Do Bearings Fail Us, or Do We Fail Them?

Written By: Adam Bednarzyk

It is all too common, the question of what is brinelling, what is flaking, what even causes bearings
to fail, comes up. Any facility, any experienced maintenance/reliability technician has asked one
of these questions or something similar. Most often bearings fail because of poor handling,
whether it be mounting, transportation, lubrication, or maintenance. What do all of these have in
common? Human error, more specifically, the lack of healthy reliability and maintenance
practices.

One of the major aspects of a reliability program is learning from our mistakes. Root cause failure
is key to learning where faults are in our program, and more specifically how we fail bearings,
rather than why the bearings failed us. If executed properly, RCFA can provide us the failure
modes of a bearing, allowing us to correct our program to prevent the problem in the future.

Different failure modes teach us different aspects of a bearing’s life and how we can change our
current practices to promote better bearing health. Various failure modes can be effective
learning tools. Some of these failure modes are:

1. Lube Failure
2. Thermal Stress
3. Dynamic and Static Loading
4. Vibration and Shock Stress
5. Environmental Stress
6. Mechanical Stress
7. Electrical Stress

In addition to bearing failure modes, we can look at bearing damage to determine what caused
premature failure, which will lead to prevention of such bearing damage. In this article, we will
briefly discuss Lube Failure, Thermal Stress, Electrical Stress, and bearing Damage Types along
with causes of bearing damage.
Considerations

1. Load characteristics of driven equipment and loading at time of failure

2. Does the load cycle or pulse
3. How many other units are successfully operating
4. How often is the unit started
5. Bearing protection? Type?
6. Where is unit located and what are environmental conditions
7. Is motor enclosure suitable for application
8. Environmental conditions at the time of failure
9. Mounting base sufficient for proper support
10. Method of connection to load sufficient

Lube Failure

• Good rule of thumb – 80/90/100

o 80⁰C – operating temperature
o 90⁰C – Alarm 1
o 100⁰C – Shutdown Limit
• For higher temperature, synthetic lube (grease/oil) can increase safe operating
temperature up to 30⁰C

Grease Appearance
Appearance
Clean grease in failed bearing
No grease in fitting or pipe
Excess grease in winding
Emulsified appearance
Grease hard and dry
Grease dry and powdered
Grease thick and discolored
Possible Cause
Added grease after failure
Grease not added since install
Over grease
Water mixed with grease
Motor was idled long enough for oil to
separate from the base
Contamination in grease
Mixed grease types
 Thermal Stress

• Good rule of thumb – 80/90/100

o 80⁰C – operating temperature
o 90⁰C – Alarm 1
o 100⁰C – Shutdown Limit
• Temps above 100⁰C can cause thermal expansion of components, reducing internal
clearance.
• Bearing temp influenced by external conditions, type of lubricant, the bearing itself
(clearance/shield), and load characteristics.
• Color of bearing may indicate temperature exposure

Color ⁰C ⁰F
Light Yellow 226 440
Straw Yellow 238 460
Brown Yellow 260 500
Light Purple 280 530
Dark Purple 288 550
Fall Blue 293 560
Dark Blue 299 570
Light Blue 338 640

• Take note of location of discoloration. (ex: discolored on ball tracks – may be related to
lubrication, etc.)

Electrical Stress

• Bearing exposed to shaft current

• Caused by any break in uniformity in rotor/shaft:
o Shorted lams
o Gaps in lams
o Variations in air gap
o Variation in fields or interpoles (DC)
o Static electric discharge from driven equipment
o Improper grounding
o Nearby welding
• Indications are fluting (steady RPM) and frosting (Varying RPM), and ball appearance (dull
in sheen)
• Voltage limits rule of thumb:
o Ball bearings – 100mV
o Sleeve bearings – 200mV
• Both bearings must be insulated on VFD because it can produce 20V – 25V on shaft
Bearing Failure Damage Types

1. Flaking 10. Wear

2. Peeling 11. Fretting
3. Scoring 12. False Brinelling
4. Smearing 13. Creep
5. Fracture 14. Seizure
6. Cracks 15. Electrical Corrosion
7. Cage Damage 16. Rust/Corrosion
8. Denting 17. Mounting Flaws
9. Pitting 18. Discoloration

Flaking
• Occurs when small pieces of bearing material are split off from the smooth surface of the
raceway or rolling elements due to rolling fatigue, thereby creating regions having rough
and coarse texture.
• Possible causes: excessive load, misalignment, moment load, debris, water exposure,
improper lubrication, unsuitable clearances, bending shaft, flexible housings, improper
fits, progression from rust/corrosion/smearing/dents
Peeling
• Dull or cloudy spots appear on surface along with light wear. From such dull spots, small
cracks are generated downward to a depth of 5-10µm, causing small particles to fall off
and minor flaking occurs widely.
• Possible causes: Improper lubrication, entry of debris into lubrication, rough surface due
to poor lubrication, surface roughness of mating rolling elements.

