a Me er REFERENCE BOOKTABLE OF CONTENTS NOMENCLATURE 2 STRUCTURE a 3 REMOVAL/INSTALLATION . ns 4 OPERATION 6 PERFORMING FAILURE ANALYSIS 0.000 8 ABNORMAL CONDITIONS 9 CONTACT STRESS FATIGUE ... 10 PLASTIC YIELDING . 12 ADHESIVE WEAR as 15 ABRASIVE WEAR 15 CORROSION : a armrraraou 16 FRETTING CORROSION AND CREEP 16 ELECTRICAL PITTING AND FLUTING comin TT HANDLING AND INSTALLATION DAMAGE : 18 FRACTURES a4 BEARING PROBLEMS 23 CONCLUDING THE ANALYSIS : 24 FOREWORD ‘The purpose of this book is to explain and illustrate basic principles to be used in the analysis of anti-friction bearing failures. Information is condensed from the more complete Applied Failure Analysis Seminar. Anyone wanting more information about applied failure analysis should contact their local Caterpillar dealer.NOMENCLATURE Nu Ly BALL BEARING CYLINDRICAL ROLLER BEARING ‘A. Outer ring (race) A. Outer ring (race) B. Outer ring raceway B. Outer ring raceway C. Outer ring O. D. surface . Outer ring O. D. surface D. Cage D. Cage E. Balls E. Rollers F. Inner ring (race) F. Inner ring (race) G. Inner ring raceway G. Inner ring raceway H. Inner ring bore or |. D. surface H. Inner ring |. D. or bore surface | Ring Faces |. Ring faces J. Ribs TAPERED ROLLER BEARING Cup (outer ring or race) Cup raceway Cup 0. D. surface Front face of cup Back face of cup Cage Rollers Cone (inner ring or race) |. Cone raceway J. Cone I. D. or bore surface K. Front face of cone LL. Rib on front face of cone M. Back face of cone N. Rib on back face of cone roxmoom>STRUCTURE Anti-friction bearings are manufactured from top quality alloy bearing steels. Some are vacuum melted and most are vacuum degassed for maximum cleanliness, Rollers are also case hardened (to Re 60 minimum) and then ground to final dimension. Case hardening gives surfaces good resistance to wear and fatigue while maintaining a softer (Rc 25 - 40), tougher core. Races of most cylindrical and tapered roller bearings are case hardened to Re 58 minimum (Cross section surface is etched to highlight the hardened case depth) ‘Tempering temperatures are approximately 375° to 400° F C os Ball and spherical roller bearings are manufactured in a similar manner, except the races and rolling elements are generally through hardened. Hence, we see no case depth on the ball and race cross sections shown here.REMOVAL/INSTALLATION Itis very important to use the correct anti-riction bearings for the application and correct procedures for removing and. installing them. 1. Be sure to order bearings trom the Caterpillar parts system to avoid using standard bearings where “special bearings are called for. A video tape entitled “Caterpillar Ant-Friction Bearings’ (see photo below) explains the importance of using Caterpillar supplied bearings. Also bookte, “Straight Talk about Caterpillar Ant-frition Bearings" (see photo below) and pamphlet Form No. PEDP8110, discuss “standard” and ‘special bearings 2. Bearings, shafts and housing bores must be clean and free of dirt or other debris. 3. Proper tooling and procedures should be used to avoid excessive forces between races and rolling elements, and to avoid damaging races, housings and shafts (see illustration below), 4, Alignment of shafts and housings needs to be accurate. 5. The fit of bearings on shafts and in housing bores must be correct 6, Bearing adjustments (if called for) must be accurate. 7. Correct quantity, viscosity, and type of lubricant must be used. Refer to the Caterpillar parts system, service manuals and operation and maintenance manuals for the correct parts, tooling, procedures, and lubrication specifications. Video tape Form No. TEVN1412 and Booklet Form No. _Pressraces onto shafts or intohousings through only the PEDP6124. race being mounted.Drawn cup needle bearings need special care when installing 1. Press only on bearing information end of cup. 2. Press only to a specified depth, 3. Use proper tooling and procedures. 4. Follow service manual. Bese Mie ae UR oes Tapered roller bearings should be adjusted following service manual instructions. When checking end play, rotate the shaft or housing to be sure bearings are properly seated, Heating or freezing bearings for easier installation must be properly done. Use bearing heaters or freezing methods which are thermostatically controlled. Don'tuse ‘an open flame to heat bearings. Lubricant Use specified quantity, viscosity, and type of oilor grease, Both underfiling and overfiling compartments. can ‘overheat bearings. Overfiling can cause churning resulting inhigh temperatures and reduced lube viscosity.OPERATION tic wear patterns on raceway surfaces. Normal loads may produce characte Radial Load Radial Load © Inner