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Test Rig For Friction Torque Measurement in Rolling Bearings

Article  in  The Durham University journal. University of Durham · January 2004

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 THE ANNALS OF UNIVERSITY “DUNĂREA DE JOS “ OF GALAŢI 85
FASCICLE VIII, 2004, ISSN 1221-4590
TRIBOLOGY

TEST RIG FOR FRICTION TORQUE MEASUREMENT

IN ROLLING BEARINGS
Viorel PALEU, Spiridon CREŢU, Barbu DRĂGAN, Rodica BĂLAN
Technical University “Gh. Asachi” of IASI, Mechanical Engineering Faculty, Machine Design and Mechatronics
Department, Iasi, Romania
vpaleu@mec.tuiasi.ro

ABSTRACT
To supervise both the evolutions of the friction torque and the equilibrium
temperature in the high-speed rolling bearings, a test rig able to run up to 120,000
rpm has been developed. In order to monitor the friction torque, modern acquisition
data techniques and a virtual instrument were employed.
Tests were carried-out on all-steel and hybrid ball bearings from 7206 C series.
The running parameters corresponded to high-speed, oil-mist lubrication and axially
pure light loads conditions.
According to the results of our tests, the friction torque and the developed
temperature in hybrid rolling bearings are lower than in geometrically similar all-
steel bearings.

KEYWORDS: test rig, silicone nitride, hybrid ball bearings, oil mist.

1. INTRODUCTION Different lubrication methods, as under-race oil

In the seventh decade of the twentieth century,
the hybrid rolling bearings with ceramic rolling
elements became the subject of many researches, as
indicated by [2, 3, 8, 9, 10] and the references cited
in.
From ceramics, silicon nitride is the most
employed due to its special properties. The main
advantage of silicon nitride is the lower density, about
40 % from that of rolling bearing steel. This draws to
important reductions of the centrifugal forces acting
on ceramic balls.
Silicon nitride has a lot of other special
properties: low thermal expansion coefficient, high
thermal and chemical stability, high strength and
hardness, non-magnetic and electrically insulator.
Nowadays, hybrid rolling bearings with steel
races and ceramic balls are widely used to support the
shaft of high-speed machine tools. The hybrid ball
bearings provide better stiffness, increasing the
machining precision.
The silicon nitride (Si3N4) has a reduced thermal
expansion coefficient, keeping in narrower limits the
clearances in hybrid rolling bearings. As a result, it
allows an increase of the running speed and
machining precision.
Hybrid rolling bearings, with steel rings and
ceramic elements, are engaged in other high-speed
special applications, as in aircraft gas turbine engines
and cruise missile turbine shaft [12].
jet and oil-mist, were tried for all-steel and hybrid
rolling bearings [1, 11]. The tested rolling bearings
belonged to very large series (pitch diameter of
around 150-250 millimeters), higher values of the
speed parameter (pitch diameter x shaft speed) being
obtained at average values of the shaft speed (about
10,000 rpm).
It is the goal of this paper to present a test rig
and a new device for the testing at high speed of small
to mean bore diameter ball bearings (inner ring bore
diameter of 30 mm), lubricated by oil mist.
The tests aimed to a speed parameter around 2 x
106 mm x rpm, as used in machine tools and auxiliary
bearings of turbine engine.
2. MATERIALS
All-steel and hybrid angular contact rolling
bearings from 7206CTAP4 series were tested on a
high-speed test rig, the only difference between the
two types of bearings being the balls’ material: AISI
52100 rolling bearing steel and silicon nitride (Si3N4),
respectively.
The dimensional precision of rolling bearing
elements and their physical properties are indicated in
Table 1.
The chemical composition of AISI 52100 steel
is: C: 0.95 - 1.1 %, Si: 0.17 - 0.37 %, Mn: 0.25 - 0.45
%, Cr: 1.30 - 1.65 % (in wt. %).
86 THE ANNALS OF UNIVERSITY “DUNĂREA DE JOS “ OF GALAŢI
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Table 1. Dimensional precision and physical properties of rolling bearing elements

