A Test for Rapid Tribological Characterization of Bearing Steels

Abstract

In this paper is a study the influence of the material and heat treatment on the changes of the fine structure parameters of the superficial layer of triboelements during the first cycles of rolling contact process. The tests were conducted by using a four-roller testing machine. The specimens (rollers) were made of case-hardening, through hardening and high frequency hardening steels. In order to induce different stress distributions in the superficial layer of the specimen specific treatments were applied. Using X-ray diffractometry can be appreciated that the durability of rolling tribosystems can be determined by an optimal relationship between studied parameters. The observed correlation can be used as a fast method to estimate the fatigue life of rolling bearing materials.

Keywords

• fine structure
• steel
• X-ray diffractometry
• contact fatigue