Ring © Outer Ring Forte} Rotating ‘© Outer Ring © Inner Ring Stationary Stationary Normal raceway wear on a radially loaded ball bearing, Typical wear pattern for a radially loaded ball bearing. inner ring rotating outer ring rotating, Both Radial & Thrust Ball bearing with consistent high thrust loads in one Ball bearing with both thrust and radial loads. Note the direction only. larger wear pattern (downward) in the direction of the radial load.Normal wear patterns on cylindrical and tapered roller bearings are similar to those seen on ball bearings. Surfaces on the large ends of rollers and back face ribs of cones on tapered roller bearings can show some wear since “seating forces’ cause sliding loads between roller end faces and ribs. Heavy scoring, scuffing, metal displacement, heat discoloration, etc., however, would be abnormal Most cylindrical and tapered roller bearings willhavewear Some highly loaded bearings have special crown. They which is uniform across raceway and roller surfaces, may have wear patterns which are concentrated more toward the middle of the roller and raceway surfaces.PERFORMING THE ANALYSIS ole rmudiee cera Eight Steps of Applied Failure Analysis As discussed in the Applied Failure Analysis Wear and fracture facts should be obtained through ‘Management’ module, following an organized approach careful visual analysis of failed bearings and related such as The Eight Steps of Applied Failure Analysis is components. These facts will act as “road signs” which the quickest and surest way to identify the correct root guide us to correct root causes of failures. ‘cause of each failure and to satisfy users. Due to close manufacturing controls and high cleanliness steels used, anti-riction bearings are seldom the root cause of failure. Therefore, when bearings fail, we should carefully separate causes from results by identifying any abnormal operating conditions which could have weakened or overloaded them and by classifying wear and fracture types,ABNORMAL CONDITIONS ‘The most common types of bearing damage (not in order of priority) due to abnormal operating conditions are: Contact stress fatigue (spalling) Plastic yielding Adhesive wear Abrasive wear Corrosion Fretting Corrosion and Creep Electrical pitting and fluting Handling and installation damage 9. Fractures eNomsens Key points to remember when analyzing bearing failures are: 1. Most abnormal conditions will eventually cause high loads and/or temperatures on raceways and rolling elements. which will disturb the oil film, and cause abnormal wear, spaling and/or plastic yielding and ultimate failure. 2. When one damage type occurs, it may generate other damage types on the same part surface. As such, at the time of investigation, there may be two or more types of damage present, with the secondary damage overlaid on top of the initial damage. 3. Itis therefore desirable to investigate a failure in its earliest possible stages to most accurately determine the correct root cause. 4, We also need to be sure to consider all facts and possible conditions during our analysis.CONTACT STRESS FATIGUE overloaded and there is enough coo! oil to keep the bearing from softening, raceway and rolling elements can develop "Rolling Contact Stress Fatigue’ and spalling, Possible root causes are tapered roller bearings adjusted too loose, tapered roller bearings adjusted too tight, shaft too big or housing too small, out of round housing or shaft, tapered housing bore or shaft, misalignment, low viscosity lube, excessive applied loads, etc. II tapered roller bearings are adjusted too loose wear and _Rollersinloose bearings can be spalled on the small ends spalling will usually be on only a small portion of the from misalignment due to loss of adjustment. Cage stationary raceway. This bearing was so loose the rollers __ windows can also have lipping (rolled up burr) and "hour were not contacting it across its entire surface. glass” wear (window slightly wider at the end than toward, the middle). II tapered roller bearings are adjusted too tight, or are__The rollers and rotating raceway will also have an even. subjected to too much thrust, the stationary raceway will _wear/spall pattern indicating the cup and cone were usually have an even wearjspall pattern completely running too tightly during operation, around its circumference and from face to face. Note: The cage windows in this example are lipped and worn in an hour glass’ shape, but this happened after the wear and spalling allowed the tight or highly thrusted bearing to become loose.eee male! erento © Two or More Spalled / Worn Load. Wear/spaliing pattern on a race that is installed in or on the out of round