Rolling bearing type Steel and hybrid rolling Steel rolling Hybrid rolling Bearings
bearings bearings
Material Silicon nitride
Rolling bearing steel (AISI 52100) (HIP Si3N4)
Ball grade 3
Inner ring Outer ring Balls
Parameter and unit system
Diameter, [mm] 30 62 9.525
Roughness, Ra [µm] 0.07.. 0.1 0.065.. 0.1 0.018.. 0.035 0.01.. 0.014
Poisson coefficient, ν 0.3 0.25
Density, ρ [Kg/ m3] 7800 3200
Elasticity modulus, E [GPa] 208 314
Hardness @ 20 0C, HV10 700 1700
[Kg/ mm2]
Thermal conductivity @ 20 0 C, λ, 43 30.7
[W/m/0C]
Specific heat, c [J/Kg/0C] 460 810

Table 2. Properties of H9 hydraulic mineral oil

Parameter and unit system Value
31.2849 (@300 C)
Viscosity, [cSt] 14.4396 (@500 C)
6.8715 (@750 C)
Density, [Kg/m3] 895 (@ 150 C)
Thermal conductivity, [W/m/0C] 0.14 (@ 20 0 C)
Specific heat, [J/Kg/0C] 2000

In addition, it must be noticed that the cage was
made from textile-reinforced phenolic resin and is
outer race guided. Cage to outer and inner ring radial
clearances are: J c e ∈ (0.2.. 0.252 ) mm,
J c i ∈ ( 1.65.. 1.725) mm, respectively. Ball to cage
clearance is J bc ∈ (0.137.. 0.162 ) mm.
The mentioned parameters are indicated as mean
values measured on about four series of ten rolling
bearings.
During all the tests, the rolling bearings were
lubricated with hydraulic mineral oil H9, its
properties being indicated in table 2.
3. TEST RIG
General views of the test rig are given in Fig. 1
and figure 2. The box bed, noted as (1) in figure 1, of
the test rig weights about 3 tones, assuring a good
stiffness and vibration damping capacity. Belts on the
box bed fix a rigid metallic vertical support (2). A
dovetail guide (3), and an elastic hub (4) supports the
motor spindle. A back-to-back precision tandem of 2
angular ball bearings from small series sustains the
caned coil motor spindle. These rolling bearings of
the motor spindle are lubricated by textile oil-mist,
supplied by the oil-mist device (6), and lubrication
circuit (6’).
The cooling of the motor spindle house is
realized by a return cooling system (7), assuring a
continuously flux of could tap water.
The spindle of the testing device (8), is clamped
by screwing up at the end of the motor spindle. Both
the motor spindle and the spindle of the tested device
were equilibrated as the maximum run out to be less
than 2 micrometers.
A spindle sustaining the face-to-face tandem of
testing rolling bearings composes the testing device,
schematically presented in Fig. 3.
An external axial charge is realized by screwing
a taped piece into device’s house. The taped piece
pushes on the testing rolling bearings, by the mean of
16 pairs of loading springs and by a loading sleeve.
The testing rolling bearings are lubricated by
oil-mist lubrication, realized by a separated oil-mist
device, (9). This is supplied into the testing device by
a lubrication circuit, and a double nozzle (10).
With the purpose of directing the oil-air mixture
to ball and inner ring contact of the testing rolling
bearings, an inclination of 15 degrees was provided
for the axis of the two opposite holes of the
lubricating nozzle.
 THE ANNALS OF UNIVERSITY “DUNĂREA DE JOS “ OF GALAŢI 87
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blocks the pin, screwed-up in the house of the rotating

testing device.
There is no direct contact between the block of
house - charging pieces - outer rings of testing rolling
4 bearings, and the block of spindle – inner rings, the
movement from the spindle to the house being
transmitted only by balls/ races and cage/ races
3 contacts. To avoid the touch between the nozzle and
5
the house, a 25 degrees circular slit was executed into
the house. The speed of the motor spindle was varied
by a frequency static converter equipped with
11 overcharge protectors.
10
4. DATA ACQUISITION CHAIN AND
VIRTUAL INSTRUMENT
Data acquisition chain allows the monitoring of the
2 friction moment at the outer race level of the face-to-
face testing rolling bearing. The acquisition chain is
schematically shown in figure 4, having the next
structure (see also fig. 2):
1 • The mechanical structure is composed by the
rolling bearings’ house, a blocking pin, an
metallic elastic leaf and two strain gages of 120
Fig. 1. Test rig – motor spindle and testing device. Ω electrical resistance brazed on each side of the
metallic leaf.
To measure the friction moment at the outer race • The strain gages bridge SC-2043-SG National
level within the tested bearings, a metallic elastic leaf Instruments (12), directly connected the strain
(11), with two resistive strain gages brazed on it, was gages to the acquisition board.
screwed in the vertical support. This metallic leaf

6’

8
Laser
Raynger MX4

12

PC
6
9
Fig. 2. General view of the test rig and data acquisition techniques.
88 THE ANNALS OF UNIVERSITY “DUNĂREA DE JOS “ OF GALAŢI
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Fig. 3. Testing device

Fig. 4. Data acquisition chain

Fig. 5. Front panel of LabVIEW Virtual Instrument.

