters will be preferred. When establishing the
mathematic model of the device status, the parameters with most sensitive reflection
to the equipment status will also be found; without the mathematical model,
experimental method can be applied to analysis to nd the most sensitive parameter.
(2) stability
The smaller the influence of the working conditions (load, rotational speed, etc.)
and test conditions (magnication, sampling frequency, sampling length, the
starting point position, etc.) of the equipment on the diagnostic parameters, the
better the result, so insensitive characteristic parameters for the change of work
condition and test condition should be selected as diagnosis parameters. In the time
domain, stability of dimensionless characteristic parameters is better than that of the
dimension characteristic parameters. For example, if the displacement peak of the
vibration signal is selected as diagnostic parameter, the variation of load or speed
will change the result, so its stability is poor. If dimensionless parameter peak
coefcient is selected as diagnosis parameter, these changes will be avoided and the
stability will be improved.
(3) correspondence
Characteristic parameters should reflect the state of the equipment fully, and the
one-to-one correspondence simple function relationship is the best. However, it is
impossible under many situations, since one parameter often corresponds with
many states. In the eld of fault diagnosis, the diagnostic vector quantity is often
used to determine the equipment state. For example, when distinguishing the fault
status of misalignment and imbalance, the diagnostic vector quantity with two
characteristic parameters (fundamental component and 2X frequency for the signal
frequency) should be used for synthetic judgment.
In practice, it is hard to meet all the above-mentioned requirements at the same
time, for example, for the early fatigue flake of rolling bearings, the sensitivity of
the vibration signal peak is higher than root-mean-square value, but the stability is
opposite. Therefore, we need consider both the advantages and disadvantages when
selecting the diagnostic parameters.
9.2.1.2 Common State Characteristic Signals
Now several kinds of common state characteristic signals are shown as the follows.
(1) output changes of mechanical equipment
Function parameters are employed to describe the output of the mechanical
equipments, with their variable values, they can be directly used to identify the
running status of equipment. For example, by monitoring mill product size and
yield, the machining accuracy of machine tools, the pump flow rate and pressure of
the diesel engine, the fuel consumption and the power, we can determine whether
their running state is normal. In general, these kinds of parameters are easy to be
tested. However, their sensitivity is not high, no perceptible change can be found in
function parameters of the mechanical equipment, even the defects have existed in
the main parts. Moreover, the fault reasons and positions are hard to diagnose
according to the variation of these parameters.
(2) vibration
Selecting vibration signal as the parameters to diagnose equipment has the fol-
lowing advantages:
1. wide application range, any mechanical equipment can vibrate when operating
and the extent can increase with the deterioration degree. According to statistics,
70 % failures of the mechanical equipment can be expressed by vibration.
2. vibration quantity is multidimensional (amplitude, frequency and phase), and
the variation range is wide, which is easy to distinguish failure states with
different types and extent.
3. convenient measurement, mature technology, on-line monitoring, so there have
been lots of measuring apparatus for vibration at home and abroad.
4. Vibration has strong transmissibility so the sensor can feel fault vibration in
wider scope. The vibration signal of gear and shaft in the mechanical equipment
can be acquired from the sensor assembled on the main case.
Therefore, vibration signal application is extensive and all the mechanical
equipment, especially for the rotating machinery uses the vibration signal to
diagnose the operating states.
(3) noise
Selecting noise to diagnose equipment has the following advantages: noise is the
vibration spreading in the elastic medium and includes huge amount of information.
During the test process, without contacting with the equipment or the limitation of
the test position, it is convenient. However, it is prone to the environmental noise
and is complicated to analyze and process, the application is less.
(4) temperature
Heating in the operating process for the equipment is a common phenomenon,
because the defect of friction surfaces, overloading and crash all lead to the tem-
perature rise, which is easy to be tested. Therefore, temperature is also important
information to recognize the equipment status and testing temperature is necessary
during the operating process. However, temperature slowly responds to the failure
and low sensitivity, so it only serves as a simple diagnosis means.
(5) grinding particles
The grinding particles in the operating process of the mechanical equipments are in
the lubricating oil, so the wear situation of the parts can also be determined by
collecting and analyzing the grinding particles. Wear is the main reason for the
failure of the equipment, so monitoring the grinding particles is also an important
method to diagnose the failure of equipment.
9.2.1.3 Common Characteristic Parameters (Index of Characteristic)
There are two kinds of characteristic parameters applied in fault diagnosis exten-
sively: characteristic parameters and mathematical model parameters for state
characteristic signals.
(1) common characteristic parameters
There are many characteristic parameters (time domain, frequency domain char-
acteristic parameters, and opposite domain feature parameters and wavelet
parameters). In this section, only common simple parameters as the time domain,
frequency domain will be introduced.
1. time-domain characteristic parameter

Frequently used time-domain characteristic parameters are mean value, variance,
mean square value, peak, skewness, kurtosis, etc. As these characteristic parameters
can change with the variation of the equipment state, vibration of the working
conditions, and measuring conditions (such as load, speed, sensitivity of the
instrument, etc.), their stability is poor. Therefore, the dimensionless characteristic
parameters have been introduced, and the common parameters are the waveform
factor, peak coefcient, pulse factor, margin coefcient, skewness, and kurtosis
coefcients. The equations of these characteristic parameters have been introduced in
the chapter of control engineering and fault diagnosis, so they are not discussed here.
Besides above-mentioned characteristic parameters in time domain, there are
autocorrelation function and cross-correlation function.
Autocorrelation function is used to describe the linear dependence relation
between two values that are separated by a certain time interval. The bigger the
function value (correlation value) is, the greater the signal correlation degree is, and
vice versa. Figure 9.1 is the autocorrelation function curve for one bearing vibration
signal. The autocorrelation function curve of the bearing in normal state is shown in
Fig. 9.1c, in which the curve attenuation is fast and without obvious periodicity,
which means the vibration of the bearing is random. The autocorrelation function
curves of the bearing in abnormal state are shown in Fig. 9.1a, b, in which the curve
attenuation has obvious periodicity, which means that besides the random vibration
there is periodic vibration. The vibration period of Fig. 9.1a is 14 ms, from which it
can be inducted that the reason of vibration is the damage spots on the outer ring
raceway; in the Fig. 9.1b, the vibration period is 11 ms, from which it can be inducted
that the reason of vibration is spots on the inner ring raceway. It is easy to detect fault
because the differences among three states of autocorrelation function are obvious.
Fig. 9.1 Self-correlation

function graph for vibration
signal in bearing. a Spots on
the outer ring raceway;
b Spots on the inner ring
raceway; c Normal bearing
Cross-correlation function is used to describe the relationship between the sig-

nals and its calculation equation is
1 X N n
Rxy n xi yi n 9:1
N n i1
2. frequency domain characteristic parameters

Time-domain characteristic parameter can only be of help to check whether the
equipment is normal, such important information as the trouble location cannot be
obtained. Moreover there are lots of interference information (especially for the
early failure of the equipment, the signal is weak, so it is easily to be submerged by
interference information) besides required fault information, so lots of important
information is hard to receive in the time domain. However, in the frequency
domain, the interference information and fault feature information have their
respective frequency, and have different location in the spectrogram, so it is easy to
avoid the interference influence and nd the fault information of the equipment
according to certain frequency in the spectrogram. Therefore, frequency domain
characteristics parameters are applied extensively in the fault diagnosis eld.
Frequency spectrum of monitoring signal in the frequency domain indicates
self-power spectral density function (abbreviation of antospectrum, in general,
being named as power spectrum), which reflects the frequency structure of the
signal that shows the distribution density of average power of the signal in the
frequency domain according to the frequency. According to the N frequency
spectrums preliminarily, the value can be predicted as follows.
1
SX f jX f j2 ; 9:2
N
where f T0 ; T1 ; T2 ; . . .; N1
T , T is the record length of sample.
Power spectrum contains lots of useful information, and changes signicantly
when the equipment has some fault, so it is an important for fault diagnosis and has
extensive application.
Using full power spectrum to diagnose equipment is comprehensive but with
higher workload, so it is also not convenient to apply. Therefore, the following
characteristic parameters are used widely.
Peak frequency and amplitude: the peak frequency in the spectrogram and its
height are the simplest characteristic parameter, and used widely. Many faults have
their respective frequency, so analyzing the growth and decline situation of the peak
can judge the detailed information about the faults.
Mean height of the frequency windows: the windows can be set in the frequency
range with most sensitive reflection for the vibration in the spectrogram, and the
mean height of the peak inside of the window can be used as the judging parameter,
which is much more stable and common.
Fig. 9.2 Signal power

spectrum
Besides, like the statistical characteristic parameters in the time domain, there are
some statistical characteristic parameters in the frequency domain: spectral centroid
of the power spectrum, frequency domain variance, and mean square frequency etc.
Power spectrum of the signal is shown in Fig. 9.2, so,
spectral centroid
P
fi Sfi
FC P 9:3
Sfi
mean square frequency

P 2
f Sfi
MSF Pi 9:4
Sfi
frequency domain variance

P
fi FC 2 Sfi
Vf P 9:5
Sfi
FC and MSF are the parameters to describe the location of main frequency band
for power spectrum (that means the concentrated location of the power). Smaller
value means that the energy of power spectrum is mainly in the low-frequency
band, and opposite value is in the high-frequency band; Vf is the parameter to
describe the energy dispersion extent of the energy of power spectrum. These
parameters can be selected according to the different monitoring goal because they
have the respective diagnosing function.
(2) mathematical model parameters
Mathematical model is the most essential quantitative description for the state of
equipment. The equipment status changes can denitely lead to the variation of the
structure and parameters in the model. Therefore, identifying the equipment state
and forecasting the developing trend with parameters in the mathematic model or
some other related parameters are scientic and reliable way. Nevertheless, it is
hard to establish a suitable mathematical model since it is time-consuming; there-
fore, there are some difculties in its application on some conditions.
9.2.1.4 Principal Component Analysis
Principal component analysis is a kind of statistical analysis method to transfer

many parameters into several independent parameters (principal component)
without losing the main information. For the application of multiple characteristic
parameters (multidimensional eigenvector) to diagnose the fault, not only large
amount of calculation is involved; the effect is also not good because many
dimensions and the parameters (feature vector component) are connected with each
other. Therefore, this method can decrease the vector dimensions so that the dif-
culty of diagnosis can be reduced, which is also important.
The most common method is the K-L transformation, also named the principal
component vector analysis. The key points of this method is to transform the
coordinates rstly, that means original characteristic parameters can be transformed
to be alone parameters (latest coordinate), and then minor components can be
deleted; nally the left major components can compose the feature vector with low
dimension, and the goal to reduce the dimension can be realized. Take the bivector
as an example, it is assumed that there are two equipment status feature vectors as
1 and 2, and it is obvious that their each group value can be expressed with the
points in the plane-coordinate system. If there are k groups of observed values of
the characteristic parameters in the operation process being processed of zero
equalization as shown in Fig. 9.3, the coordinate axis can rotate by the zero point in
the spreading widest direction of the state (points thick line position), which makes
the latest coordinate components alone with each other. Thus the latest coordinate
of the state points (latest characteristic parameter) is

d1 a11 /1 a12 /2
9:6
d2 a21 /1 a22 /2
As shown in Fig. 9.3, not only the latest coordinates d1 and d2 are alone with
each other, but also the variation range of d1 is wilder (big variance) and d2 is
smaller (small variance). So the location of each state point can depend more on d1
than on d2, which means that state expressed by two parameters as 1 and 2 can be
described by one parameter d1, because it has the main information of two com-
ponents 1 and 2. Therefore, d1 is the main parameter, and it is simple to replace 1
and 2 to diagnose the fault.
Fig. 9.3 Geometric

interpretation to principal
component analysis method
9.2.2 Signal Processing and Analysis
Some monitoring signals can directly provide some useful information for diag-
nosis, though very limited. It is common that the characteristic parameters reflecting
the state of the equipment are extracted from monitoring signal after signal pro-
cessing and analysis. Signal processing and signal analysis have a close correlation
and have no clear boundary, so they can be seen as synonyms here. Different
methods of signal analysis can extract different feature parameters, but the purposes
are the same: removing or weakening the interference information of the signal and
extracting the characteristic parameters reflecting the state of the equipment in the
signal from different aspects [3, 1315].
There are several methods such as frequency rening analysis, the cepstrum
analysis, time series analysis model and wavelet analysis etc. for analysis, which
has been illustrated in detail by other books like fault diagnosis and analysis, so it is
unnecessary explain here.
9.2.3 State Recognition
The basic task of the fault diagnosis is to identify (diagnose) the state of the
equipment based on the state of the equipment information. There are many kinds
of recognition methods such as comparative analysis, probability statistics method,
logical diagnosis method, fuzzy diagnosis method, fault diagnosis expert system,
articial neural network fault diagnosis system, etc. In this part, only the relatively
simple comparative diagnosis method and probability statistics method with wide
application will be illustrated.
9.2.3.1 Comparative Diagnosis Method
Comparative diagnosis method is the simplest method with widest application, and
the key point is to build a discriminant criterion rstly. After comparing the actual
value of characteristic parameters with the established standard, the equipment
status can be identied according to the differences, even for the fault location. For
example, local damage on the surface of the rolling bearing can be indentied
according to the periodic pulse amplitude of vibration signal.
The discriminant standards for fault diagnosis have three categories as absolute
criterion, relative criterion and analogy discriminant criterion.
Absolute criterion comes from plenty of statistical material and theoretical
analysis of equipment, and has been issued by the country. This kind of standard is
objective, comprehensive and high reliable. However, its application range and the
monitoring method need to be considered according to the real situation, and the
mechanical application should be avoided.
Relative determination criterion is for the characteristic parameters under the

normal state based on the early monitoring data of single equipment. It has the
widest application, but only can be suitable to establish standards of single
equipment.
Analogy discrimination criterion is established according to most of the moni-
toring data under the same working conditions for many sets of the same speci-
cation equipment. Since the standard quantity cannot necessarily reflect the normal
state, it has to be carefully applied.
9.2.3.2 Probability Statistics Method
In general, the monitoring signals in the eld of fault diagnosis for mechanical
equipment are random, so they can be described with probability density function
and obey statistical rule. Therefore, the recognition method based on the statistical
pattern is more scientic, reliable but has certain prerequisites and involves big
amount of calculation.
There are many methods for the recognition of devices status based on statistical
pattern, but from the geometric meaning, they can be summarized into two kinds as
distance criterion and area criterion.
Distance criterion is to make N diagnostic parameters describing the state of the
equipment to be one point (or a dimensional vector) in N dimensional state space
(feature space), and the corresponding point to a certain state characteristic
parameter value centers can be seen as a reference point; corresponding point to the
actual monitoring value for inspection equipment is test point. Whose reference
point is near the test point, the equipment belongs to that corresponding state, which
is called distance criterion of the probabilistic method.
Area criterion is to divide the state space into the corresponding area with all
kinds of states and mutually disjoint areas (state or characteristic domains) based on
the distribution state of the characteristic parameters values. Test point is located in
the area that means the state of the equipment, which is called the area criterion of
probability statistical method.
9.3 Oil Analysis
9.3.1 Oil Analysis
Oil analysis is the process to test the lubricating oil of mechanical equipment in the
operation, obtain useful information and make a diagnostic conclusion. Oil analyses
mainly include oil physical and chemical performance parameters analysis and wear
particle analysis.
The oil physical and chemical performance parameters analysis means the
analysis of the oil viscosity, flash point, moisture content, acidity, and the change of
such parameters as mechanical impurities, which is the important tool to identify
the machinery lubrication state. The purpose is to prevent mechanical parts damage
due to bad lubrication, then influence the service life of the mechanical equipment;
meanwhile, it can also provide some scientic basis for lubricating oil replenish-
ment and replacement in order to save cost and social resources.
Wear particle analysis in oil means that the wear debris (wear particles) should
enter the lubricating oil in the operation process and wear particles have lots of
information on the status of the wear parts according to the research. Only quali-
tative and quantitative analysis about the parameters such as wear particle size,
concentration, morphology, distribution, and composition have been implemented,
the wear states (wear parts, wear mechanism, the wear degree, etc.) of mechanical
equipment can be diagnosed without being stopped or dismounted and also the
development trend of wear and tear can be predicted. In the eld of fault diagnosis,
it is a kind of very important and visual method to detect mechanical wear con-
ditions [1518].
Theoretically, both test analyses can bring much useful information for the fault
diagnosis and prediction. However, in the eld of equipment fault diagnosis, oil
analysis refers chiefly to detection analysis method for the wear debris.
9.3.1.1 Oil Analysis Procedure
Oil analysis should follow such steps as sampling, sample processing, detection,
diagnosis, prediction, and treatment.
Sampling refers to getting the detection analysis sample from the lubricating oil,
and it is an important part of the oil analysis, related to the correctness of the
conclusion. It is required to choose oil sample with representativeness that can
reflect the operating state of equipment. Therefore, the sampling time, period,
location should be seriously considered. Sampling time should be set after the
equipment work steadily and wear debris are mixed evenly. Sampling in the oil box
after downtime should be handled as soon as possible in order to avoid big wear
particles settling down and affect the quality of the sample. Sampling period
depends on the importance and safety of mechanical equipment, and wear situation.
For the equipment of high importance and high security, sampling period should be
short; and the sampling period for the equipment in running-in wear stage should
also be short. In normal wear stage, sampling period can be long; after the
equipment getting into the severe wear phase, sampling period should be shortened.
Sampling location should be in the return pipe near the monitored part. If sample is
in the oil box, the sampling point should be less than half oil level. Considering the
large wear particles sinking rst, if necessary, they can be sampled at the bottom of
the tank, but the certain distance between the bottoms should be ensured.
Sample processing includes two links as heating and dilution. The purpose of
heating is to make the sample in the bottle storage convection, and shake to make
9.3 Oil Analysis 251
wear particle uniform distribution; the purpose of dilution is to reduce the con-
centration and viscosity of the sample to t the needs of test analysis. Pure oil with
the same brand can be added to lower the concentration; and pure oil with smaller
viscosity can be added to reduce the sample viscosity.
Detection and diagnosis refer to testing the content of wear debris in sample and
particle size distribution, and judging whether the wear condition of the mechanical
equipment is normal preliminarily. For the abnormal wear, further test analysis
should also be made to determine the detailed situation about wear.
Prediction and processing refers to predict the remaining life of the equipment
with abnormal wear situation and the future wear types, and then determine the
reparation type, time and the parts to be replaced according to the prediction
situation.
9.3.1.2 Oil Analysis Content
Oil analysis content includes the component analysis, content and increasing speed
of the wear debris, and the wear particles size and morphology analysis of the wear
debris.
Composition analysis is to detect chemical elements in sample, and the chemical
elements are derived from the parts made by the materials containing these ele-
ments, so according to the determination of chemical composition concentration,
the degree of wear for corresponding parts can be judged. However, if some dust is
mixed with the lubricating oil because of the poor sealing, the analysis of the silicon
should also be influenced because the main component of the dust is silica.
A linear relationship exists between the density of wear product and the wear
degree without burned damage and leaked damage. Therefore, we can judge
wearing capacity by the density of chemical elements in sample. If wear product
concentration has manmade change, it will be hard to judge the wear loss with the
absolute concentration. The concentration variation (growth rate of wear debris) can
be applied in this situation. The growth speed of the concentration for the wear
particles is linear with the wear speed, so wear stage can be judged according to the
variation in concentration of wear debris. In general, in the running-in process,
because the surfaces with mutual movement are rough, the contact stress is high and
the wear rate is very high, the change of wears debris concentration is great. In
normal wear stage, there is light contact stress and small wear, the concentration of
wear debris changes slowly. In the severe wear phase, the surface is badly damaged,
and the wear rate has increased dramatically, so the concentration of wear debris
increase and the value can be up to several times or more than the normal value.
The size of wear debris has close relationship with the wear process. In the
running-in stage of wear, wear particle is larger, generally around 1020 mm; in the
normal wear stage, the wear particles is small and uniform, commonly below
10 mm; in the severe wear phase, wear particles are bulky, generally around 10
30 mm, even bigger.
The morphology of wear debris has the close relationship with the wear type.
That the wear product of abrasive wear is ribbon curled shape show the charac-
teristics of micro cutting. Product of the adhesive wear may be a strip and tear mark
can be found on the rough surface. The product of fatigue wear can be flake or
granular, the remarkable feature is that one surface (friction surface) of this particle
is bright and the other is rough texture like linen, even with the marks of fracture.
The product of corrosion wear is like powder. The particles in the oxidative wear
are red at normal temperature and black at high temperature.
9.3.1.3 Oil Analysis Method
Oil analysis methods mainly include spectral analysis, iron spectrum analysis and
magnetic plug inspection.
The three kinds of oil analysis methods have different application range and
available information. In Fig. 9.4, wear debris with size less than 10 m is sus-
pended ne particle, suitable for spectrum analysis; for that with size between 1 and
100 m, it is suitable for iron spectrum analysis; for that with the size more than
100 m, it is suitable for magnetic inspection. Therefore, the three methods should
be combined with each other in the real application, and only one method cannot
provide accurate diagnosis conclusion for complex fault.
Oil spectroscopic analysis method is to determine its chemical composition and
its content according to the particle spectrum. The basic principle of oil spectrum
analysis is that the atom shines after the stimulation, and the wavelength of light is
discontinuous line spectrum. The number of spectral lines and location are different
because atoms of different elements have different structures. Therefore, the
chemical composition and content of wear particles can be diagnosed according to
the number and position of spectral lines. This kind of analysis method has high
sensitivity, high accuracy and fast analysis speed, and can be seen as the basic
method for determination of particle chemical composition, but this method can not
reflect the morphology and size of particles and its application is rare for the
expensive equipment and complex operation. In the following part, only the later
two methods will be introduced [1921].
Fig. 9.4 Detecting efciency

of three sample analysis
methods
9.3.2 Ferrographic Analysis
Ferrographic analysis is to separate the wear particles in order from the oil sample
according to the size of particle by high gradient magnetic eld and to make the
iron spectrum, and then analyze the particle content, size, morphology and com-
position. This method can not only determine the degree of wear and wear type of
machinery and equipment, but also nd out the wear parts.
Ferrographic analysis can display the size segment of the particles in different
wear states, so it can provide lots of information. The equipment is simple and
cheap; so is the operation. Therefore, it has been developed and extensively applied
in recent years, and can be seen as the method with good prospect.
However, this method is not efcient for the non-ferromagnetic material and
cannot be used to determine the quantity. Besides, the operator needs to have
procient skill and strictly obey the operation regulations, otherwise there will be
lots of errors and poor reliability.
With the development of the science and technology, computer technology and
advanced technology such as fuzzy inference and neural network are used in fer-
rographic analysis, which has created new situation for the iron spectrum analysis
method.
The basic equipment for the ferrographic analysis is ferrograph. Ferrograph
include analysis type iron spectrometer, direct-reading spectrometer, and rotary iron
spectrometer. In recent years, on-line iron spectrometer has been developed
successfully.
(1) analysis type iron spectrometer (ferrograph)
As shown in Fig. 9.5, iron spectrometer is mainly composed of a permanent magnet
with high gradient and strong magnetic eld and a micro pump with regime flow
(0.25 L/min), the magnet structure is shown in Fig. 9.6. Certain quantities of oil
samples that have been diluted are sent to slightly sloping glass with fence by the
pump. When oil sample is gently flowing down, the particles in the oil will deposit
on the different position of glass according to the order from big to small under the
increased magnetic force. The magnetized particles in magnetic eld attract each
Fig. 9.5 Iron spectrometer

analysis diagram. 1oil
sample; 2micro pump;
3glass substrate;
4magnet; 5diversion
control; 6oil storage cup
Fig. 9.6 Magnet structure.

