Comparison of rolling contact fatigue life between elastohydrodynamic lubricated point contacts pre and post running-in treatment.

Abstract

Running-in method was employed as the method to alter surface microstructures to explore the effect of various morphological characteristics on micropitting fatigue lives. Various rough surfaces were formed by applying experimental running in processes on a series of ball-on-disc pairs. The evolutions of topography during the running-in processes were recorded. Rolling contact fatigue lives of these rough surfaces under elastohydrodynamic lubricated condition were calculated and compared based on Zaretsky's fatigue model. The results have indicated that a running-in process has significantly positive effect on prolonging micropitting fatigue lives. Theoretical analysis of the relationship between topographical parameters and micropitting fatigue lives to ascertain optimum morphological characteristics which are beneficial in reducing micropitting fatigue failures is the key originality of this work.