Scoring
• Surface damage due to accumulated small seizures caused by sliding under improper
lubrication or severe operating conditions. Linear damage appears circumferentially on
the raceway and roller surfaces. Cycloid shaped damage on the roller ends and scoring
on the rib surface contacting roller ends also occur.
• Possible causes: excessive load/preload, poor lubrication, particles caught in surface,
inclination of inner and outer rings, shaft bending, poor precision of shaft and housing.
Smearing
• Surface damage occurring from a collection of small seizures between bearing
components caused by oil film rupture and/or sliding. Surface roughening occurs along
with melting.
• Possible causes: high speed and light load, sudden acceleration/deceleration, improper
lubrication, entry of water.

Fracture
• Small pieces which were broken off due to excessive load or shock load acting locally on a
roller corner or rib of a raceway ring.
• Possible causes: impact during mounting, excessive load, poor handling such as
dropping.
Cracks
• Cracks in raceway ring and rolling elements. Continued use under these conditions lead
to larger cracks or fractures.
• Possible causes: Excessive interference, excessive load, shock load, progression of
flaking, heat generation and fretting caused by contact b/t mounting parts and raceway
ring, heat generation due to creep, poor taper angle of tapered shaft, poor cylindricality of
shaft, interference with bearing chamfer due to a large shaft corner radius.

Cage Damage
• Includes: cage deformation, fracture and wear, fracture of cage pillars, deformation of
side face, wear of pocket surface, wear of guide surface.
• Possible causes: misalignment, poor handling, large moment load, shock and large
vibration, excessive rotation speed, sudden acceleration/deceleration, poor lubrication,
temperature rise.
Denting
• When debris such as small metallic particles are caught in the rolling contact zone,
denting occurs on the raceway surface or rolling element surface. Denting can occur at
the rolling element pitch interval if there is a shock during the mounting (brinell dents).
• Possible causes: debris particles caught in the surface, excessive loads, shock during
transport or mounting.

Pitting
• Pitted surface has a dull luster which appears on the rolling element surface or raceway
surface.
• Possible causes: debris caught in lubricant, exposure to moisture in atmosphere, poor
lubrication.
Wear
• Wear is surface deterioration due to sliding friction at the surface of the raceway, rolling
elements, roller end faces, rib face, cage pockets, etc.
• Possible causes: entry of debris, progression from rust and electrical corrosion, poor
lubrication, sliding due to irregular motion of rolling elements.

Fretting
• Wear occurs due to repeated sliding between the 2 surfaces. Fretting occurs at fitting
surface and also at contact area between raceway ring and rolling elements. Fretting
corrosion is another term used to describe the reddish brown or black worn particles.
• Possible causes: poor lubrication, vibration with a small amplitude, insufficient
interference.
False Brinelling
• Among the different types of fretting, false brinelling is the occurrence of hollow spots
that resemble brinell dents and are due to wear caused by vibration and swaying at the
contact points between the rolling elements and raceway.
• Possible causes: oscillation and vibration of a stationary bearing during such times as
storage and transportation, oscillating motion with a small amplitude, poor lubrication.

Creep
• The phenomenon in bearings where relative slippage occurs between fitting surfaces and
thereby creates a clearance between them and the surface. Creep causes a shiny
appearance, occasionally with scoring or wear.
• Possible causes: insufficient interference or loose fits, insufficient sleeve tightening.
Seizure
• When sudden overheating occurs during rotation, the bearing becomes discolored. Then
the raceway rings, rolling elements, and cage will soften, melt and deform as damage
accumulates.
• Possible causes: poor lubrication, excessive load/preload, excessive rotational speed,
excessively small internal clearance, entry of water and debris, poor precision of shaft
and housing, bending shaft.

Electrical Corrosion
• Also known as Fluting, is when electrical current passes through a bearing, arcing and
burning occur through the thin oil film at points of contact between the raceway and rolling
elements. The points of contact are melted locally to form “fluting” (groove like
corrugations). Magnification of fluting reveals crater like depressions indicating melting
by arcing.
• Possible causes: electric current passing through the bearing
Rust and Corrosion
• Bearing rust and corrosion are pits on the surface of rings and rolling elements and may
occur at the rolling element pitch on the rings or over the entire bearing surfaces.
• Possible causes: entry of corrosive gas/water/chemicals, improper lubricant, formation
of water droplets due to condensation, high temperature/humidity while stationary, poor
rust preventative treatment during transporting, improper storage/handling.

Mounting Flaws
• Straight line scratches on the surface of raceways or rolling elements caused during
mounting or dismounting of bearings.
• Possible causes: inclination of inner and outer rings during mounting or dismounting,
shock load during mounting or dismounting.
Discoloration
• Discoloration of cages, rolling elements, and raceway rings occurs due to their reaction
with lubricant at high temperatures.
• Possible causes: poor lubrication, oil stain due to a reaction with lubricant, exposure to
high temperature.