1 Magnetic steel. 2 Cartridge.
3 Yoke
Fig. 9.7 Ferrographic pieces

diagram
other, so they will form a chain or belt along the lines of magnetic force (per-
pendicular to flow direction), moreover, the magnetic poles of every belt repel each
other, so the arrangement of particles on the glass can form uniform spacing. After
cleaning the oil on the glass and then x the particles with xed fluid, the available
iron spectrum can be made as in Fig. 9.7.
Completed iron spectrum needs to be tested with the mating instruments like the
reading microscope and ferrography microscope, which will not be introduced here.
(2) direct-reading iron spectrometer
Direct-reading iron spectrometer (DR iron spectrometer) is developed based on the
analysis mode iron spectrometer. After separating the particles from the oil, the
value can be read and the iron spectrum is not needed. Therefore, the analysis
process is simple and quick. Meanwhile the structure of apparatus is simple and its
price is low, so it is very useful for condition monitoring. However, it can only
supply the quantity of small and big particles but cannot determine the shape and
components of the particles. Therefore, with limited information, it can be applied
in the daily oil monitoring (simple diagnose). Once the wear is rapidly increasing,
analytical mode iron spectrum should be used to test the particle shape, component
and identify the wear type and position (accuracy diagnose). Therefore, when the
direct-reading iron spectrum is used to diagnose the fault, the analytical mode iron
spectrum will also be applied.
Direct-reading iron spectrum is shown in Fig. 9.8. When the oil flows through
the depositing pipe with the help of siphoning, the particle can deposit in order of
big to small under the function of high gradient and strong magnetic eld, as shown
in Fig. 9.9. In the position of big particles (bigger than 5 m) and small particles
(12 m), a light beam can be set to go through the sedimentation tube and the
photoelectric sensor can be set in the opposite side. The light strength received by
Fig. 9.8 Iron direct-reading

spectrometer diagram
Fig. 9.9 Iron particles in

direct-reading spectrometer
the photoelectric sensor is corresponding to the number of depositing particles and

will be shown on the digital detector automatically. If DL is the value for big
particles and DS is the value for small particles (they can stand for the relative
concentration of the particles with the sizes of more than 5 m and from 1 to 2 m),
then the total wear loss can be expressed by DL + DS and the wear extent can be
expressed by DL DS, the intensity index of the wear can be expressed by the
following equation:
IS DL DS DL DS D2L D2S 9:7
Figure 9.10 is the wear trend curve after the oil analysis with a direct-reading
iron spectrum for a W 613-forklift hydraulic system. The change is stable before
1000 h, which means the mechanical equipment is in the normal wear process, and
Fig. 9.10 Trend curve for

wear
after 1000 h, the curve increases rapidly, which means big wear particles are
increasing and the mechanical equipment is in the serious wear state.
(3) Rotary iron spectrum
As shown in Fig. 9.11, rotary iron spectrometer is mainly composed of a substrate
rotating platform and annular permanent magnet with high magnetic eld and the
radiating magnetic line. When oil is injected into the substrate through the rotation
center, the oil and contaminant (non-ferromagnetic materials, such as dust, etc.) will
be thrown to the outside by centrifugal force because of the rotation of magnet and
platform. The ferromagnetic particles in the oil will distribute on the substrate in
order from big to small and radiating line under the action of centrifugal force and
annular magnetic eld force, so three concentric circles with the different diameters
can be formed as shown in Fig. 9.12. For the most inner ring particles, the size is
between 150 m, and the size of middle ring is between 120 m, and outer ring
for less than 10 m. The iron spectrum can be made after cleaning, and then with
double color microscope observation and analysis, all kinds of information on the
status of the wear can be received.
Besides all the advantages of analytical type iron spectrometer, rotary iron
spectrum has the following features:
(1) oil fluid does not need to be diluted;
(2) the separation of contaminants can reduce their influence on the observation
and measurement;
(3) for different lubricating oil, different speed can be selected to get the best
analytical result;
(4) there is large depositing area on the iron spectrum, which can decrease the
particle storage situation.
Fig. 9.11 Rotary ferrograph
Fig. 9.12 Arranged particles
Besides, this method also has the advantage of simple operation, high efciency,
and wide application. Therefore, it has a high application value and it is especially
suitable to the serious contamination situation.
9.3.3 Magnetic Plug Inspection
Magnetic plug inspection is earlier than the oil ferrographic analysis and has been
applied for a long time in the airplane and ship. The basic principle is inserting
magnetic plug head into the lubrication system pipeline and collecting the particles
Fig. 9.13 Application of magnetic plug
in the oil rstly, and then the particle size, number and shape can be observed in the
microscope to judge the mechanical parts wear conditions. This method is simple
and convenient for the analysis of the larger wear particle (above hundred microns)
and the effect is remarkable. Therefore, magnetic plug inspection is an effective and
simple method, but it is hard to do a quantitative analysis on the magnetic plug, so
the reliability of early forecast is low.
The mounting position of magnetic plug is important. In general, the position
should be in the place with most particles in the lubricating pipe such as the outside
of the curved part of a pipe. It can also be mounted in the location of straight pipe
with a magnifying part.
Figure 9.13 shows the gas turbine lubricating system. In order to monitor the
wear of four main bearings and gear box, magnetic plugs are mounted on every
corresponding channel, and full port particle sensor is mounted in the whole circuit,
whose structure is shown in Fig. 9.14. Once there are many big particles in the
circuit, the electric control circuit connected to the sensor will work immediately to
stop the host machine.
Figure 9.14 shows the particle sensor. When the lubricating oil get into it in
tangential direction, the swirl of lubricating oil will make the particles deposit, then
the particles get into the particle sensor through the holes at the bottom and stay at
the end face of the magnetic plug. When attached particles reach a certain quantity,
the change of magnetic flux will make the controlling circuit act, so the magnetic
plug will trigger the action of cam slot and set off the alarm. The magnetic plug in
the particle sensor will close the holes at the bottom automatically to avoid oil
leaking out.
9.4 Vibration Diagnosis 259
Fig. 9.14 Particle sensor
9.4 Vibration Diagnosis
9.4.1 Introduction
According to the statistics, more than 70 % of mechanical failures are reflected in

the form of vibration, so the vibration diagnosis is an important diagnostic method.
Due to the development of electronic technology and computer, and the
improvement of vibration measurement and analysis technology, vibration diag-
nosis technology has improved greatly in the eld of fault diagnosis and got wide
application.
The vibration diagnosis technology varies for different monitoring objects, but
the essence is similar. The main contents include: selection of the diagnostic
parameters, vibration and measuring point pickup, determination of the judgment
standard and the analysis of the vibration graphics. The common contents will be
introduced in the following part.
9.4.1.1 Selection of the Diagnostic Parameters
Diagnostic parameters mainly include vibration displacement, velocity, accelera-

tion, which the selection of parameters depend on the monitoring purpose. If the
failure caused by location precision of equipment parts or deformation needs to be
considered, the peak value of vibration displacement (or peakpeak) should be
selected, because the peak value can reflect the limit value for the change of
position. If the influence of the inertia force needs to be considered, acceleration
should be selected because the acceleration is proportional to the force of inertia. If
the fatigue damage needs to be considered, the RMS of vibration velocity should be
selected because the fatigue life depends mainly on deformation energy and load
speed of the parts, which can be reflected by the RMS of vibration velocity.
9.4.1.2 Selection of Measuring Point
Selection of measuring point is key to getting real, comprehensive vibration

information, and is the foundation for making a reliable diagnosis for the equipment
condition. Several elements should be considered when selecting the points
(1) The vibration of the measuring point should reflect the vibration situation of
the source accurately and signicantly;
That the measuring point is selected in the vibration source can ensure the direct-
ness and accuracy of the vibration information. For example, when monitoring the
vibration of shaft, selecting shaft neck as the measuring point can meet the demand
of accuracy and eddy current displacement sensor is used to test the vibration shaft
relative to shell.
(2) easy installation and maintenance for the sensor;
Measuring point should be chosen in the place where the sensor is easy to install
and maintain. For example, when monitoring shaft vibration, selecting axis neck as
the measuring point can meet the requirement of accuracy, but mounting the sensor
inside the machine involves so many difculties in maintenance. So selecting the
point on the shell will be preferred nally.
Therefore, for the axis vibration measuring of rotating machinery, there is not a
unied regulation for the location of the measuring point, which depends on the
actual situation. In general, for the general mechanical equipments, such as the
rotating shaft in the water pump, blower, and motor mounted on the rolling bearing,
the speed is not high, and the bearing rigidity is good. Compared with rotor, the
stand is much lighter and with poorer rigidity, so the shaft vibration on the shell is
obvious, and the measuring point can be selected on the shell and near the load zone
to decrease the information loss of energy transfer; for the high speed compressor
equipment, a shell is heavier than a shaft, the vibration of the rotor on the shell is
much weaker, so the measuring point can be selected on the neck.
(3) proper measuring point environment;
Measuring point should be selected in the position to avoid the high temperature,
high humidity, dramatic temperature fluctuation, and magnetic interference, to
ensure the measuring accuracy. Under some harsh condition, the sensor should be
resistant of corrosion, high temperature, and interference.
(4) measuring point number and direction

The number of measuring points is related to the size of the machinery and
equipment, the structure and the fault part in the monitoring scope, so any key
positions related to the fault should be mounted with measuring point.
Different failures caused by vibration in different directions have different
reflections. Vibration caused by the imbalanced rotating mass is mainly in the
horizontal direction; vibration caused by the different axial line error is mainly in
axial direction; vibration caused by the loose connection between the equipment
and foundation is mainly in vertical direction. Because the frequencies of these
vibrations are all low, sensors should be mounted in three mutually perpendicular
directions for monitoring the low-frequency vibration. If one direction is ignored,
the information will not be so accurate. For the high-frequency vibration and impact
vibration (such as vibration caused by the rolling bearing failure), the information
can be got just in one direction.
After the determination of the measuring points, these should be marked on the
equipment and with relative orders. During the measuring process, any changes
should not be allowed for the measuring point position. With a little change, the
value will be changed and the accuracy will also be influenced, especially under the
high-frequency vibration condition.
9.4.1.3 Selection of (Vibration Pickup) Sensor
Correct selection of the sensor is also important. The practical diagnosis conclusion
cannot be made without accurate and full capture and conversion of the vibration
information with sensor.
(1) relative and absolute vibration pickup
Absolute type vibration pickup such as piezoelectric accelerometer has been
installed on the object being measured. The captured information is the vibration of
the measured object relative to static reference, which is suitable for measuring
absolute vibration of watercrafts, rockets, and shell equipment. Relative vibration
pickup can capture the information that is the vibration of the measured object
relative to dynamic reference. Sensor is installed on the moving frame of reference,
and suitable for measuring the vibration of rotating parts relative to the chassis.
Relative type vibration pickups have contact such as strain displacement sensor and
noncontact such as eddy current displacement sensor. Non-contact vibration pickup
has little effect on the vibration of the object to be measured, especially suitable for
small, lightweight object with low stiffness.
These two kinds of vibration pickups sometimes need to be used at the same
time, such as for measuring the absolute vibration in one direction, the relative type
vibration pickup (non-contact) should be used to measure the relative vibration
between the shaft and housing; the absolute type vibration pickup is used to
measure the absolute vibration of the bearing, then the absolute vibration of shaft
Fig. 9.15 Multiple sensors.

1 Axle; 2 Enclosure; 3 Speed
sensor; 4 Eddy current
transducer
can be calculated. Now, the compound sensor is available for the axial absolute
vibration. The working principle is shown in Fig. 9.15; it is essentially the com-
bination of an eddy current displacement sensor and a magnetic-electric speed
sensor. The absolute vibration peak-peak value can be obtained directly by the
synthetic circuit of the measured signal.
(2) selection of displacement, speed, acceleration sensor (displacement, velocity,
acceleration)
The common vibration characteristics have three kinds as displacement, velocity
and acceleration, and there is a derivative and integral relationship among them in
math. For harmonic vibration:
If xt A sin xt
Then
dx p
vt A x sinxt 9:8
dt 2
dv
at 2A x sinxt p 9:9
dt
So, in theory, the selection of vibration pickup determines the measurement, and
the other two vibration values can also be got by integrator and differentiator. As a
result, the selection of displacement meter, speed meter and accelerometer should
be considered from other aspects.
(1) Monitoring purpose
The best information picked up by the sensor is the diagnostic information. The
accuracy of the diagnostic information received with the differentiator or integrator
is poor, so the differentiator should be avoided.
(2) Vibration frequency

In general, sensors can be applied to monitor the parameters with big vibration
quantity in order to reduce the interference of measurement noise. Acceleration,
velocity and displacement values are associated with the vibration frequency. The
low-frequency vibration (such as less than 10 Hz) displacement values is bigger
than speed value and acceleration value, so the displacement meter should be
applied for monitoring vibration displacement; For high-frequency vibration (such
as higher than 1000 Hz), acceleration value is greater than speed and displacement
value, so accelerometer should be selected for monitoring vibration acceleration; for
the vibration between 101000 Hz, speedometer should be selected for monitoring
vibration velocity, and displacement meter and accelerometer can also be applied to
monitor the vibration of the equipment. However, the sensitivity of the sensor
should not be ignored when measuring the vibration frequency of the equipment,
and the sensor with big output should be selected.
Selection of the sensor should also consider the frequency range, measuring
range, lifetime, the environment requirement, price, maintenance, and calibration.
The common applied sensors have the following kinds:
(1) piezoelectric accelerometer
It is mainly used for absolute measurement of the bearing and shell vibration. It has
good frequency characteristic (0.350 KHZ), wide measuring range (+10000 g),
high sensitivity, stable performance, simple structure, light weight, small volume,
long service life, easy installation, long distance transmission (a few hundred meters
low noise cable between the ampliers) and does not need differential circuit. In
general, piezoelectric accelerometer is always preferred, so it has wild application.
(2) eddy current displacement sensor
It can be applied to realize non-contact relative measurement. Because it has wide
frequency range (010 kHz) and measuring range (from +/0.5 mm * +10 mm),
high sensitivity (80 mV/mm), simple structure, free oil contamination, high tem-
perature and interference resistance, easy scaling, low output impedance, conve-
nient installation, so it is widely used, especially suitable for vibration measuring of
rotating parts relative to the housing.
(3) Magnetoelectric speedometer
Its main advantages are sensors free from power supply, big output signal, low
output impedance, susceptible to interference, simple measurement circuit, so it is
suitable for monitoring vibration velocity of the housing and shell caused by the
imbalance and misalignment of the rotor directly. However, the sensor structure is
too big to be convenient and the frequency range is narrow (1020 kHz), so it is
rarely used in the actual work.
Fig. 9.16 Vibration circuit block diagram
9.4.1.4 Selection of Vibration Measurement Instrument
The vibration signals getting from vibration pickup need to be processed and
analyzed with the vibration instrument, and then all kinds of useful information can
be received. The simplest vibration instrument as shown in Fig. 9.16 mainly con-
sists of differential circuit, amplier, detector and header parts. The information
displayed on the instrument head are the passband vibration displacement, velocity,
the peak-peak of acceleration, peak, root-mean-square value and root square value,
only for the simple diagnosis.
In order to meet the requirement of the fault analysis and diagnosis, the infor-
mation captured with the vibration pickup needs to be adjusted and then recorded,
after further analysis and process (main spectral analysis), much more information
can be received. Initial analysis instrument is shown in Fig. 9.17. It mainly depends
on the simulation method, which means different frequency components of vibra-
tion signals can be separated, respectively, with the bandpass lter with different
center frequency. The spectrum analysis technology (analog) has many varieties
and wild application. However, because of the development of the computer, and
the application of fast Fourier transform technology, analog frequency spectrum
analysis technology has been on the decline, it will be replaced by the digital signal
processing technology, as shown in Fig. 9.18.
Fig. 9.17 Circuit block diagram for spectrum analysis
Fig. 9.18 Digital signal processing block diagram

Digital signal processing equipment is developing rapidly, and has been widely
used in all walks of life, but it is too inconvenient to use on the spot and the price is
expensive, so it can not be replaced by the traditional measurer. Therefore, the
selection of the vibration instrument must depend on the work requirement, per-
formance, price, working environment, reliability and so on. These should be
considered comprehensively and we cannot blindly pursue advanced technology
and comprehensive functions.
9.4.2 Discriminant Standard
Vibration discriminant standard has absolute, relative, and analogy types. The
absolute standard should be preferred and analogy standard should be used less.
9.4.2.1 Absolute Standard
Main damage of the equipments under the vibration condition is fatigue failure, so
the main indicator for measuring vibration strength should be RMS of vibration
velocity when making the absolute standard of vibration. However, when frequency
is lower than 10 Hz, which means the vibration displacement could be bigger even
with smaller vibration velocity, and if the large displacement of vibration makes the
material stress exceed allowable value, the parts will be destructed like under heavy
static load; when the frequency is greater than 1000 Hz, even with smaller vibration
velocity, the acceleration value can be large, so the plastic material will be broken
under the impact of heavy load. So under the two conditions mentioned above,
vibration displacement and acceleration value can be the main indicators to
determine the severity of the vibration respectively.
Two discriminant vibration strength standards issued by the international stan-
dards organization are ISO 3945-1985 and ISO 2372-1974. ISO 3945-1985 is the
local evaluation standard, and suitable for the large rotating machinery with the
speed of 6001200 r/min. The strength dividing mainly depend on the vibration
intensity of the shell that means the RMS of vibration velocity between the fre-
quency of 101000 Hz. ISO 2372-1974 is the general standard for the workshop
test and acceptance check and suitable for the speed of 6001200 r/min. Our
domestic standard GB 6075-85 is equivalent to the international standard ISO 2372.
For specic requirements, please refer to related standards.
Vibration standard of mechanical processing equipment is not so common in
recent years. Guidance information in American Machine analysis company
(IRD) provides reference value (Table 9.1) for the judgment of the machine tool
vibration intensity. The foundation is machining accuracy of machine tool so the
vibration intensity index is the peakpeak value of displacement, and the direction
is tangible and the measuring point is on the front housing of main shaft.
Table 9.1 Machine tool vibration standard

