Characterisation of white etching area in a ball of deep groove ball bearing obtained from the market

Abstract

White etching area may be recoginized at the flaking part of a rolling bearing on which high contact stress of several GPa is applied repeatedly. Up to now, there have been less studies of the white etching area of a ball than that of inner and outer rings. In this study, as part of the flaking mechanism explication of white etching area in a ball of deep groove ball bearing, the form, the structure and chemical composition of white etching area were investigated. The form of the white etching area of a ball is mostly identical to the form of the white etching area of the inner ring and the outer ring. The white etching area of the ball is formed from the ferrite grains of tens of nm and is mostly identical to the white etching area of inner and outer rings. The carbon density of white etching area is higher than the carbon density of the matrix, and much carbon exists at the grain boundary of the ferrite grains of tens of nm.These results of carbon are mostly identical to the results of the carbon of the white etching area of cylindrical roller thrust bearing races.

Keywords

• white etching area
• rolling contact fatigue
• tem
• 3dap
• ferrite of tens of nm
• carbon