part will show two or more load zones. {fa bore or shaft is tapered the contact pattern may be heavier where its tighter. Also, although not present on this example, fretting corrosion or fatigue cracking can ‘occur due to flexing where the race is not adequately ‘supported. The well-defined (straight) line at the edge of the heavier contact area may indicate there was actually a step in this housing bore. Misaligned shafts or housings can cause wear/spall patterns which wander from one face to the other of one Or both raceways. If allowed to run longer this raceway ‘could have developed contact stress fatigue and spalling. Low viscosity oil can result in more surface contact than normal and overload bearing surfaces causing rolling contact stress fatigue and spalling. The spall pattern may have an axial orientation (in line with the shaft)eee malls) Ete RSTelay © Two or More Spalled / Worn Load. zones, Wear/spaling pattern on a race that is installed in or on the out of round part will show two or more load zones. 4 fa: P ih Ifa bore or shaft is tapered the contact pattern may be heavier where its tighter. Also, although not present on this example, fretting corrosion or fatigue cracking can ‘occur due to flexing where the race is not adequately ‘Supported. The well-defined (straight) line at the edge of the heavier contact area may indicate there was actually a step in this housing bore. Misaligned shafts or housings can cause wear/spall patterns which wander from one face to the other of one Or both raceways. If allowed to run longer this raceway could have developed contact stress fatigue and spalling. Low viscosity oil can result in more surface contact than normal and overload bearing surfaces causing rolling contact stress fatigue and spalling, The spall pattern may have an axial orientation (inline with the shaft).PLASTIC YIELDING Plastic yielding can be caused by high temperatures and insufficient oil flim to separate surfaces or it can be caused by heavy loads which permanently deform bearing materials at normal temperatures. Possible root causes include oil ‘quantity (not enough or too much oil or grease), cil quality (too thick, too thin, etc.), high bearing loads, etc. Bearings which operate with no oil or grease usually [00k hot and dry with little orno burned, cooked, or carbonized cilon them. They will also show much plastic deformation from softening due to extreme heat. This differential pinion bearing failed when a plug worked out of the axle housing ‘The bearing cage and rollers also show signs of severe heat. The rollers are softened. Note the plastic yielding on them. The cage was deformed allowing the rollers to skew, stop turning, skid, cause adhesive wear and ‘generate even more heat. Closer look at plastically deformed rollers, 2 Other bearing races in the same system also showed heat. discoloration.wa A Bearings can overheat and plastically deform due to Damage can also begin with glazing, discoloration and reasons other than no oil or grease - Reasons such as _surface pitting ({rosting). lube quality, high temperatures, high loads, rough surface finishes, etc. Damage can begin with roughening and fine axial cracking as seen on the right of this raceway. Also plastic yielding, feathering orlippingcanoccur onthe _In ater stages, plastic yielding, discoloration, and damp, ‘edges of cage windows. Usually the window will not be cooked or carbonized oil can result if high temperatures worn to an ‘hour glass’ shape, however, unless are generated. adjustment is lost.PLASTIC YIELDING (Cont.) Dents all the way around raceways at the same spacing {as the rollers, with grinding marks in the bottom of the depressions, could indicate one race was pressed into position through the other race and rolling elements, This ‘condition is known as “true brineling’ Bruising is dents on the raceway and rolling elements ‘caused by large particles in the lube system such as metal from a gear or bearing failure. Dents in only a portion of the raceway circumference with undisturbed grinding marks and wear pattern in the bottom of the depressions indicate they were made by a shock load after the bearing was in operation for some time. This is also “true brining” If severe, bruising can progress into spalling.ADHESIVE WEAR ‘Adhesive wear (without gross plastic deformation) can occur if there is sufficient cool oil to control heat, but rollers stop turning and start sliding for some reason. Causes can include excessive cage wear or broken cages which allow rollers to skew and start skidding, ‘Adhesive wear with enough oil supply to cool parts. ABRASIVE WEAR ‘Abrasives such as dit or sand in lube systems can also cause bearing