Types Vibration range Types Vibration range
PP (m) PP (m)
Screw grinder 0.251.5 Centerless grinder 1.02.5
Contour grinder 0.562.0 Boring mill 1.522.5
Cylindrical grinder 0.762.5 Lathe 5.025.4
Surface grinder 1.255.0
9.4.2.2 Relative Standard
The normal state standard can be set up according to initial monitoring data of
equipment. Identication mainly depends on the ratio between actual value and
standard value. In general, the better area is in the low frequency (lower than
1000 Hz) smaller than 2 times of standard value and the area with higher frequency
upper than 2 times should be minded and the area higher than 4 times is dangerous;
for the high frequency (more than 1000 Hz) smaller than 3 times, the higher area
should be minded, six times area being dangerous.
9.4.2.3 Analogy Standard
According to many types of equipment with the same specication and under the
same conditions, the normal state standard can be set up with most of the moni-
toring data. In general, the equipment with high frequency higher than twice of
standard value and the low frequency more than one time of standard value, can be
judged as abnormal. For the condition with high frequency more than four times
and low frequency more than twice, the equipment should stop.
9.4.3 Signal Analysis
There are many vibration signal analytical methods and the methods mentioned in
Sect. 9.2 are suitable for the vibration signal. The characteristics of the vibration
information supplied with different analysis methods are different and it should be
selected according to the requirements and condition. Several kinds of common
graphic analysis methods will be introduced in the following part.
9.4.3.1 Tendency Chart Analysis
Diagnostic parameters monitoring values are arranged in the coordinate chart in

time order that can form the tendency chart. Diagnostic parameters are often the
pass frequency vibration intensity (displacement, velocity, and acceleration peak or
RMS values). The time can be counted according to the day. Tendency chart is
simple and intuitive. The changing process of equipment condition is also clear and
it is easy to estimate the residual life of the equipment. It is often suitable for the
mechanical equipment with smooth vibration and can play an important role in the
eld of fault diagnosis.
9.4.3.2 Wave Form Vibration Analysis During the Start and Stop
Process
For the mechanical equipment with unstable vibration and frequency, the failure
can be determined according to the changing situation of the vibration frequency
with the speed during the start and stop process.
In general, the stop process is corresponding to the start process, so the same
vibration frequency can be received during the stop processtime curve and the
same information can be supplied for the failure diagnose.
9.4.3.3 Common Spectrum Analysis
For the equipment with stable speed, the fundamental wave, harmonic frequency,
and amplitude are stable, and the spectrogram is clear, so it can not only be used to
determine the running status of equipment, but also to analyze the fault reasons and
positions, which is the most basic method of diagnosis of fault. Diagnosis of
equipment running state can depend on the full frequency amplitude and the sen-
sitive spectrum amplitude. Reasons and positions of diagnostic equipment failure
should be based on the frequency spectrum peak on the graph and the corre-
sponding source of vibration can also be found.
9.4.3.4 Order Spectrum Analysis
Conventional spectrum of vibration signal is the sampling values of time interval as

the signal (discrete time function) and being discrete Fourier transformed. It reflects
the size of each component of the signal (frequency component). If sampling point
is N and sampling frequency is fs, sampling length will be T and the interval
between two components (line) (resolution) can be as:
1 fs
Df Hz 9:10
T N
The frequency on the x-axis of each component:
1 fs
f k k k 0; 1; 2; . . . 9:11
T N
f1 T1 f2 T2 ... fk Tk . . .
ff1r ff2r ... ffkr . . .
If one certain frequency is divided by frequency of each component on the x-axis

(in general it is rotating frequency fr), the coordinate of component on the x-axis is
the ratio without dimension that can be expressed with l and be named as order
ratio. The order ratio can show the relationship between its frequency and rotating
frequency, and they are in accordance with each other for the ratio of 1; which can
be deducted further.
The relationship between order and frequency:
f
l 9:12
fr
The interval between the adjacent components of order (order ratio resolution)
Df 1=T fs Z 1
Dl 9:13
fr fr fr N N S
where
Z sampling points numbers/revolution;
N sum of sampling point;
S sampling length, S = N/Z
The order ratio of each order component on the x-axis is
1
l k k 0; 1; 2; . . . 9:14
S
The amplitude spectrum with the x-axis of order ratio is the order spectrum. As
the common spectrum, it can also reflect the values of signal components (order
component). The rst-order component is the rotating frequency of the common
signal spectrum (1.0 fr); and secondary order component is the component of
double frequency (2.0 fr).
For example, if the sampling points number/revolution Z = 256, sum of sam-
pling point N = 1024
Table 9.2 Order ratio corresponding to frequency

Order ratio 0 0.25 0.5 0.75 1.0 1.25 1.5 1.75 2 2.25
Frequency 0 0.25 fr 0.5 fr 0.75 fr 1.0 fr 1.25 fr 1.5 fr 1.75 fr 2 fr 2.25 fr
Then sampling length: S = N/Z = 1024/256 = 4 (revolution)

Resolution of order: Dl 1S 0:25 (order radio)
Maximum analysis order value: lmax Z=2:56 256=2:56 100 (order radio)
The order radio of each component and the corresponding frequency value is
shown in Table 9.2.
In order to realize the order spectrum analysis, the value should be picked up
with the interval of equal angle when sampling according to the equation of res-
olution (discrete Angle function). The equipment with equal angle sampling is
available on the market. If you want to produce by yourselves, installation of code
disc on the shaft and photovoltaic panel with circular spaced holes can be imple-
mented to produce the sampling clock pulse.
Order ratio spectrum and conventional vibration spectrum contain the same
vibration information, and if the speed does not change during sampling, order ratio
spectrum has no difference from conventional spectrum. But the following
advantages of order ratio spectrum can not be found in the conventional spectrum.
(1) If the speed of equipment changes slightly, the frequency values of each
component will also change, so for the equipment without stable speed, fuzzy
phenomenon will arise on the conventional spectrogram, and it is not con-
venient for failure analysis. Figure 9.19a is a normal spectrogram of rotating
machinery. During sampling process, the speed (rotating frequency) will
change, so that the frequency of every double frequency component can also
change and if the number of harmonic frequency is higher, change will be
much more obvious, so the spectrogram will be not so clear. Figure 9.19b is
order ratio spectrum diagram. The position of each order on the horizontal axis
has nothing to do with speed fr, so although equipment speed changes,
spectrogram wont produce fuzzy phenomenon; therefore, it can be applied
effectively.
Fig. 9.19 Rotating machinery spectrum

(2) Vibration characteristic frequency of many kinds of fault has the proportional
relationship with frequency, and whole cycle sampling can be implemented
with equal angle interval sampling, so truncation spectrum error can be
avoided.
9.4.3.5 Spectrum Matrix Analysis
When the mechanical equipment works during the start, stop, or varying velocity
process, frequency spectrum can change with the vibration of speed, so the
three-dimensional spectrogram is needed for displaying the spectrum vibration
characteristics under different speed condition. The common three-dimensional
spectrums are
(1) Order ratio spectrum matrix
As shown in Fig. 9.20, it is an order ratio spectrum changing with the vibration of
speed. It can be seen that the largest corresponding speed of amplitude is for the
most dangerous working condition. The corresponding order can also provide a
proof for searching the most dangerous place.
(2) Rotating speed spectrum matrix
As shown in Fig. 9.21, it is a spectrum changing with the vibration of speed. The
spectrum peaks can show the vibration situation under different speed For the
vibration components related to the rotating speed (such as the unbalanced vibra-
tion), spectrum peaks move in horizontal movement with the vibration of speed,
Fig. 9.20 Order ratio spectrum array

Fig. 9.21 Rotating speed

spectrum array
oblique line though the zero point can be formed. For the vibration components
unrelated to the rotating speed (such as natural frequency, vibration power exci-
tation vibration), spectrum peaks move in vertical movement with the vibration of
speed; vertical of frequency axis can be formed. If the spectrum peaks distribution is
not regular, it can be regarded as the random vibration component.
9.5 Plain Bearing Working Condition Monitoring
9.5.1 Failure Types
Sliding bearing in the process of actual use can be damaged untimely because of all
kinds of failure types caused by a great variety of design parameters, manufacturing
process and working conditions. In order to prolong the life of sliding bearing and
nd the root cause for the longer lifetime, it is necessary to correctly discriminate
various failure types of sliding bearing and understand its mechanism and
influencing factors, so that correct measures can be put forward.
In terms of the failure forms of the sliding bearing, classication methods vary
among different authors. Most data are classied according to the failure mecha-
nism. In this book, this kind of classication method has also been applied, such as
wear, fatigue, corrosion, cavitation and micro corrosion and wear. There are some
typical damage forms such as hulling, blowhole and inclusions due to the bad
manufacturing, lead welding and soldering due to overheat and overload. These
situations will not be introduced in this part.
9.5.1.1 Wear Failure
The wear of machine parts material is a kind of surface damage phenomenon that
can develop slowly or rapidly. This kind of wear can be dened as a kind of damage
due to grinding or migration of surface materials with the action of mechanical
action of solid, liquid and gas contacting with surface. This denition is, of course
also applied for sliding bearing wear.
Wear of sliding bearing can be divided into two kinds as normal wear and
abnormal wear. The former means the bearing wear caused by the action of the
roughness of shaft and small objects in the lubricating oil during the start and stop
process. The later is early damage and belongs to a kind of failure.
(1) Wear classication and mechanism
Wear is usually divided into ve basic types according to different wear mechanism
such as adhesive wear, abrasive wear, fluid erosion wear, corrosion wear and
surface fatigue wear. Fluid erosion wear will not be introduced in this book because
of the rear application for sliding bearing. Corrosion wear is mainly shown as the
corrosion, so will be discussed in the corrosion failure. Surface fatigue wear will be
introduced in the sector of fatigue failure. In this sector, only adhesive wear and
abrasive wear will be discussed.
1. Adhesive wear
Adhesive wear is a common failure model for sliding bearing. Under the normal
situation, sliding bearing and shaft are separated by the lubricant membrane, so the
adhesive wear is hard to occur. However, in the actual application, oil lm can be
damaged by different reasons so that the metal surfaces will contact with each other.
For example, under the condition of boundary lubrication or with foreign body parts
embedded in metal surface, the shaft and bearing or shaft and foreign bodies can
contact with each other because of the thinner oil lm, so that the friction heat can
be formed and adhesive can also be caused. Friction heat will cause the temperature
rise of oil so that the viscosity can be reduced. The oil lm will also be thinner and
the possibility of adhesive will also be improved. Besides, bad rigidity structure will
also make the lubricating oil lm rupture. Boundary lubrication can be formed
because of the insufcient lubrication during the stop and start process, so that the
adhesive wear can be caused for sliding bearing. Local instantaneous contact
between friction metal surfaces can be caused rstly and then the adhesive wear
under the fluid lubrication condition will be formed and with small wear loss, so it
can be seen as normal wear.
2. Abrasive wear
Sliding metal surface deformation or abrasion can occur with the foreign hard
points and wear debris in the gaps between two sliding surfaces; or in two relative
sliding surfaces, bumps on the soft metal surface can make the metal surface have
some deformation or scratches in the process of movement. Both situations can be
named as abrasive wear. The abrasive wear of the larger particles result in surface
9.5 Plain Bearing Working Condition Monitoring 273
roughening or groove, which can be named as furrows because of the ploughed

land shape.
There are often some foreign bodies in the lubricating oil, so abrasive wear is
also a kind of common failure for sliding bearing.
(2) Actual wear type for sliding bearing
Actual wear types for sliding bearing have ve kinds as early running-in wear,
normal wear failure, scratches, abnormal wear and sticky wear.
1. early running-in wear
For fluid dynamic pressure bearing, on the start phase (especially for the start and
stop stages without the formation of the lubricating lm), the peaks and valleys on
the working surfaces of bearing and shaft can cut with each other, which can lead to
the wear of peaks and larger bearing contact area, so much evener load distribution
can be achieved and the roughness of the contact surfaces decreases. This kind of
wear is normal and does not belong to the failure.
When the irregular thickness for the working surfaces of hydrostatic bearing
exceeds the oil lm thickness, the runningin wear can also appear.
2. normal wear failure
In the dened operating life, abnormal wear can not be found in the sliding bearing
and the wear loss is also within a certain range, which can be named as the normal
wear. During the bearing working process, the wear rate will increase and exceed
certain value during the specied service life. This kind of early damage is named
as normal wear failure. It is different from the abnormal wear mentioned in the later
part, because it is only a kind of slight adhesive wear and abrasive wear, and the
wear is much evener and slower; besides, the bearing clearance is inconsistent with
the oil lm thickness in the circumferential direction and the wear is mainly
focusing on the contact parts of the bearing and shaft. Light spot and band can be
formed and also distributed unevenly in the circumferential direction. This kind of
wear can also be found in the bearing under the cyclic loading condition.
3. scratches
Scratches and pull slot formed on the bearing collectively are often caused by the
scars, which can also be in place on the particular part of the bearing. The dotted
wound depth, the length and depth of the linear scars and the moving trace of
foreign bodies changes according to the actual usage.
Dotted pits on the sliding bearing alloy surfaces or linear defects and kerfs in the
circumferential direction can be named as scars. It is a kind of uneven wear, and
often caused by the foreign materials. This kind of scars can also appear in the
certain parts of the bearing. The scars size, depth and linear scars length, depth and
moving trace of foreign bodies can change with the vibration of the application
condition.
4. Abnormal wear
The serious wear caused by the axis titling, imbalance loading, hard spots, and dirt
between the bearing steel beck and housing bore, insufcient rigidity of the housing
and bearing, can be named as the abnormal wear. This kind of wear can occur on
the single side or local area. Abnormal wear is very fast and its microstructure
features is the micro deformation around wear but without other signicant orga-
nizational change.
5. seizure
Seizure is a kind of adhesive wear and has different extents. The most serious is the
blocked bearing that can make the oil channel block and the machine stop. After the
seizure, sliding bearing is worthless but the bearing with thicker wall can also be
used after reconditioning, and sometimes the rotating shaft also needs to be
changed.
For the bearing failure analysis, it can be divided into overheating, surface
flowing, scratches, avulsion, and seizure according to the extent.
The bearing material can be softened for higher temperature rising condition,
and the depressed pit can also be formed, which can lead to the instantaneous
seizure. If the temperature declines, the bearing can return to its original shape. This
situation can be named as over heating. If the bearing is subject to the continual
overheating and temperature rising, it will be damaged nally.
Surface flowing (smear) because of the start, stop, smaller clearance, higher load,
and imbalance loading can make the oil lm broken, local area of bearing contact
with shaft directly, friction heat occurs, bearing steel surface layer will soften and
some low-melting points melt and flow in the direction of shaft rotation, which can
be named as the surface flowing. The melting metal can be covering on the bearing
working surface, so a light layer can be formed on the bearing.
Scratch and avulsion are formed by clipping of small cold welding. The seaming
layer sheared in the deeper position can be named as the avulsion. The microcell
seizure can be formed under the serious avulsion condition. Both situations are
caused by the broken of oil lm, so all the factors such as the start and stop of the
machine, smaller clearance, lower speed and single contact surface can lead to this
kind of failure. However, if the oil lm can recover during the working process, the
bearing can also recover its function. The formation types of the scratch and
avulsion are the same, but the mechanisms are different. The scars are caused by the
foreign bodies and the scratches are caused by the cold hardening debris of the
bearing alloy.
Seizure is formed by overheating, surface flowing, scratches, and avulsion under
the condition of the serious damage of oil lm; if there are also some big foreign
bodies embedded into the alloy layer, the shaft friction heating can be formed; after
the combination of these two conditions mentioned above, the adhesive force
between the contact surfaces can increase rapidly, so the shaft and sliding bearing
can be blocked together, which can be named as the seizure. When checking the
bearing with this kind of failure, we can discover low-melting-point metal drops at
the edge of the bearing. High-melting metal frame can also be found in the met-
allographic structure microcosmically. Sometimes, the frame deformation or peel-
ing on the alloy layer and steel back can also be found.
9.5.1.2 Fatigue Failure
(1) Fatigue failure summary of sliding bearing

Fatigue fracture process of the common metal machine parts is mainly composed of
the crack initiation (nucleation), expansion (subcritical crack expansion), and nal
rupture (unstable fracture). Whole process can be displayed clearly in the fracture of
some fatigue break parts. The condition of the fatigue failure is that the action of the
alternating load (or stress) is lower than the material yield, and after cycling many
rounds, the parts can be damaged.
The crack can be congenital (prestored), and can also be produced in the
application process. It depends on the value of local stress concentration, metal-
lurgical defects (foreign bodies) and the size of congenital micro crack. Bigger
stress concentration can exist at the end of deflects and micro crack. Under the
cyclic loading and stress condition (P and ), stress intensity factor range K in
the plastic zone at the end of the crack is bigger than the critical value (critical value
of fatigue crack propagation) Kth, crack will be extending (subcritical crack
propagation). The extension speed is t for the Paris law
da=dN CDKm 9:15
where
da/dN crack speed;
K stress intensity factor range;
C, m constant, m changing with the vibration of many factors such as cyclic
loading frequency, stress ratio R, mechanical properties of materials and
temperature.
On the one crack tip, when K > Kth, the crack will expend to a new position,
and if K < Kth, the expansion can stop, so the nonpropagating crack will be
formed. If the material quality vibration can be formed on the crack tip, and when
meeting the new phase and boundary (faces or interface), the strength determine
whether the extension will be continual. When the subcritical cracks extend to a
certain value, the unstable flaw will be formed and fracture will also be produced.
The fatigue fracture process of the machine parts is similar with this situation. The
fatigue resistance for material can be measured by the fatigue limit, which means
that the maximum alternating load and stress the equipment can stand without the
fatigue damage, fatigue limit is in direct proportion to the fatigue resistance.
No matter how many layers the sliding bearing is made up of, fatigue will occur
in cycle or under the action of alternating load and stress caused by thermal
expansion. But the fatigue types are different from the common type, which is not
fracture, but peeling. Although the failure types are different, the processes are the
same, which means it will be caused only under the condition of the alternating
stress bigger than fatigue limit.
(2) Fatigue failure mechanism of sliding bearing
1. Failure caused by bearing surface loaded with alternating stress

For the sliding bearing under normal working condition, alternating load can be
transmitted onto the bearing working surfaces through the oil lm. Tensile stress,
pressure stress, and shear stress can be caused on the bearing surface because of the
vibration of the oil lm pressure. Especially under the action of shearing stress, the
cracks will appear on the bearing surface and expand from the surface into the
inside in the direction of maximum shear stress. There are some conditions for this
kind of expansion. Stress intensity factor range on the crack tip K must be bigger
than the material threshold value Kth, and the oil lm can produce the wedge
action to quicken the expansion of the crack under the pressure on the bearing
surface. Besides, the seizure can be caused because of the broken oil lm, so the
former scars will form the new crack source and expand during the rotating process
of the bearing. When they expand up to junction surface, these cracks stop
expanding to the bottom because of the inhibition of the junction surface, but along
the whole lines of the junction surface. When there cracks meet the conjugation
lines and combine again, small flakes will be formed that can lead to bigger peeling
on the bearing surface. Some spalls can be taken away by the lubricating oil, and
the rest will serve as grinding. Besides, the fatigue peeling will also make the
bearing clearance change and lead to oil leakage and instability of the lubricating
oil, which can cause the bearing seizure nally.
2. Fatigue failure caused under the action of alternating stress after the soft phase
corrosion and exudation being fatigue source.
This is another process of the fatigue failure for sliding bearing, and can be seen
commonly in the pot metal bearing. The fatigue source is formed because of the
corrosion of Pb phase. This kind of corrosion is commonly caused because of the
water and heavy oil mixed into the lubricating oil. The bearing has been working
for several thousand hours. The Pb has been exudated because of the corrosion,
with only the cupreous dendritic crystal frame left. The strength will be lower, so
under the action of the variable load of the oil lms, the deformation will be caused
easily and expand along the clearance left after the corrosion of the Pb phase as the
expansion source, so the fatigue failure will be caused. This kind of fatigue failure
must meet following two requirements of the corrosion and exudation of the soft
phase and bigger alternating load. This failure is mainly formed on the oil peak
pressure areas even with the whole bearing subject to corrosion.
3. Fatigue failure caused by heating effect
The change of the oil lm thickness and shape on the bearing working surface both
can make the bearing working surface and shaft neck contact with each other, so
that the friction heat and seizure will be caused. Sometimes, the foreign hard
particles embedded into the bearing surface can also make the bearing produce the
frictional heating, rising surface temperature and heat stress, which can lead to the
origination and propagation of fatigue crack, and nally lead to fatigue peeling. In
these fatigue failure types, the most common reason is the seizure that can form the
fatigue source and expand rapidly under the action of the heat stress.
(3) Features of the fatigue failure for sliding bearing
Fatigue peeling is the nal damage type for the sliding bearing failure, sometimes
can be like buck peeling with different sizes, and sometimes can be loose spot
peeling, sometimes wormhole. There peeling types can often be mistook for the
cavitation or bearing manufacturing defects, but also can be distinguished from
their mechanisms.
Fatigue flake appears near the conjugation line commonly and there are some
alloy layer residual traces on the peeling position, and it looks like the irregular
shape near the peeling area. On the bearing surface, the fatigue cracks can also be
found but they are often very minute, so should be tested with the fluorescence and
liquid penetrant test.
The manufacturing defects such as the air holes, oxidation, and inclusion
between the alloy layer and steel back can weaken the binding force, so two layers
can be separated during the application process. After separation, the bottom sur-
face is smooth with no alloy residual on the steel back. Fatigue peeling is often
distributed irregularly but the cavitation is often distributed symmetrically.
9.5.1.3 Corrosion
The premature failure caused by the working surface subject to corrosion for sliding
bearing can be named as the corrosive failure. The corrosion of sliding bearing is
mainly caused by the chemical reaction between the environmental medium and
bearing working surfaces, and nally the bearing surface can be covered with a
layer of oxidation lm and other chemical reaction products. The environmental
media with this function include air, moisture, fuel, oxidative products of the
lubricating oil (acids, ketones, acetaldehyde, and ethanol), and vapor of oxidative
products.
The common corrosive failure can be divided into three kinds such as elec-
trolytic corrosion, organic acid corrosion and other medium corrosion (sulde).
(1) Electrolytic corrosion