 THE ANNALS OF UNIVERSITY “DUNĂREA DE JOS “ OF GALAŢI
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In figure 5 the front panel of the LabVIEW
made Virtual Instrument is presented. The strain
gages were calibrated by dead weights method,
according to the figure 6. To estimate the mean
temperature of the testing device, a laser Raynger
MX4 apparatus was used (fig. 2).
This apparatus measures the intensity of the
infrared radiations emitted by the target body and
calculates its surface temperature. At the apparatus we
can also use a J or K thermocouple, for direct contact
estimation of body’s surface temperature.
0.1
0.075
M [N*m]
0.05
0.025
0 During all the tests, the lubricant was supplied
0 400 800 1200 1600
U [V]
Fig. 6. Calibration of the strain gages
5. THEORETICAL MODEL
To evaluate the friction moment in all-steel and
hybrid ball bearings, a theoretical model was used,
this model being entirely presented by authors in [7].
It extends to the high-speed domain the friction model
proposed by Houpert [4,5] for low to mean speed
rolling bearings.
The friction moment at the outer and inner race
level, Me and Mi, respectively, is given by equation
(1):
( )
M i( e ) = FS i( e ) + FRi( e ) Ri( e ) + MP ± M p (1)
The friction forces on ball and races contacts
can be computed from the equations of equilibrium of
forces and moments acting on balls [7]. The final
relationship for friction moment assessment is
expressed by relationship (2):
 dMRi( e ) + dMER + 
M i( e ) == ∑  ±M p
 
Z  + dMC + dMBi( e ) + dMP 
where :
FSi(e)= sliding force on ball and inner or ball and
outer race contacts, respectively;
Ri(e)= equivalent radius of ball and inner or ball
and outer race contacts, respectively;
dMR= elementary friction moment (one ball
contribution) produced by sliding and rolling
forces acting on ball and races contacts, FSi(e);
89
dMER= elementary elastic rolling moment
(Heathcote sliding [6]);
dMC= elementary curvature moment, dMC, due
to the micro-sliding on ball-and races contacts;
dMP= elementary pivoting moment acting on
balls;
dMB= elementary resistant moment created by
braking and drag forces and moments acting on
balls, FB, FD, MB, and MDb, respectively;
Mp= resistant moment due to oil-mist pressure
acting on house device.
6. TEST DESCRIPTION
Tests were carried out on tandems of face-to-
face mounted all-steel and hybrid ball bearings from
7206CTAP4 series.
Before the test, a running-in was made for each
tandem of rolling bearings, at a speed of 10 000 rpm
and 200 N axial preload, until the monitored friction
moment became stable (usually around 2 hours of
running-in).
2000 into the rolling bearings’ house as an oil-air mixture
composed by feeding 16 drops of H9 mineral oil in a
draught of air at 2.4 Bars.
It was considered as a valid experimental data,
the mean value of friction moment of five identically
repeated experiments.
6.1. Comparative tests
Accelerated tests were carried-out varying the
running speed and keeping constant all the other
parameters. The testing device was heated at a
superior temperature than that established for the start
of the tests: 720C. To get a homogenized temperature,
the device was naturally cooled until the desired
temperature was reached. A pure axially load was
applied to the device in two steps: firstly 200 N and
secondly 400 N. The limit running speed for all steel
bearings was 35,000 rpm, while for the hybrid
bearings the maximum attended speed was 44,000
rpm.
6.2. Tests to evaluate the equilibrium
temperature
(2)
To establish the equilibrium temperature of the
testing device, the rolling bearings were 200 N axially
loaded. The running speed was kept at a constant
value of 30 000 rpm. The temperature variation was
continuously monitored in time by the laser Raynger
MX4 apparatus, calibrated for stainless steel. It was
considered as equilibrium temperature, the value of
the temperature which rested unchanged for at least
ten minutes.
90 THE ANNALS OF UNIVERSITY “DUNĂREA DE JOS “ OF GALAŢI
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7. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
The results of comparative tests (see fig. 7),
developed on geometrically identical all-steel and
hybrid ball bearings, have shown that the measured
friction moment was lower in hybrid bearings for the
high speed range (speed parameter greater than 0.46 x
10 6 mm x rpm).
The greater the speed and applied load, the
greater the friction moment. The centrifugal forces
acting on ceramic balls are smaller than those acting
on steel balls, because of the lower density of silicon
nitride. Accordingly, there are diminished contact
loads and friction forces on ceramic balls and outer
race contacts.
For the equilibrium temperature tests, the results
are presented in figure 8. It can be observed that the
equilibrium temperature in hybrid ball bearings
tandem is lower than in similar all steel, but was
reached during a longer period of time.
To understand and explain this phenomenon, it
must be noticed that at high speed (e.g., 30,000 rpm)
there is always direct contact between the surface
asperities of balls and races, the lubrication conditions
corresponding to the mixed regime for both the all-
steel and hybrid bearings, as shown by the authors in
[7].
As compared to the steel balls, the silicon nitride
balls have a better surface quality (see table 1).

