Wear 271 (2011) 24712476

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Short communication

Fatigue failure of all-steel and steelsilicon nitride rolling ball combinations

Mohsen Mosleh a, , Keron Bradshaw a , John H. Belk b , John C. Waldrop III b
a
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Howard University, Washington, DC 20059, United States
b
The Boeing Company, St. Louis, MO 63166, United States

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The fatigue life of all-steel and silicon nitridesteel ball combinations with a focus on the fatigue life
Received 27 August 2010 of the steel components was experimentally studied using a four-ball tester. The rolling contact fatigue
Received in revised form (RCF) tests were conducted according to the IP-300 standard with a rotational speed of 10,000 rpm. The
20 December 2010
L10 of the AISI M50 tool steel components rolling against silicon nitride (Si3 N4 ) balls were observed to be
Accepted 21 December 2010
6 times shorter than that of all-M50 steel bearing congurations. Also, the L10 life of the AISI 52100/Si3 N4
combination was 2.3 times shorter than the L10 of all-AISI 52100-steel systems. Since the RCF life of a
rolling system is determined by the life of its rst component to fail, the steel/silicon nitride hybrid rolling
Keywords:
Hybrid bearing
combinations overall advantage over all-steel ones using the currently used steel bearing materials such
Four-ball tester as AISI 52100 and M50 is questionable.
Rolling contact fatigue 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction development stages of silicon nitride elements, material poros-

Rolling bearings in applications such as gas turbine engines,
high speed machine-tool spindles and similar applications are sub-
jected to extreme speed and loading conditions. For instance, the
DN values (bearing bore diameter in mm multiplied by the rota-
tional speed in rpm) in special aerospace application has reached
to 23 millions and is desired to approach 3.54 millions in future
bearings for satisfying the most stringent aerospace requirements
[1]. The most commonly used bearing materials, including ANSI
52100 steel for general applications and VIMVAR (vacuum induc-
tion melted vacuum arc re-melted) AISI M50 tool steel for certain
special aerospace applications, can generate large centrifugal forces
at ultra high speeds that limit their load capacity.
In addition, steel bearing components do not retain their hard-
ness beyond 300 C. At operating temperatures beyond 375 C, even
the most advanced high temperature liquid lubricants degrade and
cause severe dry tribological conditions for the bearing. These lim-
itations have prompted research in development of technologies
and alternative bearing materials for these demanding conditions.
One material that has recently gained signicant attention in
bearing applications is silicon nitride. Its many attractive character-
istics and properties, including low density, high thermal stability,
corrosion resistance and high hardness make it an excellent can-
didate for the rolling bearing components. However, in the early
Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 202 806 6622; fax: +1 202 453 1396.
E-mail address: mmosleh@howard.edu (M. Mosleh).
ity, inclusions and machining or polishing damages to the surface
caused premature fatigue failure [24]. More recent manufactur-
ing processes such as hot isostatically pressing (HIPed) produce
high quality Si3 N4 ceramics that have shown promising results
for rolling bearing applications [1]. Rolling contact fatigue (RCF)
results have revealed that HIPed Si3 N4 balls made of Toshiba TSN-
03H or Cerbec NBD-200 blanks have several times longer life than
steel components [58]. Most signicantly, HIPed silicon nitride
components fail in non-catastrophic fatigue spalling or delami-
nation modes [9]. Therefore, the concept of steelsilicon nitride
hybrid bearings has been widely pursued in the last two decades
because of the potential for yielding higher load capacity, higher
speed, and operation in severe environments. Some of the con-
cerns about silicon nitride components are low fracture toughness
that can cause manufacturing-induced defects resulting in catas-
trophic failure, low consistency levels of key properties, and high
cost [1,10,11].
While much research has been focused on a variety of issues
related to the tribological properties of the silicon nitride com-
ponent of hybrid bearings, there is lack of understanding of the
behavior of their metallic components. In particular, the role of
surface roughness, lubricant, contaminations and external parti-
cles, material porosity, surface crack defects, etc. on the RCF life
of HIPed silicon nitride of hybrid bearings is extensively studied
but there has been much less consideration of the RCF life of the
steel counterpart [1217]. Based on the fact that silicon nitride has
a higher elasticity than steel, the maximum Hertzian contact stress
in a hybrid bearing that utilizes a silicon nitride ball is expected
to be higher than the corresponding stress in all-steel bearings.

0043-1648/$ see front matter 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.wear.2010.12.051
2472 M. Mosleh et al. / Wear 271 (2011) 24712476

Table 1
Nomenclature Material combinations for RCF tests.