The pitting corrosion can occur after the bearing surface subject to the acid, base or
salt solution. That is because when metal surface is dissolved, a hard and brittle
oxidation lm is formed on the surface peeled under the load condition.
(2) Organic acid corrosion
Under the condition of air inflation, high temperature and long time working,
lubricating oil can be oxidated to be the organic acid that will has some chemical
reaction with bearing alloy, especially with the lead and cadmium, the easily res-
olute reaction product can be produced, the corrosion occurs. Ethylene glycol
leaked from the antifreezing agent can be changed into low molecular organic acids
(such as the formic acid and oxalate), so it can make the bearing containing Pb
corrosive. Determination of this corrosion mainly depends on checking if the
deposit has the water-soluble characteristic.
(3) Other corrosion
Parasitic current can also make the wet bearing corrosive that cannot be improved
with changing the lubrication. In order to solve this kind of corrosion, the stray
current corrosion should be eliminated. Lubricating oil containing sulfur can pro-
duce the sulde membrane with the silver and copper elements in the bearing.
Copper sulde lm is hard and brittle, so it is easily peeling to damage the bearing.
The sulde in the lubricating oil additives can produce the sulfuric acid under the
high working temperature and then bearing corrosion will be caused nally.
There are three reasons for bearing corrosion: the working condition, lubricating
oil, bearing material. Corrosion environment can make some alloy element in the
bearing diluted. Dilution of the alloy element such as the lack of lead or zinc can
reduce the strength of alloy, which can lead to the peeling of the alloy layer and
accelerate the fatigue crack. The lubricating oil quality is important to ensure the
bearings normal working. Lubricating oil oxidation and sulde in the lubricant
additives can produce the corrosion products (ethanol ethyl ketone or acids) under
the long time working and high temperature conditions, which can weaken the
function of the lubricating oil and corrode the bearing. For the pot metal, if the
copper and lead are corrosive at the same time, sulde is the main reason to cause
the corrosion. Therefore, changing the lubricating oil and testing it regularly is
important.
Bearing material also leads to corrosion. Tin-base bearing alloy can resist most
corrosion of the organic acid; aluminum-base alloy is better. On the leadbronze
bearing alloy or other copper alloy surface, selection of proper coating can improve
the corrosion resistance ability. Adding antimony and tin to the lead base alloy can
resist the corrosion of organic acid, but adding the calcium, aluminum and mag-
nesium (Mg) are useless. Adding cadmium into the tin-base alloy can improve the
oxidation resistance.
In conclusion, the characteristics of the bearing corrosive failure can be sum-

marized as flowing
1. Oxidation lm, sulde, and corrosive holes can make the surface discolored
locally or totally, such as the orange, brown and black.
2. Hard, brittle and incompact oxidation lm, sulde and reaction product can be
peeling under the load condition, and can make the bearing surface produce the
corrosive holes and rough.
3. Some peeling particles can be embedded into the alloy or mixed in the bearing
clearance, which can grind the bearing working surface.
9.5.1.4 Cavitation
(1) Formation mechanism

Under a high speed and overloading, the oil lm pressure in an isolated area
between the bearing working surface and shaft neck surface can drop below
lubricating oil vapor pressure, small vapor bubbles will be formed in the lubricating
oil; if the lubricating oil pressure improves or the bubbles move to upper position,
the bubbles will be disappearing under the pressure and the related space can be
lled with the lubricating oil, so that a pressure wave can be formed that can shock
the bearing surface near the bubbles. The action area of the pressure wave is small
but with large number, which can chock the local bearing surface seriously, so that
plastic deformation will occur on the material surface and the stress status of the
bearing surface will increase the working stress, nally leading to the local bearing
surface spall.
From the metallographic examination in the cavitation area, the existing fatigue
crack can be found, which cannot be found for the abrasive wear.
(2) Influencing factors on the cavitation
1. With the big bearing clearance, the motion range of the shaft center can
increase during the operating process, and the cavitation will be easily
caused. Decreasing the clearance can reduce the cavitation.
2. With oval bearing internal surface, the clearance increases near the
boundary surface between the shaft and bush, so the cavitation will easily
occur.
3. Increasing the strength and hardness of the bearing material can decrease
the possibility of the appearance of the cavitation. Such as for the high
Sn-Al-base alloy bearing, cavitation is hard to found.
4. The lubricating oil quality has huge influence on the cavitation, so
increasing the viscosity of the lubricating oil can decrease the cavitation,
while the lubricating oil mixed with water or air can increase it. Water and
air are the detrimental impurities and they can be the core of the bubbles in
the oil. The detrimental impurities in the lubricating oil can subject the
bearing with higher local pressure to the cavitation.
5. Fluctuation of the bearing load or the increasing of the fluctuation range

can lead to the formation of the cavitation. For example, in the same
engine, the cavitation has not been found with the supercharger and the
cavitation can be found without the supercharger. This is because that the
increasing of the pressure decreases the fluctuation and the possibility of
the cavitation formation.
6. Cavitation is related to the instantaneous oil lm pressure on the different
location of the bearing surface. Besides the bearing load, it is related to the
design of the lubrication system. For example, the increasing of the oil
pressure, change the design of the oil groove end and application of the
tangential outflow can increase the cavitation formation.
Cavitation is accidental and cannot be predicted until now. It occurs in the
unloading zone and leads to the surface failure, so besides the lots of spall of the
bearing surface, the total damage for bearing is slight. If many spalls are found on
the bearing surface because of the cavitation, some preventing methods should be
applied to eliminate or decrease the influence.
(3) Features of cavitation
1. Cavitation is the irregular spalling on the bearing surface and it is often
slight, so there is not friction and corrosion in other position.
2. Cavitation positions of the bearing are always related to the geometric
position of oil channel system (oil groove and oil holes) and they are
punctate or spots, or with strip and branch shape, and often with symmetric
distribution. The cavitation positions start from the position near the
maximum eccentricity.
9.5.1.5 Fretting Corrosion
Fretting corrosion can often be discovered in the equipments with tight t with
some vibration source. For sliding bearing, fretting corrosion is often found on the
outside surface of the bearing steel back and internal surface of the housing hole,
and can also be found on the bearing working surface. Fretting corrosion is the
mechanochemistry wear caused by the micro relative movement of two subjects.
Sometimes, it is called fretting corrosion.
(1) Fretting corrosion wear mechanism
Fretting corrosion wear mechanism is not so clear until now. Figure 9.22 shows the
generating process of the fretting corrosion. At the beginning, two contact surfaces
can contact on the surface peaks and the adhesive phenomenon can be produced.
When the vibration amplitude is bigger than 0.025 m, fretting corrosion will be
caused. If the vibration amplitude of the relative motion is too smaller to overcome
the elastic deformation on the peaks, the fretting corrosion can also not be produced.
Fig. 9.22 Process of micro

corrosion and wear
(2) Influencing factors
1. Vibration
Vibration can cause cyclical movement between two contact surfaces, and it is one
of most important reasons leading to this kind of wear. So decreasing the vibration
is the best method to prevent the fretting corrosion. The design change can reduce
but can eliminate the vibration for most situations.
2. Sliding between the steel back and housing
Eliminating this kind of sliding can reduce the fretting corrosion and increasing the
friction and load can eliminate the sliding. Tightening extent of screws on the
housing and close-tting between bearing and housing can increase the contact area
load between the housing and bearing. With these two methods, the sliding can not
be eliminated, then the fretting wear will be increased dramatically. The coating
method also can be effective, since the nickel oxide coating can increase the friction
force.
3. Lubrication
Proper lubrication between the bearing back surface and housing bores surface also
can slow down the fretting corrosion. Supplying some lubricant between two
contact surfaces such as the molybdenum disulde, graphite, lead, indium, tin and
zinc is the effective method, but some people have the opposite opinion and they
think the lubricant should be avoid.
4. Residual stress
It has not big influence on the fretting wear, but controlling it can improve the
fatigue strength and big spall cannot be produced after fretting wear. With the
connecting rod being nitrogen treatment, the hardness can be improved and residual
compressive stress can also be produced, so the fatigue strength can be improved
and the fatigue break because of the fretting wear can be avoided.
5. Mounting
Insufcient magnitude of interference, deformation of the bearing holes, uneven
junction surface of the housing holes or malposition between the upper and down
holes and discontinuity between the bush back and housing holes can form the
fretting wear.
(3) Fretting corrosion characteristic for sliding bearing
1. Local part has oxidation tint, displaying as the black or reddish brown.
Black part is caused by the Fe3O4 and reddish brown part is caused by the
Fe2O3.
2. Aluminum oxide abrasive pastes can be used for the macroscopic test, so
that the oxidation layer on the wear surface can be eliminated easily.
3. Small and clear etch pit can be seen with metallographic microscope, and
in the pits, ferric oxide with crystal water (rust) can also be found.
9.5.2 Diagnostic Methods
9.5.2.1 Half Speed Vortex Diagnosis Method
If the journal of the rotor mainly lead to the vortex motion because of the incentive
function of the oil lm force, eddy velocity of the journal is closer to the half of the
rotating speed, so it can also be named as the half speed vortex motion as shown in
Fig. 9.23.
Fig. 9.23 Journal half-speed

vortex motion analysis
According to the difference of motivators, vortex motion can be either in positive

direction (same with the rotating speed direction), or in opposite direction (opposite
with the rotating speed); vortex motion angular velocity can synchronize with the
rotating speed and also can be asynchronous. The motion mechanism is as follows:
when journal is rotating with some eccentricity in the bearing, an oil wedge with
bigger input and smaller output can be formed. If the flow velocity of oil in the
input position can not be decreased (for example, for the rotor with high speed and
light load, linear velocity of the journal surface is higher and the load is smaller, and
the wedge force is bigger than the shaft journal load; at this time the wedge pressure
increasing can not reduce the flowing speed of the oil in the wedge), the oil mass in
the bigger clearance is bigger than that in the smaller clearance, and the journal can
be pushed to the front position because of the incompressibility of the fluid, which
can form the vortex motion in the same direction with the rotating and the speed is
the forward velocity of the oil wedge.
The quantitative analysis of eddy velocity of the journal can be: when the rate of
angular motion of rotor is , the oil flow speed on the journal surface is the same
with the linear velocity of the journal and both of them are r because of the
viscosity of the lubricating oil, but the flow velocity of the lubricating oil on the
surface of the bearing bush is 0. In order to get convenient analysis, it can be
supposed that the oil flow speed between the clearances is with the linear distri-
bution as shown in Fig. 9.23. Under the motivation of the oil wedge force, vortex
motion can be caused for the rotor and the angular velocity of the vortex motion is
. If the vortex motion of journal center can be from 01 to 0 during the time of dt,
the area with ratio of AB can be:
Xe2rdt 2rXedt 9:16
This area is equal to the skimming area of the journal (area of lune with
hatchures in the Fig. 9.23) and this area is the flow difference between AA fracture
surface clearance and BB fracture surface clearance. If the bearing width is 1,
leakage oil mass on both ends of the bearing is dQ; it can be got according to the
continuity condition of the fluid
ce ce
rwt dt rwl dt 2rlXedt dQ 9:17
2 2
1 1 dQ
So X w 9:18
2 2rel dt
dQ
When the leakage rate on both ends of bearing is 0, so
dt
1
X w 9:19
2
Actually, vortex motion frequency is lower than 1/2 of rotate speed frequency
because of the following reasons:
(1) Oil flow speed in the input of convergence zone can slow down gradually
because of the increasing oil pressure and, but in the output area, oil flow
speed can be increased. Both functions can be combined with the linear speed
during the rotating process of the journal, the velocity distribution lines on the
AA fracture surface in Fig. 9.23 can be depressed and the velocity distribution
lines on the BB surface can be embossed. This difference in the speed dis-
tribution can decrease the vortex motion speed.
(2) Not only the pressure oil lling in the bearing can be motivated to be circular
motion, but also partial lubricating oil can be leakage from two ends of the
dQ
bearing. At this time, 6 0. Therefore, this is also another reason to cause
dt
the fluctuation velocity less than haft of the rotating speed. Equation (9.19)
can be changed as: X\ 12 w. Actually, the frequency of the half speed whirl is
about = (0.38 0.48).
When the vortex motion frequency is less than rst-order natural vibration
frequency, half speed vortex motion is a kind of peaceful vortex motion of rotor.
The oil lm has the nonlinear characteristic (when vortex motion range of the
journal is increasing, the rigidity of the oil lm and damping can increase much
faster, so the vortex motion range can be restrained.), the trace of the shaft center is
a stable closed drawing as shown in Fig. 9.24a. Rotor can also work stably.
With the increase of the working speed, half speed vortex motion frequency will
also increase, which can aggravate the vibration of the rotor. If the rotating speed of
rotor can be up to higher than 2 times of the rst critical speed of rotation, half
speed vortex motion frequency will be up to rst critical speed and the resonance
will be caused at this time, which can increase the amplitude dramatically and also
with the vibration. Meanwhile, the shaft center can be changed to be diffused
Fig. 9.24 Oil lm vortex and

axis of oil lm oscillation
frequency spectrum and
trajectory. a Axis traction of
oil lm vortex. b Oil lm
vortex frequency spectrum.
c Axis traction of oil lm
vibration. d Oil lm vibrate
frequency spectrum
irregular curve suddenly. The half frequency harmonic amplitude in the spectro-
gram can increase to be near or higher than the fundamental frequency amplitude.
So frequency spectrum can be displayed as the combination frequency character-
istic. If the rotating speed is continually increased, the vortex motion frequency will
remain constant and equal to the rst-order critical speed, as = c1, which can be
named as oil whipping as shown in Fig. 9.24c, d.
9.5.2.2 Frequency Domain Diagnostic
According to the spectral analysis for the vibration signal of the sliding bearing,
when comparing the test frequency spectrum with the standard spectrogram at the
same working condition, we can estimate whether the failure is existing and its type
and severity preliminarily.
There are some structure difference between the sliding bearing and rolling
bearing, so the fault character frequency cannot be found in the spectrogram from
the sliding bearing as from the rolling bearing, so it can only be judged by com-
parison with the standard spectrogram.
9.5.2.3 Mode Shape Diagnostic
This method is to convey the changing law of the over-all amplitude of the
vibration signal with the vibration of the speed for sliding bearing during the
rotating speed vibration process, and then distinguish between the forced vibration
and self-induced vibration. Besides, there are shaft center methods of loci and
pendulum rotation analysis which have certain effect on checking the fault of
sliding bearing.
9.5.2.4 Ferrographic Diagnosis for Sliding Bearing
For sliding bearing, lubricating oil is indispensable for the working process.
Lubricating oil can form the dynamic pressure oil lm between the bearing bush
and journal that can support the journal and other parts to avoid the direct contact
between the journal and bearing bush. On the other hand, grinding particles caused
by many reasons will get into the lubricating oil and also circulate with the bearing
together. These particles can present the rotating states of the sliding bearing. By
analyzing these particles, the bearing fault can be determined indirectly. This is the
application background of the ferrographic analysis technology on fault diagnosis
for sliding bearing.
Besides, there are some procient methods for the bearing fault diagnosis such
as the oil lm resistivity method, temperature method, ultrasonic diagnosis method
and sound emission method with certain diagnosis effect.
9.5.3 Cases
In the practice of the equipment diagnosis, fault diagnoses of sliding bearing are
often related to the whole machine as the syntrophic whole to be considered. After
the bearing fault occurs with some reasons, the abnormal situations of other parts
will be caused, such as the high temperature, vibration and the increase of the noise.
Figure 9.25 is a schematic diagram of the dynamic frequency changer set from
one company and there are four same sets in this company. Table 9.3 is a group of
data for the lubricating oil temperature in the bearing bush position in June 1994.
From these data, it can be concluded that the 3# bearing in set 4 has a higher
temperature, which means the operating state is abnormal.
In order to analyze the reasons of the 3# bearing fault, and the vibration signal
can also be applied. Figure 9.4 are the vibration displacement (D, mm) of each
bearing bush and the amplitude of acceleration (A, mm/s2). From this table, it can
be seen clearly that vibration displacement and acceleration amplitude of 3# bearing
bush in set 4 are much bigger. According to the preliminary analysis, the reasons
could be dynamic imbalance or asymmetric shaft system, these can lead to the
relative friction, the oil lm being thinner and the oil temperature rising (Table 9.4).
Figure 9.26 is the result of the spectral analysis, for the further determination of
the fault position and reasons.
The rotating speed of set 4 is 1000 r/min, so the fundamental frequency is
f0 = 16.6 Hz, harmonic frequencies for each order are 2f0 = 33.2 Hz,
3f0 = 49.8 Hz. From Fig. 9.29, we can see that radial vibration amplitudefre-
quency characteristic of the bearing 1#, 2# and 4# are similar with each other, and
the amplitude near the second harmonic 2f0 is the maximum, followed by the
fundamental frequency and the 3 harmonic. Compared with other bearing bushes,
amplitudefrequency characteristic of bearing 3# is not so clear and the amplitude
in the fundamental frequency is the maximum, followed by the each order harmonic
wave components. According to the spectrogram characters, it can be determined
Fig. 9.25 Sketch for power

conversion unit in some plant
Table 9.3 Oil temperature data

Bearing bush serial number 1# 2# 3# 4# Remark
Temperature of bearing bush
Set serial number
Set 1 40 40 46 46
Set 2 46 38 42 46
Set 3 18 20 18 20 Standby application
Set 4 44 42 78 46
Table 9.4 Vibration signal amplitude

Bearing bush 1# 2# 3# 4# Remark
serial number
Numerical
value
Set serial
number
Set 1 D 4.624 12.12 6.343 4.624
A 2.031 0.980 0.804 1.687
Set 2 D 14.74 14.81 12.12 11.31
A 0.634 0.667 0.738 1.140
Set 3 D Standby application
A
Set 4 D 9.812 8.687 28.49 8.062
A 1.718 0.987 2.476 1.492
Fig. 9.26 Vibration signal spectrum for each bearing in No.4 unit
that the misalignment exists in the bearing bush 1#, 2#, and 4# and the bearing bush
3# is mainly subject to the imbalance.
According to the above analysis, the set 4# need to be repaired and the coupling
between the bearing bush 3# and two or three phase motors will also be tested.
After being dismounted, in the generator side of the lower bush in the bearing 3#,
two positions with serious friction can be found and some burned pastes can also be
found in the local position. The washer in the coupling position is worn to be
irregular ellipse so that the bolts have not been applied fully and there is some
relative displacement between the couplings.
According to the fault analysis result, the bearing bush has been scrapped and
the oil content has been increased, new lubricating oil being lled, the coupling
being adjusted, the washer being changed to make the shaft system with alignment.
After 3 years testing run after the above service, the oil temperature in the bearing
bush 3# can be reduced to 42 C, and abnormal situation can disappear, the 4#
operation gets normal.
9.6 Rolling Bearing Working Condition Monitoring
9.6.1 Diagnostic Technology
Rolling bearing is the important part for mechanical equipment and with wild
application range, but it is easy to be damaged. According to the statistics, 30 % of
the mechanical faults for the rotating machinery with rolling bearing are caused by
the rolling bearing fault, so the condition monitoring and diagnostic techniques of
the rolling bearing are always the keys of domestic developments [21].
Fault diagnosis techniques of the rolling bearing mainly include vibration
diagnostic technique, ferrography diagnostic technique, aeroacoustics diagnostic
technique, oil lm resistance diagnostic technique and optical monitoring diag-
nostic technique. The application of the vibration, ferrography and temperature
diagnostic techniques are extensive and the classication features and the related
application can be seen in the Table 9.5.
9.6.1.1 Fundamental Form of the Rolling Bearing Fault
The reasons of the rolling bearing fault can be divided into several kinds.
(1) Wear
The inner ring and outer ring raceway and the surface of the rolling elements should
not only support the load, but also with move relatively, so several kinds of the
wear (fatigue wear, abrasive wear, adhesive wear and the corrosive wear) can be
caused. Under the normal condition, fatigue wear is the main reason of the bearing
fault and the common life of the bearing is the fatigue lifetime.
(2) indentation
when the bearing is under heavy load or embedded by the foreign particles with
high hardness, the indentation will be caused on the surface of the rolling element
and the raceway, which can lead to the drastic vibration and noise and also influ-
ence the working quality.
9.6 Rolling Bearing Working Condition Monitoring 289
Table 9.5 Diagnostic techniques classication and selection

