Increased Wear Resistance of Roller Bearings Using Me-C: H Coated Rollers

Abstract

The contact surfaces in a boundary lubricated spherical roller thrust bearing can change form due to sliding and particle generated wear. These form changes can seriously reduce the fatigue life of the bearings. An experimental test series has been performed where this effect was investigated in bearings with metal mixed amorphous carbon, Me-C: H, coated rollers that were tested against bearings with standard rollers. The experimental results show that while the bearings with standard rollers can fail due to wear, the bearings with coated rollers are at the same time almost unaffected by wear. Also the number of particles generated in the contact was significantly less when using coated rollers. There were twice as many self-generated particles when using a standard bearing compared with a coated bearing. The effect of the coating is discussed in terms of surface hardness, coefficient of friction and tribochemical phenomena. [S0742-4787(00)02004-X]