A METHOD FOR THE ASSESSMENT OF THE ROLLING CONTACT FATIGUE OF MODERN ENGINEERING MATERIALS IN LUBRICATED CONTACT

It is widely recognised that apart from scuffing, rolling contact fatigue (RCF) is one of the most predominant failure types in highly loaded non-conformal friction joints. The fatigue life of machine parts depends on many factors that can be divided into three groups: design, technology and operating conditions. The main factors influencing pitting are material properties, the geometry of the tribosystem, surface finish, dimensional precision, and working conditions as well as the physicochemical properties of the lubricant. The aim of this paper is to present the experimental method for determining fatigue life of modern engineering materials in lubricated rolling contact. The developed method allows an investigation into the effect of all these factors on rolling contact fatigue (pitting). The method is employed by using a modified four-ball testing machine denoted as T-03. The modification embraces the replacement of testing specimens. The upper ball is replaced with a cone that can be made of various materials. The method exhibits good resolution and is time and cost effective. It was successfully applied to the investigation into various types of surface coatings including single, multilayer and duplex coatings. This method can be employed by using a widespread four-ball apparatus