Type Brief introduction Characteristic Applied range
Vibration Fatigue spalling, Wide application;on-line Suitable for the bearing
diagnostic indentation, or the local monitoring; quick diagnosis in the rotating
technique corrosion can be found diagnosis; sophisticated machine
in the bearing working failure theory
surfaces, so the periodic
pulse signal will appear
in the operation process.
The sensor (speed or
acceleration) can be
installed on the housing
to transfer the signal.
Vibration signal can be
used to diagnose the
faults of the bearing
Ferrography Bearing grinding Dismounting of the Suitable for bearing
diagnostic particles is closely machine is not needed; diagnosis with oil
technique related to the bearing low cost; early failure of lubrication and not for
working condition. The the bearing can be the bearing with grease
lubricant with particles found; Abrasion lubrication
can go through the mechanism research can
magnetic eld, and the be conducted
debris can be distributed
regularly on the
ferrogram that can be
tested with the
microscope for
qualitative observation
or quantitative test, so
that the bearing working
condition can be
diagnosed
Oil lm For the bearing with One evaluation criteria Suitable for the rotating
resistance good lubrication, the can be used for different shaft without covering
diagnostic resistance between inner working conditions. The
technique and outer ring is high. diagnostic effect is poor
So this method can be for the surface spalling
used and indentation
Optical ber Fiber optic monitoring is High sensitivity, Suitable for the machine
monitor a kind of diagnosis receiving signal directly with inside sensor in the
diagnostic technology extracting from the bearing housing
technique signals from the surface surface, Signal to Noise
of the bearing ring. Ratio can be improved.
Displacement sensor Bearing manufacture
made by optical ber quality, wear degree,
bundle consists of load and lubrication can
transmitting ber bundle be reflected directly
and receiving beam. The
light can be reflected by
the ber beam through
(continued)
Table 9.5 (continued)

Type Brief introduction Characteristic Applied range
the gap between the
bearing ring surface and
the sensor end face, and
then received by the
receiving ber bundle.
Electric signal can be
got from the
photoelectric element
and can be analyzed for
the bearing condition
assessment
Acoustic Metal materials need Quick, simple and Latest technology
emission release the elastic wave on-line test developed in recent
diagnostic because of the internal years and rarely used in
technique lattice dislocation and the bearing working
grain boundary sliding condition monitoring
or emergence and
development of internal
crack, which can be
called acoustic emission
phenomenon. Different
types of acoustic
emission signal can be
produced when the
bearing produces
peeling or crack, which
can be used for the
bearing condition
assessment
Temperature If there are some Simple diagnosis; good Suitable for the normal
diagnostic abnormal situations for effect for the burning monitoring
technique the bearing, the failure
temperature can be
changed. Therefore, the
bearing diagnosis can be
implemented according
to the temperature
difference, but the
ability is poor
(3) fracture
The improper abrasive machining or heat treatments are the main reasons for the
crack and fracture of the bearing parts that can also be caused by higher thermal
stress because of the improper mounting, overload, higher speed, and bad
lubrication.
9.6.1.2 Fault Monitoring and Diagnostic Method of the Rolling

Bearing
The fault of the bearing parts cannot be diagnosed directly and there are several
methods.
(1) Noise diagnosis
This is the most primitive method. It is very difcult to get noise of the measured
bearing from the monitoring signal information because of all kinds of noise and
environmental noise interference, so the application is less in the modern fault
diagnosis eld. However, monitoring bearing running noise by the listening rod
contacting with the closest position to the bearing has been also applied now. This
is because this method has the advantages of simplicity, convenience and quick-
ness, and it is also suitable for simple diagnosis of mechanical equipment. If
electronic stethoscope can be used to improve sensitivity, some experienced expert
can not only identify bearing fault, but also the failure reasons.
(2) Vibration diagnosis
Impact and vibration can be caused denitely during the operation process of the
bearing with some damaged parts. Vibration diagnosis is the most suitable method
for monitoring the bearing fault. The bearing monitoring and diagnostic instruments
mainly depend on the vibration diagnostic principle.
Because of the bearing structure characteristics and the inevitable processing and
installation error, complex vibration has been caused inevitably for the operation of
the normal bearing. Besides, there are some vibration interferences of equipments
with some bearing, so the key to determine the bearing fault according to the
vibration signals is to eliminate interference and improve signal-to-noise ratio,
which is a very complicated technology. Therefore, it is not reliable to diagnose the
bearing fault only according to the bearing vibration information and the better
method is to use the comprehensive diagnosis.
(3) Temperature diagnosis
With the bearing fault, the temperature of bearing will increase, so the temperature
monitoring of the bearing is necessary. This method is simple and has been applied
early. But it has some disadvantages of low sensitivity and slow response, so work
surface spalling, indentation, or cracks, and other local damage in early stage are
almost impossible to be detected according to temperature changes. However,
temperature is sensitive to the bearing load, speed, and the change of the lubricating
oil, so it also has the signicant meaning to prevent the bearing fault and has been
applied extensively.
(4) Oil lm resistance diagnosis
For the rotating rolling bearing, the lm can be formed between the raceway and
rolling elements, so the resistance is high. If bearing fault can deteriorate the
Electronic real-time
Bearing spectral
contact
analyzer analysis
instruments
The bearing Resistance
x-y
contact resistance
Oscilloscope recording
instrument
Battery
Fig. 9.27 Principle of measurement of the oil lm resistance
lubrication state, the oil lm will be broken and resistance will decrease. This kind
of change can be used for the bearing fault diagnosis.
Principle of measurement of the oil lm resistance can be shown in Fig. 9.27. In
order to avoid the bad influence on the motion surface, the applied voltage can be
lower that can be near to 1 V in the actual application.
Oil lm resistance is sensitive to the abrasive wear; vibration analytical method
is sensitive to the spalling, indentation and some other local damage, so oil lm
resistance can be used as the supplementary monitoring technology for the vibration
analytical method.
(5) Optical monitoring technology
The application of optical ber displacement sensor to monitor the bearing running
condition is a diagnostic technique by extracting information from the surface of the
bearing ring directly, and also with high sensitivity, and the small influence
transmission channel. The basic principle is shown in Fig. 9.28a. Sensor made of
the ber optic contains the sending ber bundle and receiving optical ber bundle.
The light can be sent from the emission ber bundle, through the end face of the
sensor and the clearance, shining the surface of the ring, and then be reflected,
received by the receiving ber bundle. This information can be transformed to be
voltage output by the photoelectric component. When the clearance d is changed,
the area of the light on the ring can also be changed, so can the amount of receiving
light and the output voltage. The relationship can be shown in Fig. 9.28b. The
radial variation and bearing state of the bearing ring can be distinguished according
to the change of output voltage.
(6) Oil pollutant analysis
Checking the wear debris in the lubricating oil can detect the bearing fault effec-
tively. The common methods include the ferrographic analysis method and mag-
netic plug analysis method, but only suitable for the bearing with lubricating oil and
it has big limitations.
Fig. 9.28 Principle for optical ber method and characteristic curve
9.6.2 Basic Process and Methods
9.6.2.1 Basic Link of Rolling Bearing Fault Diagnosis
The purpose of the rolling bearing fault diagnosis is to ensure the reliable operation
under certain working conditions (under certain load, running at a certain speed,
etc.) so that working accuracy of the whole mechanical system can be ensured.
With this purpose, bearing fault diagnosis is to distinguish the bearing state with the
observation, analysis and processing of the bearing working state signal. Bearing
fault diagnosis should include the following ve areas:
Signal measurement: according to bearing working condition and quality, the
signals reflecting the bearing working condition and state can be selected.
Feature extraction: Some useful information reflecting working states can be
extracted from the received information with some signal analysis and process
method.
State recognition and monitoring: the bearing state can be distinguished according
to certain identication method, that is the simple determination of the bearing
working states.
Diagnosis and state analysis: According to the signals, the further analysis can be
made for the bearing state and the developing trend; when the bearing fault can be
found, the fault types, quality, position, reasons and trend should be further
analyzed.
Decision intervention: According to the bearing state and the developing trend, the
decision can be made such as the adjustment, controlling, service and continual
monitoring.
9.6.2.2 Fault Diagnosis Methods of the Rolling Bearing
Bearing fault diagnosis methods can be classied mainly according to the amount of
state of monitoring and diagnosis that means classication on the nature of the
measured signal. According to this method, rolling bearing condition monitoring and
fault diagnosis methods are temperature method, sample analysis, vibration (noise)
analysis, etc. These three methods have been introduced in the previous section.
With the development of the modern sensor technology and signal analysis
method, some new measurement technique has been designed for the application of
the rolling bearing working condition monitoring and diagnosis. Such as
1. Integration with contemporary latest sensor technology. In recent years, the new
sensor technology has been developed from the military, medical, treatment, and
machining elds to the measure and equipment fault diagnosis. And it has been
applied for the rotating machinery.
2. Integration with latest signal processing method. With the application of new
signal processing method in the eld of equipment fault diagnosis, new
breakthrough has been made on the traditional mechanical equipment based on
Fourier transform signal analysis technology. DSP technology can make
detection device separate from the computer, so it is much more convenient and
flexible for the mounting.
3. Integration with nonlinearity principles and method. When the equipment have
some fault, its behavior is often characterized by nonlinear, such as the behavior
under the action of imbalanced external force. With the development of modern
signal processing technology and the increasingly perfecting of chaos and fractal
geometry method, rotating fault diagnosis problems will certainly be solved
further.
4. Integration with multi-element sensor information. During the process of the
bearing fault diagnosis, all the position of bearing can be tested and has been
processed according to certain method such as the articial neural network
method.
5. Integration with modern intelligent method. Modern intelligent method
includes: expert system, fuzzy logic and neural network. In addition, they have
been applied extensively. With the continual development of the intellectual
technology, bearing intelligent monitoring and bearing fault intelligent diagnosis
will be the nal goal.
9.6.3 Vibration Analysis in the Fault Diagnosis
Vibration analysis method has been applied successfully in the eld of rotating
machinery and other equipments, so it has been the reciprocating mechanical fault
diagnostic tool in recent years. Vibration analysis is to determine the bearing
damage situation based on the analysis of vibration signal from the bearing inner
ring, outer ring, roller and cover. This method can monitor any suspicious fre-
quency timely and can decide whether the bearing needs to be repaired according to
vibration level in a xed position [21].
The mechanical equipment during the running process can produce the vibration
because of the contact surface friction and the imbalance of rotating parts. The
components and parts, whole machine, and even the whole unit will have the
vibration with different degree. The vibration of a system has the internal cause and
external cause. When the system is deviating from the equilibrium position and
subject to the effect of restoring force, the system tends to turn back to the equi-
librium position, and the common restoring force include the gravity, buoyancy and
elastic force. The most common force is elastic restoring force, which can be named
as the internal cause. For the external cause, when the mechanical equipment is on
operation, the inertial impact of reciprocating motion component will make the
system be incentives because of the eccentricity and misalignment of the rotating
parts. The basic vibration will influence the working accuracy, and accelerate the
wear and fatigue damage. With the increase of the wear and formation of fatigue
damage, the vibration of the equipment will be more intense, until to be failure or
damage. Thus, vibration increasing is a kind of physical phenomenon with the
abnormal working status of the machine parts and even failure. When some parts of
equipment is under the abnormal condition, the vibration amplitude and frequency
will be changed, so monitoring these changes can distinguish whether the bearing is
under the normal condition.
9.6.4 Fault Signal Processing
Measured dynamic signal contains abundant information about the bearing state
vibration and the fault features, so signal processing is the main method to extract
the fault features for the further diagnosis of the equipment fault reasons and some
solutions. There are many kinds of vibration and dynamic signal processing
methods such as the time domain processing, frequency domain processing,
amplitude domain processing, time difference domain processing and time-
frequency processing.
Time domain diagnostic method is the earliest detection method for the vibration
detection method. It is hard to determine the bearing states only according to the
time domain waveform. Therefore, for the time domain diagnosis, basic numerical
characteristics and probability distribution characteristics of the vibration signals
can be applied for the analysis and diagnosis. The extensive application include
some nondimensional characteristic parameters such as the mean value,
root-mean-square value, variance, probability density function, probability distri-
bution function, self-correlation function, cross-correlation function, peak factor,
wave prole factor, and kurtosis coefcient.
Frequency domain analysis can make the precise diagnosis for bearing initial
failure. Spectral analysis can be used directly for the processing of the bearing
signals and the bearing state can be determined by combining the frequency
structure of the spectrogram and the difference frequency analysis of the charac-
teristic frequency. It is only suitable for the simple diagnosis because of the
interference of the hydrodynamic force noise and the vibration of rotating member.
Resonance demodulation method is considered as the most effective method in
the frequency domain analytical method. For this method, the resonant frequency
area of the bearing system is the monitoring band and after the amplication of the
vibration signals, ltering and demodulation, low-frequency pulse signal with pulse
impact can be received. Time-frequency analysis has been applied in the bearing
fault diagnosis because of the application of the wavelet analysis theory. Especially
in recent years, plenty of work has been done about the theoretical research, sim-
ulating calculation and experimental analysis [21].
9.6.5 Rolling Bearing Fault Vibration Diagnosis
The vibration of rolling bearing is very complicated. Besides the vibration caused
by bearing structure features, machining, assembling error, there are some vibration
caused by the bearing damage and some external factors. In this part, only the
bearing fault vibration will be analyzed.
Rolling bearing fault vibration can occur under two situations such as the local
fault and distributed fault.
(1) local fault
When some damage points (such as pitting and spalling, indentation, crack, etc.)
have been formed on the rolling bearing surface, periodic impact will be caused
because of the repeated collision between the rolling elements and bearing
inner/outer ring. Therefore, the low-frequency vibration will be caused and the
frequency is the same with repetition frequency of the impact, which can be named
as the bearing fault characteristic frequency. Characteristic frequency depends on
the component with the damaged points, the size of it and the bearing speed. When
it is lower than 1 kHz and between the hearing range (2020 kHz), it can be as the
main proof for the analysis of the bearing fault.
Impact force has abundant frequency components and the high-frequency
component can stimulate constituent part of bearing system to produce the reso-
nance, which means free attenuation vibration with high frequency will be caused
Fig. 9.29 Impact vibration in

rolling bearing
with inherent frequency respectively. The amplitude is big and processing time is
long, but the repetition frequency is the same with that of the impact (fault signature
frequency). These features are also the main proof to analyze the bearing fault.
Figure 9.29 is the oscillogram for the bearing with local fault and T is the impact
repetition period that means the characteristic period of the bearing local fault. f0 is the
inherent frequency of the bearing outer ring. The free attenuation vibration with high
frequency of bearing system is complicated, but the signals from the outer ring with
sensor are much more signicant because the measuring point is near the outer ring.
1. Calculation of the local fault character frequency
Bearing fault character frequency calculation equation can be seen as Table 9.6,
which is inducted with the condition of the xed outer ring of angle contact ball
bearing.
For example: ball bearing 6204, d = 7.938 mm, D = 33.5 mm, Z = 8. = 3,
when n = 3000 r/min ( f = 50 Hz), when the outer ring is xed, the characteristic
frequency values will be
8 33:5 7:938 cos 3

fo 50 152:672 Hz
2 33:5
8 33:5 7:938 cos 3
fi 50 247:326 Hz
2 33:5
33:52 7:938 cos 3 2
fb 50 99:598 Hz
2 33:5 7:938
where
d diameter of rolling element/mm
D pitch diameter of the bearing raceway/mm;
Z rolling element No./set; contact angle/;
f rotational frequency of the shaft/r s1
Table 9.6 Fault Surface damage position Characteristic frequency (Hz)

characteristic frequency in
bearing Outer ring fo ZDd
2D
cos a
f
Inner ring fi ZD 2D
d cos a
f
d cos a2
Rolling element fb D
2
2Dd f
The equations in Table 9.6 are inducted according to geometry and kinematics,
the process is as follows:
(a) revolution frequency of the rolling element (rotating frequency of cage) fc
There is not the relative sliding between the rolling element and raceway, so the
circular velocity of the center C of rolling element is half of the speed of point A on
the inner ring raceway, as
1
vc vA
2
As vc pDfc , vA pD d cos af , so, pDfc 12 pD d cos af

As
D d cos a
fc f 9:20
2D
(b) rotation frequency of the rolling element fs

Gyro frequency of the rolling elements and inner ring relative to the cage is
inversely proportional to the diameter, as:
fs D d cos a

f fc d
Then
D d cos a D d cos a D d cos a

fs f fc f f
d d 2D
9:21
D2 d cos a2
f
2Dd
(c) characteristic frequency of the impaired loci on the inner and outer ring
For a week maintains a relatively inside and outside the turning, only collisions
with internal and external ring rolling on a once, so the characteristic frequency of
the inner ring damage point
The cage rotates one circle relative to the inner/outer ring, each rolling element
can crash one time with the damage point on the inner/outer ring raceway, so the
characteristic frequency of the impaired loci on the inner ring
D d cos a ZD d cos a
fi Zf fc Zf f f 9:22
2D 2D
Characteristic frequency of the impaired loci on the outer ring
ZD d cos a
fo Zfc f 9:23
2D
(d) Characteristic frequency of the impaired loci of rolling element:

Rolling element rotates one circle and can crash one time with the inner/outer ring,
so characteristic frequency of the impaired loci on the rolling element is:
D2 d cos a2
fb fs f 9:24
2Dd
2. Vibration wave shape o f the local fault