failures. Possible causes include debris built into the system, cracked housings or hoses, dirt entry through failed seals, contaminated grease, etc. With abrasive wear, we need to determine the exact source of the abrasive material. Use magnification to identify what type particle caused the wear. This will usually lead to the root cause. Fine abrasives in the oil usually result in a matte or satin finish on bearing raceway and roling element surfaces.CORROSION Bearings removed from a machine can rust very rapidly. Itis therefore good practice to protect removed bearings with ol grease, or other rust inhibitor until they are reinstalled. Corrosion can also occur after the bearingis installed. Many times, this will happen while the machine is shut down and produce a condition known as "static corrosion” or "black acid etching? ‘Atmospheric corrosion (rust) Static corrosion or black acid etching, FRETTING CORROSION AND CREEP Fretting corrosion and “Creep on |. D. or O. D. bearing bore surfaces indicate they have moved relative shafts or housings. Possible causes include shafts that are too small, housing bores that are too large, races that are forced to move because rolling elements stop turning due to roller skewing, foreign material being lodged between the rolling elements and the races, etc. Fretting corrosion on O. D. bore surface. “Creep’ - smooth, polished ©. D. bore surface and rib fave where this race has been turning excessively in the housing 16Fretting corrosion can also occur on raceway surfaces where rolling elements have vibrated under load while the bearing was not rotating ~ a condition called “false brinelling’. A possible cause could be vibration when shipping machinery along distance by rail Roller bearingouterrace with falsebrinelling. Marksareat —_Notice in this magnified view, that the original grinding same spacing as rollers. Grinding and normal wear marks are worn away where the roller vibrated against the patterns are disturbed distinguishing false brinelling from raceway. This is false brinelling. We now need to identify true brineliing, the source of vibration. ELECTRICAL PITTING AND FLUTING ‘The passage of electric current through bearings can damage them. Two major ways this can happen are relatively large ‘currents from such sources as arc welding in such a manner that current passes through the bearing while it is not rotating, or, relatively small currents over a prolonged period of time while the bearing is rotating. Large currents - large localized pits. Lower two pits are Small currents - Many smallpits - sometimes clusteredin ‘on the raceway. Upper matching pits are on one of the axial lines such as seen here called “fluting” rollers,HANDLING AND INSTALLATION DAMAGE If bearings are dropped or otherwise forcefully mishandled during removal or installation, races can be dented, cracked, chipped, smeared, scuffed or otherwise damaged, ‘This cone was struck by an external force on the rib face. This bearing cage was damaged by dropping the cone Note the impact damage with localized heat discoloration _before installation. Damage such as this could crack ‘rom the sliding action of the impact load on the rib face cages, causerollers to bind, skew, begin skidding and fall surface. Skidding and adhesive surface damage (scuffing) can _ Roller bearing ribs can be chipped or broken by driving also be caused by drying bearings after cleaning by one race in place through the other race and rolling spinning them with compressed air. elements. Cracks initiate On the inside of the ribs or snap ring grooves.This bearing was dented by installing it with a punch or _This same bearing was also removed with a chisel. Note chisel. If dents like this are deep enough they can initiate the chisel marks in the housing which could cause high fatigue cracks or spalling, spots behind bearings, reduced bearing clearances and result in overheating or spalling of surfaces, cy This cup is spalled in only a localized area onits raceway. The O.D. bore surface reveals two areas where the cup Although not shown here, there is another similar area __was not allowed to seat properly due to high spots in the about 120° around the cup's circumference. housing. These high spots reduced clearances and ‘caused localized overload and spalling on the raceway, 19HANDLING AND INSTALLATION DAMAGE (Cont.) This cup was cocked in its bore during installation. Asthe This portion of the cup surface is 180° opposite the shaft and cone were moved and adjusted into position, previous view. Note the brinell and smear marks are the raceway surface was smeared and brinelled due to. concentrated more toward the back face of the cup. the heavy