Investigating the process of white etching crack initiation in bearing steel

Gould, Benjamin; Greco, Aaron

doi:10.1007/s11249-016-0673-z

Title: Investigating the process of white etching crack initiation in bearing steel

Journal Article · Fri Apr 01 00:00:00 EDT 2016 · Tribology Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1007/s11249-016-0673-z· OSTI ID:1339464

^[1]; Greco, Aaron ^[2]

Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Lemont, IL (United States); Univ. of Delaware, Newark, DE (United States)
Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Lemont, IL (United States)

White etching cracks (WECs) have been identified as a dominant mode of premature failure within wind turbine gearbox bearings. Though WECs have been reported in the field for over a decade, the conditions leading to WECs, and the process by which this failure culminates, are both highly debated. In previously published work, the generation of WECs on a benchtop scale was linked to sliding at the surface of the test sample, it was also postulated that the generation of WECs was dependent on the cumulative energy that had been applied to the sample over the entirety of the test. In this paper, a three ring on roller bench top test rig is used to systematically alter the cumulative energy that a sample experiences through changes in normal load, sliding, and run time, in an attempt to correlate cumulative energy with the formation of WECs. It was determined that, in the current test setup, the presence of WECs can be predicted by this energy criterion. The authors then used this information to study the process by which WECs initiate. Lastly, it was found that, under the current testing conditions, the formation of a dark etching microstructure precedes the formation of a crack, and a crack precedes the formation of white etching microstructure.

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Research Organization:: Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Wind and Water Technologies Office (EE-4W)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-06CH11357

OSTI ID:: 1339464

Journal Information:: Tribology Letters, Vol. 62, Issue 2; ISSN 1023-8883

Publisher:: SpringerCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 72 works

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The Evolution of White Etching Cracks (WECs) in Rolling Contact Fatigue-Tested 100Cr6 Steel Richardson, A. D.; Evans, M. -H.; Wang, L. Tribology Letters, Vol. 66, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11249-017-0946-1	journal	November 2017
Thermal Desorption Analysis of Hydrogen in Non-hydrogen-Charged Rolling Contact Fatigue-Tested 100Cr6 Steel Richardson, A. D.; Evans, M. -H.; Wang, L. Tribology Letters, Vol. 66, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11249-017-0947-0	journal	November 2017
Threshold Maps for Inclusion-Initiated Micro-Cracks and White Etching Areas in Bearing Steel: The Role of Impact Loading and Surface Sliding Bruce, T.; Long, H.; Dwyer-Joyce, R. S. Tribology Letters, Vol. 66, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11249-018-1068-0	journal	July 2018
The Effect of Lubricant Composition on White Etching Crack Failures Gould, Benjamin; Demas, Nicholaos G.; Pollard, Grant Tribology Letters, Vol. 67, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11249-018-1106-y	journal	November 2018
The state-of-art of microstructural evolution of bearing materials under Rolling Contact Fatigue Zheng, Xiaomeng; Zhang, Yongzhen; Du, Sanming Materials Science and Technology, Vol. 36, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1080/02670836.2019.1679524	journal	October 2019
Rolling bearing seizure and sliding effects on fatigue life Morales-Espejel, Guillermo E.; Gabelli, Antonio Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part J: Journal of Engineering Tribology, Vol. 233, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1177/1350650118779174	journal	March 2018
Influence of Slip and Lubrication Regime on the Formation of White Etching Cracks on a Two-Disc Test Rig Gutierrez Guzman, Francisco Gerardo Antonio; Özel, Mehmet Ozan; Jacobs, Georg RWTH Aachen University https://doi.org/10.18154/rwth-2018-221767	text	January 2018
Pattern Discovery in White Etching Crack Experimental Data Using Machine Learning Techniques Azzam, Baher; Harzendorf, Freia; Schelenz, Ralf RWTH Aachen University https://doi.org/10.18154/rwth-2020-00637	text	January 2019
Pattern Discovery in White Etching Crack Experimental Data Using Machine Learning Techniques Azzam, Baher; Harzendorf, Freia; Schelenz, Ralf Applied Sciences, Vol. 9, Issue 24 https://doi.org/10.3390/app9245502	journal	December 2019
Influence of Slip and Lubrication Regime on the Formation of White Etching Cracks on a Two-Disc Test Rig Gutiérrez Guzmán, Francisco; Oezel, Mehmet; Jacobs, Georg Lubricants, Vol. 6, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.3390/lubricants6010008	journal	January 2018

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