Time domain vibration wave shapes of normal bearing is shown in Fig. 9.30, with
no impact peaks or high-frequency vibration, in a mess and without rules.
There are several vibration wave shapes of the local fault for the bearing.
(a) vibration of the impaired loci with xed outer ring
If the load action direction is constant, the relative position of the impaired loci and
load will remain unchanged. The crash for each time has the same strength, and the
vibration wave shape is shown in Fig. 9.31.
(b) vibration of the impaired loci with rotating inner ring
If the load action direction is constant, when the inner ring is rotating, the rela-
tionship between relative position of impaired loci and load can be shown as the
periodic variation. There will be different strength for each crash. Vibration
Fig. 9.30 Normal bearing vibration signal
Fig. 9.31 Vibration of outer

ring with damage point
Fig. 9.32 Vibration of inner ring with damage point
Fig. 9.33 Vibration of rolling element with damage point
amplitude can change with periodic vibration and the period depends on the
rotating frequency of the inner ring, which is shown in Fig. 9.32.
(c) vibration of the impaired loci with rolling element
If the load action direction is constant, when there are some impaired loci on the
rolling elements, the vibration will be shown as Fig. 9.33. This situation is similar
with the impaired loci on the inner ring, and the vibration amplitude can change
with the periodicity situation that depends on the revolution frequency of the rolling
elements.
(2) distributed fault (even wear)
When there is even wear on the bearing working surface, the vibration quality is
similar to that of the normal bearing, so it is messy and without any rules or
apparent characteristic frequency. Only the amplitude has been increased.
Therefore, only the root-mean-square value of vibration can be used to distinguish
the bearing state.
9.6.6 Rolling Bearing Vibration Monitoring
There are characteristic frequency components in low-frequency segment for the

damaged bearing; in high-frequency segment, there are inherent frequency compo-
nents. Therefore, low pass lter can be used to eliminate the high-frequency com-
ponent for the damaged bearing diagnosis in low-frequency segment and vice versa.
9.6.6.1 Simple Diagnosis
Simple diagnosis depends on the amplitude vibration of the vibration signals and
the common diagnosis parameters are: peak, root-mean-square value, peak factor
and kurtosis coefcient.
(1) Peak
When there are some impact because of the local damage such as spalling and
indentation, the bearing vibration peaks can rise signicantly, so the peak values are
the most sensitive parameter for monitoring the bearing initial fault. But the stability
is poor and the influence from the load, speed and test condition are big, and it is
also sensitive to the dust.
(2) root-mean-square value
After the gradual increase of the even wear or partial damage on the bearing
working surface, the change of vibration peak value will be not so obvious.
Therefore, only the root-mean-square value can give a proper evaluation more
accurately. However, the root-mean-square value is not applicable for bearing early
local damage, because the vibration caused by shock peak is big, but the duration
time is very short, so it cannot express the occurrence of the great peak with average
time.
(3) Peak factor
Peak coefcient is the ratio of peak and RMS values. It is sensitive to the surface
early spalling and indentation as the peak but cannot be influenced by the load,
rotation speed and test conditions change, so it has good stability and can be seen as
good diagnostic parameters. In general, peak coefcient <5 for normal bearing, and
510 for the bearing with abnormal condition, more than 10 for the bearing with
serious fault. However, when there are several defects such as peeling, indentation,
peak factor will increase due to the increase of RMS value, therefore, the ability of
identication for the bearing damage will be influenced.
(4) kurtosis coefcient
Britain is the rst country to use the kurtosis coefcient to diagnose the bearing
running condition. For the normal bearing, the coefcient is about 3, and this value
will increase for abnormal bearing. Kurtosis coefcient is similar to peak coefcient
but is much more sensitive to the large amplitude components in the signals, which
is effective to detect early damage of bearing.
9.6.6.2 Precision Diagnosis
The most common, worst and most focused damage is the local fault, so related
precious diagnosis has been carried out for this kind of fault. According to the
Fig. 9.34 Vibration of rolling element with damage point
monitoring frequency segment, these methods can be divided into low-frequency

analysis (characteristic frequency segment) and high-frequency analysis (inherent
frequency segment) methods.
(1) Low-frequency analytical approach
The vibration with characteristic frequency can be produced for the bearing with
some damages and monitoring the components vibration directly is the most direct
method to diagnose the damaged position. Because the bearing characteristic fre-
quency is low, this method can be named as the low-frequency analytical approach.
The signal process for a kind of low-frequency analytical approach is shown in
Fig. 9.34. The vibration signal received by the acceleration sensor, goes through the
charge-amplier for amplication, and is transformed by the integrator to be speed
signal (vibration velocity can be used as the diagnosis parameter for low-frequency
vibration), with the high-frequency components eliminated by the low pass lter, it
is sent to the analysis instrument for spectral analysis. On the spectrogram, the fault
size and position can be determined according to the characteristic frequency and
peak of the fault.
However, interfering energy of machinery, power and fluid dynamics are all
concentrating on this frequency segment (low-frequency segment) and the impulse
value caused in the bearing premature failure is so small. The vibration of
low-frequency component is much lower, so the Signal to Noise Ratio is also low.
Therefore, it is hard to reveal the bearing premature failure in this frequency seg-
ment from the time domain or frequency domain. In recent years, only for simple
mechanical equipment, this method has been applied [22, 23].
(2) High-frequency analysis method
The natural vibration with high frequency caused by the local failure has not only
the advantages of larger amplitude, longer duration time, same repetition frequency
as repetition frequency of impact (fault characteristic frequency), but also has the
advantages of avoiding the low-frequency interference and higher signal-to-noise
ratio. It cannot be influenced by the rotation speed vibration and has higher stability,
so it is effective to discriminate bearing early failure according to the spectrum
amplitude vibration.
High-frequency analysis method can be divided into two kinds as

1. selecting inherent frequency of bearing parts as the analytical subject
The test points are mainly selected on the housing, and the outer is much closer to
the test point and with the less transportation loss, so the inherent frequency of outer
ring is always selected as the analysis subject. The inherent frequency of outer ring
is several kHz, so it can also be named as the middle frequency (120 kHz) analysis
method.
2. selecting inherent frequency of acceleration sensor with higher frequency or the
resonant frequency of the electrical resonator as the analytical subject
Bearing local damage can stimulate the bearing system to produce the natural
frequency vibration of each component and can also stimulate the acceleration
sensor to produce natural frequency of vibration. Therefore, the analytical object of
high-frequency analysis can be the natural frequencies of the acceleration sensor.
Because of its higher frequency, only exciting force with the ability of impact can
stimulate natural frequency and it is not easily affected by other local damage
factors. Therefore, it has high signal-to-noise ratio and good diagnosis effect.
Electric resonator is actually a narrow bandpass lter, it picks up high-frequency
components in vibration signal consistent with the center frequency as analytical
object, and also has high signal to noise ratio and good diagnosis effect. Besides, it
also has the following advantages:
The resonant frequency (analysis frequency) and damping can be
changed easily to meet all kinds of monitoring.
It is not necessary to clear the inherent frequency of the monitoring
subject.
Simple, convenient and with a low price.
High-frequency analysis method can be divided into two kinds according to the
processing method for signals.
1. high-frequency common analysis method
Bandpass lter is used to separate required high-frequency signal from the whole
vibration signals, and only time domain processing and frequency processing can
be used, which can be named as the common analysis method.
Figure 9.35 is a kind of processing. The signals with acceleration sensor go
through charge-amplier and are separated by the bandpass lter, then absolute
value processing and spectral analysis can be implemented. In the spectrogram, the
fault position and size can be determined according to the characteristic frequency
of fault.
2. high-frequency enveloping analysis method
After separating the high frequency from the bearing vibration signals, enveloping
signal can be extracted and then spectral analysis can be implemented, which can be
named as the enveloping analysis method (resonance demodulation analysis
Fig. 9.35 Principle block diagram for low-frequency analysis
method). The enveloping signals are the approximate periodic signals, and with
high amplitude, long duration time, but the repetition frequency is unchanged and
without low-frequency interference. Therefore, much clear characteristic spectral
line can be received on the spectrogram, and suitable for the failure recognition.
Figure 9.36a is the process for this kind method. The vibration signals with
acceleration sensor go through charge-amplier, high-pass lter, absolute value
processing, and nally the low pass lter, then they reach analysis meter for spectral
analysis.
The output in each link can be shown in Fig. 9.36b. The top is the shock pulse F
(t) caused by the bearing local damage; and the following is high frequency of
natural vibration signal a(t) with the shock pulse excitation vibration signal through
the amplier, and the center frequency of a natural frequency through the bandpass
lter; and then the following part is low-frequency enveloping signal a1(t) through
the absolute value processing and low pass ltering; the bottom is power spectrum
G( f ) though the spectrum analysis, which shows the corresponding frequency
components of the bearing damage and higher harmonic components.
Fig. 9.36 Principle diagram for envelopment analysis

According to the high-frequency enveloping principle, Boeing developed pulse

vibration rstly and set up several resonators with different resonance frequency, so
frequency can be selected to meet different needs.
The impact vibration measurer developed by domestic aviation industry can not
be influenced by the high natural oscillation wave shape overlapping, and can have
a high measurement accuracy.
Swedish SPM Company produced a series of shock pulse meter, and chose the
sensors with the inherent frequency of 32 kHz as the analytical subject, but it has
not made the spectrum analysis link, only using the enveloping detection signal
amplitude for the diagnosis of bearing damage degree. Therefore, with damaged
parts hard to be diagnosed and it is easily influenced by the adjacent interference
source to have diagnostic error, so it can only be used as a simple bearing fault
diagnosis [22, 23].
References
1. Wang H (2001) Mechanical equipment fault diagnosis technology and application.

Northwestern Polytechnical University Press, Xian
2. Liao B (1994) Basic mechanical fault diagnosis. Metallurgical Industry Press, Beijing
3. Han J (1997) Rotating machinery fault mechanism and diagnosis technology. China Machine
Press, Beijing
4. Zhong B, Huang R (1997) Mechanical fault diagnosis. China Machine Press, Beijing
5. Liang S (1986) Mechanical fault diagnosis. Shanghai Scientic and Technical Publishers,
Shanghai
6. Qu L, He Z (1986) Mechanical fault diagnosis. Shanghai Scientic and Technical Publishers,
Shanghai
7. Kuang P, Xu F, Liu Y (1991) Modern machine failure diagnostics. Agriculture Press, Beijing
8. Xiao H (1993) Mechanical condition monitoring and fault diagnosis. China Communications
Press, Beijing
9. Yang S (1994) Mechanical fault diagnosis method of time series. Metallurgical Industry Press,
Beijing
10. Liao B (1995) Basic mechanical fault diagnosis. Metallurgical Industry Press, Beijing
11. Mei H (1995) Rolling bearing vibration monitoring and diagnosis. China Machine Press,
Beijing
12. Li J, Wang H, Li W (1998) Equipment fault diagnosis. Oriental Publishing House, Beijing
13. Chen J (1999) Mechanical equipment vibration monitoring and fault diagnosis. Shanghai
Jiaotong University Press, Shanghai
14. Li G, Zhang Y (1999) Mechanical fault diagnosis. Chemical Industry Press, Beijing
15. Zhang L, Wang C, Zhang X (2000) Mechanical equipment fault diagnosis technology and
methods. Petroleum chemical industry press, Beijing
16. Yu H, Han Q, Li S (2001) Equipment diagnosis engineering. Metallurgical Industry Press,
Beijing
17. Yang F (2001) Engineering analysis and application of wavelet transform. Science Press,
Beijing
18. Zhong B, Huang R (2002) Mechanical fault diagnosis, 2nd edn. China Machine Press, Beijing
19. Xu C, Li G (2004) Practical wavelet method, 2nd edn. Huazhong university of science and
technology press, Wuchang
20. Liu Z, Yang G (2005) Engineering machinery hydraulic transmission principle, failure
diagnosis and elimination. China Machine Press, Beijing
22. Liu Q, Chen L, Qu L (2007) Bearing ring grinder technology. Henan peoples publishing
house, Zhengzhou
23. Chang H, Chen L, Zhang Y (2007) Bearing assembly technology. Henan peoples publishing
house, Zhengzhou
Chapter 10
Applied Tribology in the Bearing
With the development of industry, more and more mechanical parts have been
developed toward the direction of high precision, high speed, and high quality. As
the basic part of mechanical components, bearing friction failure problem has
become more and more prominent. For bearings, friction torque is an important
index for the performance evaluation. Wear is one of the important failure modes,
and lubrication is the prerequisite and foundation for the right and good application.
Friction, wear, and lubrication are the basic content to compose the tribology.
Therefore, it is necessary to study the bearing from the theory of tribology. In this
chapter, bearing in different elds such as railway, automobile, machine tools,
rolling mill, aerospace, precision instruments, and heavy machinery will be intro-
duced from the side of tribology research.
10.1 Applied Tribology in the Railway Bearing
With development of the railway, the requirement of the railway bearing has
become increasingly higher. High speed and low friction have become main factors
when considering the railway bearing design. Therefore, tribology has been applied
in the design of railway bearings.
Most of railway bearings work under the condition of high speed and heavy
load. During the running of railway, the bearing has been subjected to the axial and
radial impact. Common railway bearings are high-precision bearings, such as
tapered roller bearings and cylindrical roller bearings withstanding heavy load and
impact load; besides, there are some spherical plain bearings used on the loco-
motive bogie. According to the early scientic research results from Ministry of
Railways, the failure of railway bearing mainly includes: the raceway surface
stripping, rib and roller end stripping and scratches, inner and outer ring raceway
and pitting indentation, excessive wear, severe corrosion and crack, etc. In this
308 10 Applied Tribology in the Bearing
section, the effects of the materials, processing quality, lubrication, sealing, and
structure design on the bearing tribology performance will be analyzed.
10.1.1 Material Effect
The requirement of the material and performance has been increasingly higher
because of the special working condition. Common bearing steel includes GCr15,
GCr15SiMn, and Cr4Mo4V. Besides, carburizing steel 20CrNi2MoA has also been
applied, and GCr18Mo. There are big differences between the strength of the steel
with different heat treatments. Some scholars [1] injected the nitrogen ion (N+),
diamond-like carbon (DLC), and titanium carbide (TiC) on the surface of Cr4Mo4V
heat-resisting steel with the plasma ion implantation technique and tested the
microhardness of the samples before and after treatment separately. Related friction
experiments had been implemented under the dry friction condition with the
ceramic Si3N4 ball. Surface topography of the worn surface had been surveyed by
optical microscope, and the wear mechanism had been analyzed. It concludes that
microhardness after the ion implantation can be increased obviously and the
amplication for the sample with TiC is the maximum and can be up to 54.7 %.
The friction coefcient of the sample with TiC can be reduced to 0.2 and the
minimum grinding width can be reduced by 50 %. Wear mechanism for the sample
without the treatment and with N+ injection is mainly the adhesive wear, but the
attrition rate of sample with N+ injection can be reduced. Wear mechanism for the
sample with DLC and TiC injection is mainly the fatigue wear. It indicates that
the surface combination property with the surface modication with TiC injection is
the best option to increase hardness and reduce wear.
For the bearing contact fatigue failure and wear, it can be found from the early
research that the contact fatigue performance for the GCr15 bearing steel with the
sulfur content of 0.045 % (wt) is best, and then, the related research about the
relationship between the sulfur content and wear resistance has been implemented.
The experiment can be nished under the condition of room temperature, boundary
friction, and dry friction condition. It can be found that the friction coefcient of
GCr15 can be reduced by increasing the sulfur content and the abrasive resistance
and coherence resistance also can be improved.
With the rapid development of the railway with high-speed direction,
high-polymer material has become the new favorite in this eld, which has been
applied in the manufacture of the railway manufacture. The ECP cylindrical roller
bearing in the traction motor in E120 locomotive from Germany used the cage with
material of polyamide. Compared to the metal cage, the degree of precision is
higher; the elasticity and sliding ability are also better; the weight is small; friction
is also smaller. Therefore, the motion resistance of the rollers can be reduced and
the working temperature and the lubrication material can also be reduced.
In recent years, the self-lubrication spherical plain bearing in the locomotive
bogie has been applied extensively because of the features with long time,
10.1 Applied Tribology in the Railway Bearing 309
maintenance free and supporting high load. With the increase in speed of the
railway, the friction failure issue has become much more obvious. Especially for the
friction and wear research of the liner has been the key point for the bearing
research [2]. The common liner used on the locomotive mainly includes the woven
fabric and composite material. The most common woven fabric is PTFE. With the
discovery of the new type ber, the development of the carbon ber [3],
improvement of the woven method [3], development of the polytetrafluoroethylene
resin with lling granular particles into ber-reinforced resins, fabric liner has been
wildly applied. There are many researches on the PTFE/copper grid for the friction
performance research of the composite material liner [4].
10.1.2 Processing Quality Effect
The surface processing quality is different from the processing methods and the
surface roughness has big influence on the railway bearing wear resistance. Super
nish processing can improve the surface quality and reduce the surface roughness,
so that the bearing wear resistance can be improved.
Different heat treatment process methods can also improve the bearing surface
quality to some extent. For example, different quenching temperatures can make
different material microstructures and grain sizes and also influence the hardness
and abrasion resistance. In addition, quenching temperature also can influence the
retained austenite materials, impact toughness, and bending strength. The influence
of retained austenite also cannot be ignored. Besides the impact on the contact
fatigue life and mechanical properties, the bearing internal structure and dimension
stability can also be influenced along with the bearing wear resistance. General
bearing steel needs the tempering treatment, so the influence of tempering tem-
perature and tempering time cannot be ignored. Therefore, the improvement of the
bearing processing quality is good for bearing tribology performance improvement.
10.1.3 Lubrication and Sealing Effect
The railway transport region is huge, so the operation environment is always

changing and there is a great influence of the sandstorm and temperature on the
service life of bearings. Pollution is the main reason to lead to the wear and even
excessively heated axle. Reasonable sealing method and sealing material with good
performance can effectively prevent the lubricant pollution so that the bearing
service life can become longer. Railway bearings mainly use the contact rubber oil
seal and after long time application, it can be found that the requirement of oil
sealing is high for the rubber material and structural parameters and the lifetime is
limited. In addition, there is high pressure in the lip edge that can lead to high
friction torque, high temperature, which have bad influence on the sealing, bearing,
and lifetime of the grease and some difculty for checking the bearing rotation
flexibility and determination of axial clearance. During the application process, the
situations such as sealing cover loose, dropping of the sealing, circumferential creep
of the sealing housing in the journal, lip grinding, bearing oil leakage, shedding oil,
sand and water can lead to some adverse effect on the bearing maintenance and
reliability. In order to avoid this kind of poor sealing effect, noncontact sealing can
be applied, such as rubber labyrinth sealing structure. This kind of sealing can not
only avoid the pollution, but also can guarantee the stability of bearing.
One of the main reasons for the railway bearing failure is the failure of lubricant,
which can lead to the rapid friction of each bearing part and the journal sticking, so
the railway transportation can be influenced seriously. For this kind of issues, some
scholars [5] make some samples with different proportions by lling different
nanometer materials in the No. 4 lithium lubricating grease. Through some
experiments about the friction data, poor information theory can be used to evaluate
the real value for each kind of experimental data. It can be found that antiwear
effects on the steel balls are different for the additives with different material and
proportion. Nanometer zirconia material has the obvious effect on the antiwear after
lling in the grease; but the nano-copper can increase the friction, so it is not
suitable to be the addictive. It indicates that the nano-zirconia has the better anti-
wear effect as the addictive compared to the nano-copper.
The variation range of the bearing working temperature is the main factor for
selecting the lubricant. For the railway bearing, grease lubricant is commonly used.
Therefore, good bonding resistance is required for the grease and the extreme
pressure additive is indispensable. The oiliness polymer material with micropore
(MPL) in the bearing lubrication is a new design. Under the high temperature and
high pressure condition, the oil in the micropore can be squeezed out; and absorbed
into the pores without working when it is off work. If this kind of material can be
coated on the cages or between the cage and the roller end face and rib, the axial
load capacity can be improved and the aim can be achieved without changing the
oil for long time.
10.1.4 Structure Effect
Proper bearing design can improve the bearing friction performance. For the rail-
way cylindrical roller bearing, some famous manufactures as SKF, Schaeffler, and
NSK all designed the reinforced structure. Besides, the improvement of the bearing
load capacity, the friction torque can be reduced by 50 %. Some scholars found that
modication of the tapered roller bearing structure such as the inclination of the rib,
end face shape of the roller, convex surface of the roller can improve the bearing
friction performance, so that the bearing lifetime can be longer.
Some experts put forward a new idea for the bearing used on the train bogie that
means the rolling bearing can be used to instead of sliding bearing so that losses due
to friction can be reduced. According to some investigation reports, for the modied
10.1 Applied Tribology in the Railway Bearing 311
locomotive SS4 with the sliding bearing on bogie, energy loss caused by friction for
every car each year is 77,340 kW, and if rolling bearing were used, friction loss can
be decreased to 3860 kW, and energy saving can be reduced nearly 20 times.
According to whole electric locomotives with sliding bearing, if all the bearings
were the rolling bearing, the saved power can be up to 367.4 million kW each year
and the economic benet can be up to 330 million RMB [6].
10.2 Applied Tribology in the Auto Bearing
Automobile bearing has aroused attentions in the mechanical industry. With the
development of the bearing accuracy and quality requirement, the exposed friction
issue has aroused attentions in the application process. Many famous auto bearing
manufacture such as the SKF in Sweden, Macchi in Italy, RIV, CBF, Schaeffler in
German, and the RHP in England have started to research for the performance of
the auto bearings.
According to different application functions, the auto bearing can be divided into
engine bearing, differential bearing, steering transmission bearing, clutch bearing,
steering gear bearing, hub bearing, and universal joint bearing. In addition, the
common bearing includes the deep groove ball bearing, tapered roller bearing,
cylindrical roller bearing, and thrust ball bearing.
There are many kinds of auto bearing and the working conditions of which are
different. Therefore, in this section, different application functions of bearing from
friction point will be introduced.
10.2.1 Engine Bearing Tribology
The engine bearings are mainly installed on the crankshaft, water pump, fan, and
generator. According to the installation position, it can be divided into crankshaft
bearing, water pump bearing, fan and generator bearing, and sliding bearing. The
common engine bearings include deep groove ball bearings, cylindrical roller
bearings, and needle roller bearings. Figure 10.1 is the structure diagram for the
automotive crankshaft system and related bearings.
Under the foundation of the research on load situation of single row deep groove
ball bearing roller and inner ring (or outer ring) with tribology principle and elastic
mechanics knowledge, some scholars [7] put forward a set of theoretical formula
for friction coefcient. It can be seen that the bearing friction coefcient is not only
related on the inner/outer ring diameter, sliding friction coefcient of rollers to the
ring, rolling element radius, and number, but also is closely related to the equivalent
dynamic load, the expression is:
Fig. 10.1 Automobile

