Silicon nitride hybrid bearing fatigue life comparisons. Technical report

Technical Report · Fri Jan 15 04:00:00 EST 1999

OSTI ID:362167

Robinson, E

Research to improve high-speed ball bearings for spacecraft applications has led to development of ceramic materials for bearing components, and the need to acquire sufficient fatigue life data to show the merits of various ceramic materials and fabrication processes, in comparison with the vast amount of steel bearing fatigue data acquired over many decades. In order to eliminate bias from such evaluations it is best to conduct comparative fatigue tests with steel bearings that are geometrically similar and in the same type of test rig. This report addresses some recent fatigue tests of hybrid bearings with silicon nitride (Si{sub 3}N{sub 4}) balls and Crucible Steel Company M62 steel raceways and a comparison set of all 52100 steel bearings. Results indicate that the bearings with ceramic (silicon nitride) balls are superior to the steel bearings.

• Research Organization: Aerospace Corp., Technology Operations, El Segundo, CA (United States)
• OSTI ID: 362167
• Report Number(s): AD-A--360803/XAB; CNN: Contract F04701-93-C-0094
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
BALL BEARINGS
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
FABRICATION
FATIGUE
SERVICE LIFE
SILICON NITRIDES
SPACE VEHICLES
STEELS