misaligned pressure. The smear and brinell marks are concentrated toward the front face on this portion of the cup. ‘The O.D. bore surface near the back face of the cup also shows souff marks on only one portion of its circumference indicating it was not properly seated and had to straighten itself during shaft and cone installation, 20Common practices used in bearing removal are flame cutting inner races or shrinking outer races with weld bead, These practices should be avoided when possible, since uncontrolled heat is generated and physical damage can be done to housings or shafts. Consult the service manual for proper removal and installation tooling and procedures. This cup_was loosened in its bore by the weld bead Cone removed by flame cutting. The shaft was damaged method. The heat discoloration indicates there may have _both by raising ahigh spot on it and by cutting a groove in been excessive heat transmitted to the housing, it FRACTURES Fractures in antiriction bearing races or rolling elements are usually due to heavy overload or misalignment. All parts shown here and on the next page are from aD3 The gear on the shaft and its mating gear show signs of winch with approximately 100 SMU. severe misalignment. 21FRACTURES (Cont.) ‘The outer race of the bearing on one end of the shaft is fractured due to overload caused by the prying action of the misaligned shaft, > am Rees i Several of the rollers were split in half, with ductile fractures in the softer core and brittle fractures in the harder case material ‘The rib on the outer race of the bearing on the opposite end of the shaft has a brittle fracture indicating a severe shock load was applied The housing that supported one endof the shaft fractured first, causing misalignment. The fracture looks brittle indicating it could have been due to a shock load, However, fatigue fractures are often difficult to identify in cast iron, so abnormal stress raisers or cyclic overload should also be investigated,BEARING PROBLEMS Although its possible, material, forming, machining, heat treat, grinding and assembly problems are extremely rare in anti-riction bearings. This is due to the high cleanliness bearing steels and the strict quality control measures usedin their manufacture. As a result, only one example of a manufacturing problem is presented here. ‘This bearing failed after only a few hundred hours of operation. The cage is broken into many pieces. The outer race and balls look relatively normal. Only light ‘The inner race shows much plastic deformation. The scuffing is observed which is from the cage pieces —_notch on the outer edge of the race was easily cut with a rubbing against the race and balls as the cage was file. The hardness measured at less than Rc 20. breaking up. There is no evidence of excessive operating temperature (no heat discoloration) on the bearing or adjacent parts that could have softened the race. The inner race was therefore most probably not properly heat treatedCONCLUDING THE ANALYSIS een Ree ROR Cy Ack yoo ce ty oan aot) Every failure analysis should be pursued until the most probable root cause has been found. Thisis best done by following ‘an organized procedure such as the Eight Steps of Applied Failure Analysis, thinking with the facts, and using the ‘Double Check Question’ - ‘Is there any possible way the other party could have caused this failure?" During the analysis, we also need to investigate environmental facts such as heat, load, application, operation, and maintenance which often help us determine the root cause of failure. cea Cih The job is not finished when we have identified the most probable root cause of a failure. We now need to"Get The Payoff through communicating with the party responsible for the failure, making prompt, professional repairs and following up to insure the user's short and long term problems are solved,CATERPILLAR OTHER REFERENCE BOOKS Below is a listing of Reference Books included in the Applied Failure Analysis Series. As books on other topics and ‘components are completed, they will be announced in the. sual manner. FORM NO. TITLE ‘SEBVO549 Principles of Metallurgy ‘SEBVO554 Principles of Wear ‘SEBVO552 Principles of Fractures ‘SEBVO547 Principles of Visual Examinalion ‘SEBVO545 Threaded Fasteners SEBVO546 Connecting Rods SEAVO548 Crankshatts, ‘SEBVO544 Engine Bearings SEBVOS53 Pistons. Rings, and Liners ‘SEBVO551 Engine Valves ‘SEBVO5SO Turbochargers ‘SEBVO561 Goars ‘SEBVO562 Anti-triction Bearings ‘SEBVO563 Hydraulic Pumps and Motors ‘SEBVO565 Shafts ‘SEBVO566 Welds ‘SEBVOS67 Principles of Lubrication ‘SEBVO568 Complete Set of Above Reference Books ‘SEBvO562 #1990 Caterpiliar ine. Printed in U.S.