crankshaft system and
bearings

14:95f ggt 4:37Pfp 2=3
np 10:1
E 2=3 D Dm 4=3 z
Mpin 0:108D 0:329Din pfp np 10:2
Mpout 0:392D 0:108Din pfp np 10:3
where
p friction coefcient of the ball bearing under the real working
condition;
Mpin, Mpout friction torque under the xed outer ring or inner ring;
P bearing equivalent dynamic load;
fp load coefcient;
, g, and t show the effects of three factors on the friction coefcient, those are the
sliding friction between the cages and rolling elements, sliding friction between the
cages and inner or outer ring, and the centrifugal force of rollers.
Crankshaft bearing friction power loss is the main factor influencing the
mechanical efciency of the automobile. Some scholars [8] established the kinetic
model and bearing lubrication model according to the example of small petrol
engine. Some related calculations about the lubricating oil, bearing clearance,
diameter of axle, and bearing width have been implemented and the detailed
analysis about the above factors influence on the bearing friction loss has been
conducted; combined with some experiments results, the influence of these factors
are with different degrees. The influence of lubricating oil on the bearing friction
loss is maximum and the lubricating oil with different brands under the speed of
6000 r/min can lead to different values of the friction loss exceeding 600 W;
10.2 Applied Tribology in the Auto Bearing 313
the influence of the bearing clearance on the crankshaft bearing friction loss is
minimum and under the condition of 6000 r/min, different values of the friction loss
are only higher than 200 W; meanwhile, the vibration risk caused by the clearance
becomes higher.
Some deformation will be caused on the crankshaft after being subjected to the
load, and then there will be some influence on the bearing friction performance.
According to this phenomenon, some scholars [9] did the elastic hydrodynamic
lubrication analysis for the crankshaft deformation under load and surface topog-
raphy. Dynamic research method was used for the bearing lubrication analysis and
the deformation matrix method was applied to calculate the bush deformation under
the oil lm pressure condition. The results show that the influence of the surface
morphology on the crankshaft bearing axis path is bigger and the influence of
surface elastic deformation is smaller. After considering the surface morphology,
the maximum oil lm pressure of the crankshaft bearing will increase signicantly,
and minimum oil lm thickness was decreased. Besides, the discharges almost did
not change during most time. After considering the surface elastic deformation, the
maximum oil lm pressure of bearing can also be reduced to some extent; the
influence of the surface elastic deformation on the discharges, journal friction
coefcient and the minimum oil lm thickness are very small.
The oil lm thickness of crankshaft bearing has the same order of magnitude
with surface roughness. During the normal operation of engine, bearing will be in
the mixed lubrication state inevitably and the additives can make the lubricant to be
with shear thinning non-Newtonian properties. According to this situation, some
scholars [10] analyzed the comprehensive effect of shear thinning non-Newtonian
rheological properties and the two surfaces with longitudinal, transverse, and iso-
tropic roughness on the nite width radial sliding bearing. The roughness issue can
be dealt through the Christensen random model of rough surface hydrodynamic
lubrication and GreenwoodTripp calculation model of contact pressure and the
effect of grind on the rough height distribution can also be considered. Power law
fluid model is used to characterize the rheological characteristics of shear thinning,
and the oil lm rupture algorithm of conservation mass can be used to solve the
Reynolds equation. The results show that the surface roughness can always reduce
the minimum oil lm thickness and make the oil lm pressure in the contact region
with violent oscillation and the amplitude is greater than maximum nominal oil lm
pressure of smooth surface in the period. Nominal minimum oil lm thickness in
the longitudinal rough is maximum and minimum in horizontal rough. When rough
textures are the same, nominal minimum oil lm thickness at the time of Newton
fluid is bigger than the corresponding values of different coarse structures and this
conclusion is opposite under the condition of non-Newtonian fluid. It shows that the
bearing performance with mixed lubrication can be influenced by the rough texture
and structure, power law exponential, bearing geometry structure, the quality of
journal, and the operation condition.
According to the automotive engine crankshaft and camshaft support compo-
nents, NTN Company developed low-friction-type needle roller bearings that can
greatly reduce the friction torque. Compared with sliding bearing, starting torque
can be reduced by 90 %; meanwhile, rotation torque is reduced by 50 %. In

addition, oil pump flow and starter load can be reduced, so the miniaturization and
lightweight of auxiliary accessories can be realized.
According to our domestic resource and cost advantage, some expert mentioned
that the bearing load capacity can be improved and the cost can be reduced by
improving the aluminum base material for sliding bearing.
In terms of engine lubrication, FAW R&D Center did the test for the diesel
engine oil with oiliness nano-graphite particles antifriction lubricant and after 200 h
of wear, the friction loss is approximate to zero, which fully demonstrated the good
friction and wear properties of nanometer graphite antifriction lubricant and
potential applications. Bearing sealing connected closely with lubrication also has a
great influence on the generator bearing that cannot be ignored. A bearing company
made an improvement for the bearing sealing system in the automotive alternator
[11]. The details are: rst, from the auto generator bearing structure, inner and outer
ring groove curvature coefcient should be determined and the V-shape groove
need to be produced on the inner ring and the noncontact labyrinth sealing can be
used; second, by comparing the comprehensive performance of sealing material,
best sealing material can be acrylic rubber; nally, appropriate dustproof slot need
to be used. This shows that the bearing sealing performance is closely connected
with the bearing structure. Good tribological properties can be obtained only with
overall consideration of the bearing.
10.2.2 Differential Side Bearing and Transmission

Bearing Tribology
Most kinds of differential bearings and transmission bearings are tapered roller
bearings and needle roller bearings. In addition, there are some sliding bearings.
Bearing friction characteristic is an important performance index. The research
on friction torque of differential bearing received more and more attentions.
According to the friction torque measurement method, some scholars [12] have
developed related test equipment. The influence of the friction torque on the tapered
roller bearing service life is big. Therefore, after some analysis of the causes of the
tapered roller bearing friction torque, some experts mentioned that friction torque
can be greatly reduced by enlarging the inner raceway, outer raceway, roller con-
vexity, reasonable crown shape, effective control of roller ball base radius difference
and rib angle, reduction of the roughness of rib, and ball base surface without
changing the design and reducing the bearing rating load [13].
Literature [14] supplied the preload parameters of tapered roller bearing in
automobile main reducer by analyzing the relationship between the friction torque,
bearing axial load, and axial displacement. For the tapered roller bearings in the
auto main reducing gear, appropriate preload parameters can improve the tribo-
logical performance of bearings.
There are also some scholars [15] who attained the computational formula of the
friction coefcient based on the physical parameters of lubricating oil and load
supplied on the roller by analyzing the elastohydrodynamic lubrication for the
tapered roller bearings in the automotive drive axle main reducer.
The needle roller bearing is suitable for the supporting structure with limited
radial installation size, because of light and high rigidity; it can be used under the
condition of high speed and high impact load. A lot of companies and experts
improved the bearing tribological performance by improving the friction pair
material according to the destruction form of the differential and transmission
needle roller bearing. Such as the high-carbon chromium steel can be used for the
outer ring; for the cage material, it is not subjected to the load from the theory
analysis, but during the real operation, it also can be impacted and friction along the
rotating direction. Therefore, cage material should be with certain strength and wear
resistance, such as the No. 20 steel with the amount of phosphorus and sulfur less
than 0.2 %.
10.2.3 Clutch Bearing Tribology
Most clutch bearings are the thrust ball bearing.

Some scholars studied the isothermal elastohydrodynamic lubrication problem
such as the elliptical contact formed between the ball and raceway. Multiple grid
method has been used to obtain the complete numerical solution under several
groups of parameters condition and the influence of rotational speed, center dis-
tance, elliptical ratio on the result has been analyzed. It concludes that by increasing
the rotating speed, centers distance, and elliptical ratio, second higher pressure peak
can increase and the oil lm thickness also can increase. Compared to the corre-
sponding working condition, the innite planar translational motion, the innite
plane rotation can lead to the increase of the central lm thickness and decrease of
the minimum lm thickness. When the rotation speed is higher and the center
distance is smaller, the difference of two cases will be increasing. Therefore, for
small high-speed thrust ball bearing, lubrication problem needs to consider the
rotation of the raceway [16].
10.2.4 Steer Bearing Tribology
Steering bearings mainly include the steering column conductive bearing, steering
column needle roller bearings, electric-driven power steering gear, and the steering
column stamping bearings. The research on the bearing used in steering gear in
tribology is relatively few. Preload is needed for the assembling of needle bearing
used in the steering gear to ensure the zero clearance and good performance.
According to the working features of steering gear, a car company gets the method
to reduce the bearing friction torque and get higher static load rating by changing
the bearing structure and cage material.
10.2.5 Hub Bearing Tribology
The hub bearing in lorry mainly is the tapered roller bearing. With the rapid
development of the front driven cars, there are great changes happened to the hub
bearing and the upgrading of hub bearing unit composed of different kinds of
bearings is increasingly faster. Now the common application is the combination of
the tapered roller bearings and angular contact bearings.
The hub bearing is one of the important operating parts. The hub bearing plays
an important role on the reduction of the frictional resistance in the operation of
lower chassis and keeping the normal running of car. If there is something wrong
with the hub bearing, the phenomenon of noise, bearing heating could be caused,
especially for the front wheel that is much more apparent, which can lead to the
runway situation. Therefore, research on tribology performance of hub bearing unit
is crucial.
10.2.6 Constant Velocity Universal Joint Tribology
In general, centering universal joint is usually mounted on one side of wheel, and
the sliding universal joint is mounted on the other side of transmission. No matter
for the centering type or sliding mode, it can be divided into ball cage universal
joint (universal joint can be called CVJ) depending on 6 ball to transmit power, as
shown in Fig. 10.2. There are needle rollers mounted on three shafts and drive
roller shaft CVJ. Figure 10.3 is cross-shaft universal joint.
The requirements of CVJ grease have the feature, such as preventing the sin-
tering of the sliding surface, preventing wear, improving the fatigue life, reducing
the friction, these features can be overcome by adding extreme pressure agent.
Fig. 10.2 Rzeppa universal

joint
Fig. 10.3 Universal joints
Besides, by considering the sealing ability of grease and the difculty of inter-
vention to the contact area, No. 1 grease and No. 2 can be selected and No. 1 grease
is much more popular. According to the change of the grease on constant speed
universal joint, for the CVJ grease used before 1990, the thickening agent is the
lithium soap grease and the additives are the lead series and molybdenum disulde.
From 1990 to 2000, lithium base grease can account for nearly 60 %. Urea-based
grease developed in order to improve the thermal stability accounted for about
40 % and the additives also include the lead series and molybdenum disulde. After
2000, according to the requirements of environmental protection, urea-based grease
without lead has become the mainstream for uniform section grease and the
lithium-based grease gradually disappears.
Sweden bearing manufacturer SKF developed general universal joint bearings
for the truck without oil replenish after running several million meters. The internal
of component element applies the sealing to maintain the lubrication and has the
feature of supporting the high pressure to clean the car. Thrust Washer can be used
to ensure the lubrication of rotation part and also relax the axial impact.
10.3 Applied Tribology in the Lathe Bearing
With the change of machine tool from manual to numerical control, the requirement
of machine tool for the production manufacturers is much more strict, which makes
the machine tool industry develop to the direction of higher speed, higher precision,
and higher quality. However, these higher implementations are based on the
premise of high quality of machine tool bearings and the spindle bearing plays a
crucial role. Because of the high requirement, many bearing companies actively
commit to the development of the market development trend of bearing products.
Machine tool spindle bearings mainly include the angular contact bearings,
tapered roller bearings, crossed roller bearings, etc. In this section, application in
tribology will be summarized respectively from the angles of machine tool wear
and lubrication.
10.3.1 Wear
According to the research of the machine tool bearing failure, 60 % of the reasons
is the solid particles embedding into the bearing. Timken Company developed the
Wearever bearings from the point of material. This product can make the carbon
atom distribute much more even by improving the steel composite and optimizing
the carbon organization. The hardness of HRC can be up to 66, and the rolling
element is cosmetic, so the bearing antiwear ability can be improved. Under the
experimental condition, the lifetime of Wearever bearing can exceed the normal
bearing more than 147 times. As for the tapered roller bearing used in the machine
tool, the heating can be produced between the roller big end face and the inner ring
rib, so that the speed of the normal bearing cannot be improved. In order to meet the
requirement of the heavy cutting, high rigidity and high speed, Timken Company
developed the TSMA&TSMR bearing. Meanwhile, Timken Company also devel-
oped the Hydra-Rib bearing, Spring-Rib bearing, so that the preload of spindle
system can be optimized. These special designs of two bearings can control the
machine state with the simple hydraulic or spring pressure, so that the dynamic
stiffness and damping can be optimized. For the Spring-Rib bearing, hydraulic
system is not needed.
10.3.2 Lubrication
NSK Company developed the super-high speed spindle bearing by changing the
bearing lubrication condition and the material of cage and ring. Timken Company
also developed the machine tool bearing with high accuracy and high speed. In
order to ensure the stability of the machine tool bearing, the bearing lubrication and
the friction performance of the roller and cage must be controlled.
H. Loroseh from Germany made the total statement about the relationship
between the correct selection of the lubrication and the fully utility of the bearing
performance to keep the high reliability.
In order to meet the requirement of heavy cutting, high rigidity, and high speed
in the machine tool industry, Timken Company developed TSMA and TSMR
bearings according to sliding friction heating between roller big end face and inner
10.3 Applied Tribology in the Lathe Bearing 319
ring big rib for the tapered roller bearing, so that the lubrication between them can
be improved. The design of TSMA is some axial lubricating oil holes produced on
the inner ring big rib that can lead the lubricating oil into area between the roller big
end face and inner ring rib, and the lubrication conditions and the speed of the
bearing can be improved. TSMR design in this way to produce many radial
lubricating oil holes on the bearing inner ring, so that the lubricating oil can lead to
the area between the roller big end face and inner ring rib and the lubrication can be
improved.
10.4 Applied Tribology in the Mill Bearing
The rolling mill is the equipment to realize the metal rolling process and the roller is
the main part, so mill bearing supporting the roller and keeping the xed position in
the rack can play an important role during the whole rolling mill operation process.
The load of mill bearing is heavy and load change is large, so the bearing friction
coefcient needs to be small and it should have enough strength and rigidity.
Different rolling mills can use the different types of roll bearings. Mill rolling
bearings should have the ability of high rigidity and small friction coefcient. The
bearing load capacity is smaller and the bearing size is bigger, so it can be used for
strip rolling mill work roller. The mill sliding bearings have two types, those are
liquid friction and half dry friction. Half dry friction mill roller bearings mainly are
the wooden, copper bush, and nylon bush bearings. The price is lower, and can be
wildly used in the prole and cogging-down rolling mill. The advantages of liquid
friction bearings include small friction coefcient, bigger load capacity, high
working speed, and good rigidity and the disadvantage is the value of the oil lm
thickness with the change of speed. Liquid friction bearings are mainly used in the
strip rolling mill bearing roller and the high-speed mill, as shown in Fig. 10.4.
Fig. 10.4 Heavy mill

Most of the rolling mill bearings are working under the bad working condition
such as high temperature and high pressure, metal dust, corrosive medium, water,
shock load and continuous operation, so they are prone to be damaged. According
to the survey from Japanese Water Island Steel, rolling mill bearing damage
accidents accounted for 8 % that is followed by the roller bearing accident. Most
bearing failure is caused by the tribology problem. Baogang in China makes some
relevant measures according to this condition such as: using the pre-lubrication
bearing with the ability of high temperature resistance, large separated bearing,
cleaning bearing with sealing system, and solid self-lubricating bearings, etc. In this
section, some tribology research will be introduced from the point of mill rolling
bearings and sliding bearings.
10.4.1 Rolling Bearing Tribology
Mill rolling bearings mainly are the cylindrical roller bearings that include single
row, double-row, and multi-row cylindrical roller bearings. In the multi-row
cylindrical roller bearings, four- and six-row cylindrical roller bearings are mainly
used.
According to four-row cylindrical roller bearings used in the rolling mill, some
scholars [17] implemented contrast analysis for the influence of lubrication on the
service life with elastic hydrodynamic lubrication theory, and applied oil lm
parameter theory and correction life theory for searching the method of lubrication
improvement and longer service life. According to researches, it can be found that
increasing bearing accuracy to two levels from level P0 to P5 can improve bearing
lubrication performance under the constraint working conditions. The modied
bearing service life can be improved by 50 % than before. Besides, it can also be
found that reasonable lubrication method has great influence on the properties of
bearing. Oil mist lubrication is often used to lubrication condition with higher
requirement. According to the research, it can be found that specic concentration
of oil mist can affect the bearing lubrication. If the oil mist concentration is too low,
sufcient lubrication cannot be ensured, thus the bearing wear can be aggravated.
In order to prevent the lubrication failure because of the higher temperature, the
rolling mill bearing system needs the heat transfer timely in the process of opera-
tion. Therefore, heat source analysis of the rolling mill bearing system is critical.
According to this situation, some scholars found the main reason of the heat source
of rolling mill bearing system by analyzing the bearing friction torque and sum-
marized the influenced factors on the bearing friction. The purpose of controlling
the temperature rise of the bearing system can be obtained by adjusting the bearing
structure and material properties [18].
The rolling mill bearing generally adopts low-carbon alloy carburizing steel.
Rolling mill bearing failure is mainly the fatigue spalling, therefore, for the car-
burized layer design of carburized parts, high contact fatigue strength being ensured
is the primary design criteria. Some scholars made the detailed introduction for the
10.4 Applied Tribology in the Mill Bearing 321
selection of carburizing steel rolling mill bearing and the design of the carburized
layer [19]. Such as the material of rolling mill bearing with the premise of car-
burizing steel, and technology practices of combination chosen materials can also
be formed. For example, the ring and roller can use the carburizing steel, or the
inner ring and roller adopt carburizing steel and outer ring with high-carbon
chromium bearing steel, or the ring uses the carburizing steel and roller uses the
bearing steel, or only roller uses the carburizing steel and the ring uses the bearing
steel, etc. In addition, fatigue strength of carburizing parts has the direct relationship
with the surface hardness, core hardness, and carburized layer depth. For surface
hardness, it should be the same as bearing steel and reach more than 60 HRC
(general for 6064 HRC, large size or deep carburized parts for 5963 HRC); for
the core hardness, according to experiments, it can be found that the parts have the
best fatigue strength between the range 3045 HRC. For carburizing layer, certain
strength or hardness gradient distribution should be ensured and the effective depth
of carburizing hardening layer should be higher than the position of maximum
alternating shear stress and maximum static shear stress in the part surface layer
under the condition of contact load.
10.4.2 Sliding Bearing Tribology
With the development of heavy load and high speed for rolling mill, the hydro-
dynamic journal bearing has been widely used due to the large capacity.
Figure 10.5 is the schematic for the hydrodynamic journal bearing used in rolling
mill. The load capacity is 27 times of rolling bearing, and it has long working life,
wide speed range, small structure size, and strong impact resistant capability,
but the lubrication system is more complicated. According to incomplete statistics,
Fig. 10.5 The hydrodynamic journal bearing in rolling mill

all kinds of our domestic hydrodynamic journal bearings have been used in more
than 200 different rolling mills from 20 steel companies. And large-size hydrody-
namic journal bearings with higher levels have been designed by ourselves. The
working principle of rolling mill bearing is using reasonable oil wedge formed with
gap between tapered sleeve and sleeve. When the tapered sleeve is rotating with
roller, lubricating oil with a certain viscosity can be constantly swept into the wedge
gap between tapered sleeve and bush, and the oil lm can be formed, so that the
load of rolling mill can be subjected. Therefore, tribology principles have played a
vital role on the design and manufacture of hydrodynamic journal bearing.
The current common failure forms of hydrodynamic journal bearing include the
scratch of tapered sleeve and bush, rust, sheeting on the liner inside surface, Babbitt
plastic flow, burning-out, edge wear, and large-area wear. Besides, there are some
failures because of DF untight sealing, bad lubrication, and damaged installation.
According to incomplete statistics survey, more than 80 % of abnormal wear are
caused by the failure of lubricating oil or lubricating system or improper applica-
tion. The moisture and solid particles in the lubricating oil are related to the oil
pollution and the deterioration of oil. Therefore, the researches on hydrodynamic
journal bearing lubrication and lubrication system optimization design have been
paid attention by domestic scholars [2023].
Some experts from Guangzhou steel co. Ltd. made the research on the lubri-
cation system of the hydrodynamic journal bearing in rolling mill. They also put
forward to some improvements, such as replacing the gear pump instead of screw
pump, increasing the auxiliary oil tank, floating oil absorption device, auxiliary
ltering device, moisture meter, etc. By implementing the above lubrication system,
the oil quality can be improved obviously, so that the oil intervals can be longer and
the burning accidents of hydrodynamic journal bearing can be decreased, and the
operation and maintenance costs can also be decreased, and the manual mainte-
nance and labor strength can be reduced. The localization rate of the imported
equipment can be improved and the mill downtime can be reduced. The bearing
load capacity can be improved and the effect is signicant [20].
10.5 Applied Tribology in Aerospace Bearing
Aerospace bearings mainly include engine spindle bearings, rocket engine

