Investigation of Residual Compressive Stresses In Rolling Bearing Components and Their Impact on the Rating Life
An option to increase efficiency in drive train applications is the downsizing of rolling bearings. However it must be taken into account that this will reduce the load carrying capacity of the bearing. Therefore, it is necessary to increase its fatigue life. Based on this approach, this paper focuses on the selectively introducing of residual compressive stresses in rolling bearing components to increase the rating life. Several methods which introduce residual compressive stresses will be presented and compared. With the aid of different equivalent stress analyses, the calculative impact on the contact will be identified and the effect on the rating life qualitatively assessed. In addition to theoretical observations, the results of tests on rolling bearing rating life will be presented. This will prove experimentally that the rating life was increased by means of residual compressive stresses in areas subjected to rolling contact fatigue.