TECHNICAL PAPER: EXPERIMENTAL AND ANALYTICAL METHODS FOR ASSESSING BEARING PERFORMANCE UNDER DEBRIS CONTAMINATED LUBRICATION CONDITIONS THE TIMKEN COMPANY

Debris particle contamination in lubricants has been identified as a major cause of premature bearing and gear fail-ure, with accompanying costs in equipment downtime, warranty, and lost productivity. Various experimental and predic-tive methods have been developed to assist the design engineer in analysis and development of equipment that is less sensitive to such contamination. This paper provides an overview and new data comparing bearing life test results and predictive analysis methods for various tapered roller bearings operating under debris-contaminated conditions. As a baseline, some past work in these areas is briefly summarized and referenced. Recent work has refined one analytical method (using a surface characterization technique), correlated this method with bearing test lives in debris conditions, and pointed to design and manufacturing modifications in the bearings themselves, making the bearings live longer in debris-contaminated environments