turbo-pump bearing, all kinds of navigation instrument bearings (gyro framework
bearing, satellite attitude control bearing). Compared with civil bearings, the
aerospace bearing has lot of particularities and has very strict requirements on the
accuracy, speed, sensitivity, reliability, service life, temperature, vacuum degree,
corrosion, and radiation. It also leads to some difculties for the research of
aerospace bearings under the condition of real simulating condition. And the design
and application in tribology are more complicated. In this section, the application in
tribology will be introduced from two aspects of rolling and sliding aerospace
bearings.
10.5 Applied Tribology in Aerospace Bearing 323
10.5.1 Aerospace Rolling Bearing Tribology
Some scholars [24] did the transient thermal analysis for the main thrust ball
bearing in engine and the bearing damage conditions can be found according to the
tribology theory, so that the limit temperature rise or limit value of safety work time
under the condition of oil supply interrupt can be received. Therefore, the safety
degree without oil supply for 30 s can be received.
For gyro high-speed deep groove ball bearings, some scholars [25] made some
load distribution analysis by combining the rolling bearing theory, tribology theory
and elastic mechanics, and nally, a theoretical formula of the friction coefcient
for this kind of bearing can be received. According to the analytic relationship of
the formula, it can be found that friction coefcient of the high-speed ball bearing is
not only related to the sliding friction coefcient between the ring and steel balls
and the ball diameters and rolling element number, but also is related to the rotating
speed and equivalent dynamic load.
Lanzhou Chemistry and Physics Institute in China made some experimental
researches on the angular contact ball bearing used in the aerospace [26]. According
to experiment results, spurting the MoS2 on the bearing inner and outer ring
raceway are feasible as the solid lubricant. The friction torque can be kept for a long
time. However, the lifetime of MoS2 lm is not ideal because of the problem of
process and material. Through the running experiments, some micro-scratches can
be found on the working surface of the bearing ring raceway in the rotating
direction of the steel ball, which indicates there is sliding friction between the steel
ball and raceway surface besides the rolling friction. The regular scratches on the
steel ball surface are caused by the berglass in the cage. The action of the ber-
glass in the cage can aggravate the wear of the MoS2 lm on the bearing raceway.
Lubrication performance requirements of precision angle contact ball bearing
used on the spacecraft are very strict. Luoyang Bearing Institute especially resear-
ched the solid lubrication technology on the aircraft bearing, and discussed the
problems of lubrication theory and application performance. According to the
friction and wear tests, it can be found that coating MoS2 on the bearing inner and
outer ring raceway is feasible as solid lubricant, but the lifetime of the surface
coating formed is not ideal such as Fig. 10.6. According to experimental results,
outer raceway coating MoS2 composite lm, namely with MoS2 as basic material,
adding a small amount of metal, a small amount of rare earth elements or com-
pounds, can further improve the service life of MoS2 matrix composite coating.
Besides, Luoyang Bearing Institute has also made some research on the solid
lubricant and thin lm deposition technology and the better solution of wear resis-
tance can be received, which can also be proved through the lifetime analysis [27].
Some experts and scholars have done some specic analyses about the appli-
cation of solid lubricant MoS2 in the bearing [28]. The friction torque of deep
groove ball bearing with compound thin lm lubrication under different vacuum
degree has been studied. Under the condition of vacuum degree 4 104 Pa, the
engineering test of the supporting bearing in the space optical modulator for 1 a
Fig. 10.6 Friction torque of

bearing with MoS2 lm by
coating
(bearing running around 108 revolution) has also been studied and the bearing
surface, working area morphology, and composition can be analyzed with the
scanning electron microscope and energy dispersive spectrometer. It concludes that
bearing friction torque can become stable with the increase of rotating speed under
the condition of 4 104 Pa. Lots of transfer lm can be formed in the working
area of the ball bearing with the MoS2 composite thin lm lubrication with the
space optical modulator, which can reduce the bearing friction torque and the
number of turn with the order of 108 can be realized. Therefore, it can be proved
that the MoS2 composite thin lm lubrication ball bearing is suitable for vacuum
environment.
Solid lubricant is commonly used on the aircraft bearing. The strength of the
solid lubricant lm can support a certain load and shear force. The friction wear of
this lm can be divided into three steps from the starting lubrication to the end, as
follows:
(1) Solid lm can separate the metal surfaces, so that the friction is generated
between two solid lms and the friction coefcient is small, which is the ideal
lubrication step.
(2) With the change of the friction, the lm will become thin so that the friction
coefcient increases.
(3) When most contact is between metals, the friction coefcient increases rapidly
until the seizure, which means the cold welding.
Coating oxidation lm on metal surface in the air has certain inhibition on cold
welding. Under the condition of vacuum, metal surface is more easily to be sub-
jected to the cold welding, so it needs attention in designing the aerospace bearing.
According to the poor working conditions for aerospace bearings, NSK proved
the feasibility of this method of using natural gas as lubricant by life and wear test.
In Britain, some scholars tested the friction torque and vibration of raceway with
solid and liquid lubrication, respectively, at different vibration frequencies through
launching vibration conditions by simulation and then some comparison have been
conducted by theoretical analysis. It concludes that the dynamic rigidity of the
bearing with solid lubrication is better than the liquid lubricated bearing [29].
10.5.2 Aerospace Sliding Bearing Tribology
With the exploration of air bearings, foil air bearing has been wildly used in the
aviation aircraft engine owing to its own advantages. The lubricant of this kind of
bearing is air, so lubrication system can be left out. Compared with the general air
bearing, wedge gap can be formed between the foil surface and the shaft surface
depending on the elastic foil as support for the foil air bearing, so that the dynamic
pressure can be formed by sucking the air automatically without the extra pressure
system. In addition, the bearings can also have the features as the high stability and
resistance to shock vibration, etc., by using the foil deformation and the effect of
friction force between each other. According to the research [30], it indicates that
foil air bearing can make the small aircraft engine reduce 15 % of the weight, 20 %
of cost, 50 % of maintenance cost, increase 20 % of the power density, and reduce
8 % of the direct operation cost for the branch line jetliner holding 50 persons. At
present, two types of Garrett and Hydresil are the most successful applications for
foil bearings.
With the constant progress of foil bearing technology, the bearing performance
can be improved by foil surface spraying and coating such as spraying the Teflon
coating on the foil surface or chrome faced on the shaft surface, which can solve the
friction and wear problems formed between the shaft and foil surfaces under the
condition of 3000 C during the stop and start process. In order to overcome this
technical barrier under the high-temperature operation condition, Della Corte, etc.,
from United States NASA invented the solid lubricant coating PS304 with the
resistance of high temperature used on the shaft. It can supply the protection for the
foil bearing under the condition of high temperature with 815 C and has been
authorized the patent [31]. PS304 is a kind of mixture composed by the NiCr,
Cr2O3, BaF2/CaF2, and Ag particles. It should be sprayed on the surface with the
method of plasma spraying and then the corundum grinding should also be needed.
According to the special work conditions for aircraft sliding bearings, some
scholars did some researches on the tribological properties of different metal pairs
under the high-speed dry sliding condition [3236] and the tribological properties
of different atmosphere media [3739].
The authors of this book [32] made some researches on the tribological prop-
erties for the coupling parts as Ti6Al4V alloy steel and GCr15 steel under the
high-speed dry sliding condition by pin and disc experiment. It concludes that the
friction coefcient and wear rate of Ti6Al4V alloy steel found the transient char-
acteristics and the critical values are, respectively, at load pressure of 0.33 and
0.67 MPa and the speeds are, respectively, 60 m/s and the 40 m/s. According to the
analysis results, it can be found that the oxide containing Ti and V can be generated
on the friction surface, and the surface lm generated has large influence on tri-
bological properties of the material.
The authors of this book [33] applied the genetic neural network technology to
establish the prediction model of friction behavior for the aluminum matrix com-
posites in the high-speed dry sliding process. The calculation reliability of this
model has also been veried by the experimental results. This model can be used
for the friction performance forecast of aluminum matrix composites in the process
of high-speed dry sliding, and it is simple and reliable method for optimizing
material selection in the working process. Besides, the results by this model also
found that the aluminum matrix composites with the greater heat storage capacity
have the high friction coefcient in the working process. Therefore, the good
braking effect can be received nally.
The authors of this book [34] made the detailed review for the friction and wear
mechanism under different conditions and the influencing factors on high-speed
friction and wear performance by summarizing the domestic and foreign researches
on the high-speed dry sliding friction and wear behavior. In addition, these existing
problems and aspects for the tribology research under the high-speed condition have
been put forward. The main researches can be divided into the following ve aspects:
(1) Research on high-speed tribological property for the materials under the
special working condition
There is large difference between the poor extreme and the normal conditions for
the friction and wear behavior of materials. Under the condition with higher tem-
perature difference, the life of friction pair can be signicantly reduced because of
the thermal fatigue cracking; the involvement of the sand will aggravate the
abrasive wear between friction pair; under the condition of being subjected to the
electricity, especially under the condition of 30 m/s, the heating generated can
greatly influence the friction and wear behavior of friction pair. Therefore, it is
necessary to carry out high-speed friction and wear performance study under a
variety of special conditions.
(2) Research on relationship between the surface topography and frictional heat
behavior
Friction heat can affect the contact surface topography. The relationship between
the surface topography and friction thermal properties can be found by analyzing
the representation parameters of the worn surface topography and friction thermal
behavior at high speed, so that the aim to control the friction and wear can be
received.
(3) Research on the selection principle of friction pair under the high-speed and
dry sliding condition
Under the high-speed dry sliding condition, besides one certain strength, the
material of friction pair also needs the good wear resistance, excellent thermal
fatigue resistance, small friction spark, and low noise. There are many researches
about one body of the friction pair for a long time, which lead to the improvement
of material cost, but the overall performance of the friction pair material has not
been improved. The future research tendency is to make the friction pair material
has not only the excellent dynamic performance, but also can not cause the serious
injury for the pairs. The best combination of friction system can be received nally.
(4) Research on heat deceleration mechanism of the tribological property
Under the high-speed dry sliding condition, large amounts of heat energy can be
generated on the interface of friction pair. The friction heat can lead to the thermal
crack, thermal oxidation and thermal adhesion, which can make the friction and
wear resistance of the material deceleration, and nally lead to the failure of the
friction pair. It is the key to conduct the research on heat deceleration mechanism of
the tribological property to solve the friction pair failure.
(5) Research on key technology to control the weak of material performance
It is needed to nd the main reasons and effect parameters for the material weaken
and determine the technical method for controlling the material performance
weaken, so the goal of saving material can be received.
According to many experiments, the authors of this book [37, 38] have found
that friction heat and different atmosphere environments have the serious influence
on the tribological performance of the material under the condition of high-speed
dry sliding. Under the atmosphere environment of N2, the material wear rate is
higher than the condition of O2 atmosphere environment. According to the
microscopic analysis, it can be found that a dense layer of oxide lm can be easily
formed on the material surfaces during the wear process under the O2 atmosphere
environment, but the lm under the condition of N2 atmosphere environment is
relatively loose.
10.6 Applied Tribology in the Precise Instrument Bearing
With the progress of science and technology and the rapid development of industry,
in some industries, the precision of some equipment must be improved to meet
practical requirements, which lead to the appearance of precision instrument. In the
eld of aviation, aerospace, navigation technology, besides the stricter outside
working conditions, precision in certain aspects should also be ensured, such as for
the heart of the inertial navigation systemgyroscope, the high precision must be
ensured. In the eld of machine tool technology, it also develops from normal to
precision. In some industrial instrumentation and satellite moving parts, the pre-
cision should also be ensured. The important part to ensure the instrument precision
degree is the precision bearing that has been focused as the research subject.
At present, the commonly used precision bearings mainly include gyro motor
Fig. 10.7 Amplier

schematic diagram for
miniature bearing
bearings, precision ball bearings, precision ceramic bearing, miniature precision

bearing, high speed and ultraprecise bearing, and so on. Figure 10.7 is a set of
miniature bearing applied in industrial eld and the size is only like the grain
diameter. Precision bearing requires high friction torque performance. There are
few researches on the precision bearing tribology because of the limitation of
domestic measuring instrument and processing quality. In this section, relevant
research [40] status will be analyzed at present.
Miniature precision ball bearing is widely used in industrial instruments and
satellite moving parts. The test and analysis of friction torque transient character-
istics can not only be used as the important basis for evaluating its performance, but
also supply some useful information for fault diagnosis of failure parts. However,
miniature precision ball bearing torque noise belongs to weak signal, and is sen-
sitive to many factors and is vulnerable to environmental interference. In view of
the situation, some scholars made some related researches on the function and
operation of hardware and software system of micro-precision instrument ball
bearing friction torque transient data acquisition and analysis system [40].
For the bearings used on the precision shaft pump, the relationship between the
structure parameters and friction properties should be clear in order to form the full
oil lm hydrodynamic lubrication conditions. Some scholars emphatically analyzed
the influence law of the oil lm with different oil lm gap shapes on the bearing
friction performance and then obtained the relationship between friction coefcient,
eccentricity, and the oil lm thickness [41].
10.6 Applied Tribology in the Precise Instrument Bearing 329
Besides, there are some miniature precision bearings used in microelectronic

mechanical system, and the main technology challenge for this type of bearing
mainly is the tribological design. Besides the existing problems of adhesive, friction
and similar to the capillary system, there are the retardation caused by the fluid
lubrication and contact wear produced in the motion process. In order to avoid these
contact problems for miniature bearings, a digital microscopic device has been
invented and can solve some friction problems to some extent, but the friction
problems with micron grade cannot be solved. Some experts applied a kind of
monolayer lm system installed automatically to overcome the phenomenon of
surface adhesion bearing. However, it is hard to modify and verify the bearing
performance from the view of experiments because of its own size characteristics.
Even though, there are still some scholars who made some researches according to
the simulation experiment [42].
Our domestic precision bearing mainly depends on the foreign advanced tech-
nologies before 2008. Until Dalian Dayou Advanced Ceramic Co., Ltd. establishing
the rst domestic CNC automatic production line for precision ceramic bearing,
according to the key indicators, such as high strength and wear resistance of pre-
cision bearing rolling element, the silicon nitride ceramics ball bearing with high
strength, wear resistance, light weight, nonmagnetic, corrosion resistant properties,
excellent high temperature resistance and self-lubrication ability can be produced,
which makes our domestic precision ceramic bearing technology level to the
international front. According to the industrial test results, the limit speed and life
can exceed the imported steel bearing with the same specication.
10.7 Applied Tribology in Heavy-Duty Bearing
With the development of the industry, the relations between heavy machinery and
human being become more and more close. Heavy machinery bearing as the
important supporting parts have been focused such as the oversize slewing ring
used in large excavator, crane, machine tool, wind turbines, and other large bearings
machinery and the oversize spherical plain bearing used the control system in the
super-huge type machine, bridge and gate of dam. Because of the large size, tri-
bological performance signicantly differs from that of smaller bearing. Therefore,
it needs to be specialized researches. However, large size and harsh working
conditions make the research on tribology performance more difcult.
10.7.1 Heavy-Duty Rolling Bearing Tribology
With the increasing attention for heavy machinery, many domestic bearing com-
panies have started the research on the slewing ring. Most of the bearings are
rotating with low speed, so the fatigue damage generally does not occur. But the
Fig. 10.8 Lubrication system

in slewing bearing
large load capacity brings huge challenge to the damage resistance of slewing ring.
Combined with the poor working conditions, the research of the large slewing ring
has become much more complicated [43, 44]. The tribology research of slewing
ring is mainly concentrating in the friction torque and lubrication. For the friction
torque, some wind power equipment manufacturers and slewing ring manufacturers
have started to design and develop their own performance test rig, in order to get the
bearing friction torque and related data, and thus improve the bearing quality. Such
as Sinovel Wind Group Co., Ltd., Chengdu Kehua Heavy Bearing Co., Ltd.
Luoyang Bearing Institute, LYC and ZWZ. Besides, some universities also made
some researches on the test rig, such as Anhui University of Technology, Nanjing
University of Technology and Henan University of Science and Technology, etc.
Foreign famous manufacturers of slewing ring companies mainly include
Germany ROTHE ERDE, France ROLLIX, Schaeffer, SKF, Timken, and NSK.
By investigating the current failure form of slewing rings, lubrication has
become an important influencing factor. It becomes an important problem
restricting the development of domestic slewing ring. At present, domestic research
on slewing ring lubrication is relatively rare. Meanwhile there are some researches
on abroad and design some relevant lubrication systems as shown in Fig. 10.8.
10.7 Applied Tribology in Heavy-Duty Bearing 331
Fig. 10.9 Failure in

large-size spherical plain
bearing
10.7.2 Heavy-Duty Sliding Bearing Tribology
Common sliding bearing in heavy machinery is mainly spherical plain bearing.

Because of the great flexibility and large load capacity, spherical plain bearing can
be irreplaceable on many occasions. The spherical plain bearings in the heavy
machinery are often large in size, although the friction performance is different from
the smaller bearing to some extent, the main failure mode is also caused by the
sliding friction. Figure 10.9 is a failure picture of large-size spherical plain bearing.
According to the application situation of the large-size spherical plain bearing in
the heavy machinery, some scholars made analysis and calculations for the bearing
life. It concludes that bearing lubrication effect coefcient can change with PV
value. For the bearing without self-lubricating ability, lubrication effect coefcient
decreases with increasing the load and increases with increasing the sliding speed,
but it decreases with increasing the sliding speed for the self-lubricating bearing
[45].
Now there are few researches about the large-size spherical plain bearing.
However, in the mechanical equipment, this kind of bearing has been widely
applied, so the research about the performance of spherical plain bearing is
necessary.
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Bearing Tribology - Principles and Applications (Ming Qiu, Long Chen 2016)

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Bearing Tribology - Principles and Applications (Ming Qiu, Long Chen 2016)

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MingQiu LongChen

Long Chen Jiafei Yan

ISBN 978-3-662-53095-5 ISBN 978-3-662-53097-9 (eBook)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016947191

Printed on acid-free paper

This Springer imprint is published by Springer Nature

Tribology is the science and engineering of interacting surfaces in relative motion.

Province in China, and the Universities Technological Innovation Plan of Henan

Luoyang, China Ming Qiu

1 Friction, Wear, and Lubrication in the Bearing Application . . . . . . 1

2.4.3 Sliding Heat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

4.1.6 Nonmetallic Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

6.3 EHL Theory in the Bearing Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167

8.2.3 Radioisotope Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216

9.6.5 Rolling Bearing Fault Vibration Diagnosis . . . . . . . . . . 296

1.1 Basic Concepts of the Tribology

1.1.1 Basic Denition of the Bearing Tribology

1.1.2 Objects and Tasks of the Bearing Tribology

1.1.2.1 Bearing Friction and Wear Mechanisms

1.1.2.2 Bearing Lubrication Theory

Lubricant is dened as the fth part of bearing. Good lubrication condition is

1.1.2.3 Bearing Tribology Research Method and Test Technology

1.1.2.4 Bearing Material and Surface Treatment

We can nd some research on bearing materials and surface treatment technology

1.1.2.5 Bearing Lubricant

1.1.2.6 Performance Monitoring for Bearing in the Mechanical

The instruments of performance monitoring for bearing in mechanical equipment

1.1.3 Subject Characteristics of the Bearing Tribology

1.2 Bearing Friction and Wear

1.2.1 Sliding Friction and Rolling Friction

In Chap. 1.1, friction is the resistance to motion created by interacting surfaces in

1.2.1.1 Sliding Friction

1.2.1.2 Rolling Friction

1.2.2 Types of Bearings

1.2.2.1 Plain Bearings

1.2.2.2 Rolling Bearings

1.2.3 Friction and Wear in the Bearing Application

1.2.3.1 Friction and Wear in the Plain Bearings

1.2.3.2 Friction and Wear in the Rolling Bearings

1.3 Bearing Lubrication

1.3.1 Plain Bearing Lubrication

1.3.2 Rolling Bearing Lubrication

1. Wen S, Huang P (2008) Principles of tribology. Tsinghua University Press, Beijing

Tribology is the science and engineering of interacting surfaces in relative motion.

2.1 Surface Structure and Property

2.1.1 Surface Structure

In the eld of tribology, surface is regarded as a layer with important physical

Fig. 2.1 Metal surface layer structure

2.1.2 Surface Property

2.1.2.1 Surface Energy

Fig. 2.2 Wetting angle. a Without wetting, b with wetting

2.1.2.2 Surface Film

2.1.2.3 Surface Oxidation

Metal oxide lm on the surface is a kind of typical reaction lm. In machining

2.2 Surface Morphology Parameters

2.2.1 Surface Geometry

Fig. 2.4 Surface roughness,

2.2.2 Surface Morphology Parameters

2.2.2.1 One-Dimensional Topography Parameter

One-dimensional morphology is usually represented by the height of the contour

Fig. 2.5 Surface morphology

2.2.2.2 Two-Dimensional Topography Parameter

2.2.2.3 Three-Dimensional Topography Parameter

e2 R2 R d2 2Rd d2 2Rd 2:18

The demarcated surface temperature h will be used to summarize the results

Hf 1:047 104 nM 2:54