Bearing fatigue investigation 3

The operating characteristics of large diameter rolling-element bearings in the ultra high speed regimes expected in advanced turbine engines for high performance aircraft were investigated. A high temperature lubricant, DuPont Krytox 143 AC, was evaluated at bearing speeds to 3 million DN. Compared to the results of earlier, similar tests using a MIL-L-23699 (Type II) lubricant, bearings lubricated with the high density Krytox fluid showed significantly higher power requirements. Additionally, short bearing lives were observed when this fluid was used with AISI M50 bearings in an air atmosphere. The primary mode of failure was corrosion initiated surface distress (fatigue) on the raceways. The potential of a case-carburized bearing to sustain a combination of high-tangential and hertzian stresses without experiencing race fracture was also investigated. Limited full scale bearing tests of a 120 mm bore ball bearing at a speed of 25,000 rpm (3 million DN) indicated that a carburized material could sustain spalling fatigue without subsequent propagation to fracture. Planned life tests of the carburized material had to be aborted, however, because of apparent processing-induced material defects.