0.1
S - N (Fa=400 N) S - E (Fa=400 N)
0.09
S - N (Fa=200 N) S - E (Fa=200 N)
0.08
H - N (Fa=400 N) H - E (Fa=400 N)
0.07
H - N (Fa=200 N) H - E (Fa=200 N)
0.06
M e [N*m]

0.05

0.04

0.03

0.02

0.01

0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
3
N [rpm] x 10

Fig. 7. Friction moment versus running speed and axial load

Notations: S - N = numerical results for all-steel rolling bearings
S - E = experimental results for all-steel rolling bearings;
H - N = numerical results for hybrid rolling bearings;
H - E = experimental results for hybrid rolling bearings.

90
80
70
60
▲ Hibrid
Steel
T [ C]

50
● Otel
Hybrid
0

40
30
20
7206C – DF seria
Rulmenti rolling bearings
7206CTAP4 - DF

10
N=30 N000
= 30rpm, Fa=200
000 [rpm]; Fa= 200N[N]

0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
t [min]

Fig. 8. Mean temperature of the house versus time.

 THE ANNALS OF UNIVERSITY “DUNĂREA DE JOS “ OF GALAŢI
FASCICLE VIII, 2004, ISSN 1221-4590
TRIBOLOGY
Additionally, the sliding speed and lubricant
shear rate on ball and races contacts of all-steel rolling
bearings have superior values, even for similar
geometry and identical running conditions [7].
As a result, greater temperature values are
obtained in all-steel bearings, as well the rapid
reaching of the equilibrium temperature.
Mild friction occurred in ball and races contacts
of hybrid bearings, the viscosity of the lubricant being
greater because of the lower temperature. A more
viscous lubricant assures a better separation between
the contact surfaces. Consequently, it took more time
to achieve the equilibrium temperature in hybrid
bearings, but the equilibrium temperature is smaller.
8. CONCLUSIONS
In order to evaluate the friction torque and the
equilibrium temperature in high-speed rolling
bearings, a test rig and a new testing device were
realized.
To increase the precision of measurements,
modern data acquisition techniques were employed.
All-steel and hybrid ball bearings from 7206C
series were tested in oil-air lubrication and light pure
axial load conditions.
The comparative tests demonstrate that the
friction moment is lower in hybrid bearings,
especially at high speed.
The equilibrium temperature, measured on
rolling bearing house by a laser Raynger MX4
apparatus, is more rapid reached in all-steel bearings
and the value is greater than in hybrid bearings, even
the running parameters were the same.
The attained speed parameter during tests was
around 2 x 106 mm x rpm, as used in machine tools
and auxiliary bearings of turbine engine.
The performances of hybrid rolling bearing
tandem at high speed are explained by the reduced
centrifugal forces acting on balls and by better surface
quality of the silicon nitride balls.
View publication stats
91
To validate the experimental results, an
analytical model was proposed. A good agreement
was found between the experimental and theoretical
results.
More tests are requested to elucidate the
behavior of hybrid silicon nitride rolling bearings in
heavy loads and oil mist lubrication applications.
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