PSI - Issue 57

Available online at www.sciencedirect.com Structural Integrity Procedia 00 (2022) 000 – 000 Available online at www.sciencedirect.com ScienceDirect

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Procedia Structural Integrity 57 (2024) 236–249

Fatigue Design 2023 (FatDes 2023) Finite Elements modelling and assessment of ceramic rollers with edge cracks Yuri Kadin 1 , Charlotte Vieillard 1 , Jeroen Wensing 1 , Anand Theerthan 1

1 SKF Research & Technology Development, Houten, The Netherlands

© 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0 ) Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the Fatigue Design 2023 organizers Abstract To ensure reliability of hybrid cylindrical roller bearings each ceramic roller is inspected, and scrapped if a surface imperfection above the critical size is detected. This inspection aims to reduce the potential root cause of Rolling Contact Fatigue (RCF) which can occur during operation, shortening the bearing life. The rejection criterion is based on experimental and theoretical knowledge, which for the last decade was developed in SKF for the material imperfections mainly located on the rolling element raceway. These imperfections are subjected to high contact pressure and therefore are considered as the primary root cause of RCF failure. Regarding rollers, however, imperfections can be present beyond the raceway, i.e. at the roller chamfer where the lower risk of RCF is expected, because the edge imperfections are typically out of the rolling contact zone. Nevertheless, the risk associated with these features should be assessed too, chiefly because the size of edge imperfections can be rather large. In our previous study, the imperfection termed as a Missing Material was studied, combining the semi-analytical tool for the contact mechanics and the Finite Elements (FE) method for the stress analysis. In the current work, another imperfection type is considered, and this is a surface crack located at the chamfer of ceramic roller. The RCF analysis is based on the semi-analytical evaluation of the rolling contact pressure (between a ceramic roller and a steel inner ring), and computational fracture mechanics for the estimation of fatigue crack propagation. © 2023 The Authors. Published by ELSEVIER B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0) Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the Fatigue Design 2023 organizers Keywords: Si3N4; Ceramic rollers; Hybrid bearing; Fracture mechanics; Rolling contact fatigue; Finite Elements; Material imperfections 1. Introduction The rapidly growing market of hybrid cylindrical roller bearings requires reliable assessment of ceramic (Si3N4) rollers, which sometimes can contain imperfections, formed during sintering or machining process. The risk of fatigue 2452-3216 © 2023 The Authors. Published by ELSEVIER B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0) Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the Fatigue Design 2023 organizers

2452-3216 © 2024 The Authors. Published by ELSEVIER B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0) Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the Fatigue Design 2023 organizers 10.1016/j.prostr.2024.03.026