Test Upper ball Lower ball Cup

contact angle ( )
Set 1 AISI 52100 AISI 52100 AISI 52100
H Hertzian contact stress
Set 2 AISI 52100 HIPed Si3 N4 AISI 52100
Pmachine applied load in the tester Set 3 M50 M50 M50
Pcontact normal contact load Set 4 M50 HIPed Si3 N4 M50
p life-load exponent
n Hertz stress-life exponent
Table 2
R ball radius Specications of ball specimens.
 Poissons ratio
Properties AISI 52100 ball M50 ball Silicon nitride ball
E modulus of elasticity
U Linear speed Hardness (Rc) 6067 6065 7680
surface roughness RMS Roughness (nm) 48.75 48.25 39
Diameter (mm) 12.7 12.7 12.7
 specic oil lm parameter (lambda) Modulus (GPa) 210 200 310
L fatigue life (millions of cycles) Poissons ratio 0.3 0.3 0.26
L10 life at which 10% of tested samples fail (in cycles) Density (g/cc) 7.81 7.97 3.27
L50 life at which 50% of tested samples fail (in cycles)
lower balls was 1.96 mm above the oil level in the cup. Also, the
lowest point of the upper ball during the test was approximately
Therefore, the L10 fatigue life of the system is anticipated to be 0.43 mm above the oil level. The oil owed from a reservoir into the
shorter due to the failure of the steel components [1,18]. cup from its bottom hole by gravity and spilled over from the cup
In this paper, the RCF life of the metallic elements of silicon into the oil-circulating line. A suction pump delivered the spilled oil
nitride hybrid bearings is experimentally studied. In the selected into the oil reservoir through a lter with 38 m rating. Approxi-
testing procedure, the accelerated fatigue of the metallic counter- mately, 70% of the lower balls height was submerged in the oil
face was the subject of this study. The term fatigue damage in during the tests. For the four-ball tester, the normal contact load
this paper refers to all types of surface damages that the ball speci- Pcontact is calculated from:
mens in the four-ball tester experienced including fatigue spalling,
Pmachine
delamination and pitting. Pcontact = (1)
3 cos(40.56 )

2. Apparatus, materials and procedure where Pmachine is the applied load in the tester.

2.1. Four ball fatigue tester 2.2. Materials and specimens

A custom-made Koehler TR-30H four-ball tester with a maxi-
mum rotating speed and normal load of 10,000 rpm and 10,000 N,
respectively, was utilized. Through the systems computer inter-
face, the test conditions such as speed, load, and oil temperature
were controlled and recorded during the tests. A maximum oil
temperature of 100 C could be obtained and controlled. The angle
between the line of centers and the vertical axis for the system was
40.56 as shown in Fig. 1. The contact point between the upper and
Four sets of RCF tests were conducted as shown in Table 1. The
HIPed Si3 N4 balls were made of Toshiba TSN-03H blank. The spec-
ications of the tested balls are shown in Table 2. The lubricant
for all tests was Mobil SHC 626 Bearing and Motor oil. The oil
in the reservoir was replaced with fresh oil after completion of 6
tests, when oil begun to show slight discoloration. The oil kinematic
viscosity was 66 cSt and 10.3 cSt at 40 C and 100 C, respectively.
The specic gravity for the oil was 0.86 at 15 C.

Fig. 1. Schematic representation of the ball/cup assembly in the four-ball tester. Dimensions are given in mm.
 M. Mosleh et al. / Wear 271 (2011) 24712476 2473

2.3. Test procedure

Before each test, samples were cleaned with acetone left to

dry in air. IP 300 standard was followed in all RCF tests. How-
ever, the normal load was chosen to be 3922 N with a deviation of
50 N because fatigue failure time under this load was less than 1 h.
Other test conditions included an initial temperature of 50 C and
a rotational speed of 10,000 rpm. The temperature linearly rose to
approximately 85 C during the tests. The maximum Hertzian con-
tact stress corresponding to the applied normal load was 7.6 GPa
for AISI 52100/AISI 52100, 8.49 GPa for AISI 52100/Si3 N4 , 7.36 GPa
for M50/M50, 8.33 GPa for M50/Si3 N4 combinations. The increase
in the maximum Hertzian contact stress from test set 1 to set 2 and
from test set 3 to set 4 are 11.7% and 13.1%, respectively.
In each test, the lower balls were placed in the cup where they
were allowed to rotate freely. The cup was then xed securely into
Fig. 2. Fatigue life of AISI 52100 upper ball against AISI 52100 and Si3N4 lower
the ball pot and the splash guard mounted and fastened to pre- balls. Maximum contact stress for 52100/52100 and 52100/Si3N4 combinations
vent oil spillage during the machine operation. Tubes connected were 7.6 and 8.49 GPa, respectively. The rotational speed and normal contact load
to the ball pot allowed for the circulation of the lubricating uid temperature were 10,000 rpm and 3922 N, respectively.
which also aided in the control of oil temperature. The test was then
run and the length of time to failure of the upper ball monitored
and recorded. Samples were deemed to have failed when vibra-
tions caused by spalling/pitting of the upper ball, lower balls, or
the ball cup exceeded a pre-set value. These vibrations were mon-
itored through the use of an accelerometer mounted onto the ball
pot, which would transmit signals to a pitting detector through-
out the duration of each test. Once the vibrations exceeded this
pre-set value, the equipment was automatically shut down. Failure
for each sample was thus dened as the onset of spalling/pitting
which coincided with a sharp increase in the frictional torque and
the automatic shut-off of the tester. In the event that the upper ball
displayed signs of damage its fatigue life was recorded and it was
replaced with a new upper ball. In the event that any or all of the
lower balls showed signs of damage the length of time for this to
occur was recorded. The entire test would then be repeated with
new upper and lower balls in place. After each test, the rolling track
on the cup was visually examined for damage. If any damage was Fig. 3. Fatigue life of M50 upper ball against M50 and Si3N4 lower balls. Maxi-
detected or the number tests on the cup reached 24, the cup was mum contact stress for M50/M50 and M50/Si3N4 combinations were 7.36 and 8.33
changed. GPa, respectively. The rotational speed and normal contact load temperature were
10,000 rpm and 3922 N, respectively.
The term fatigue cycles in this paper refers to the upper ball
revolutions. However, it is suggested in the literature to multiply
the upper ball revolutions by a stress factor 2.25 to obtain the true
test assemblies in Figs. 2 and 3. Both AISI 52100 and M50 upper balls
stress cycles that the upper ball experiences [19,20].
experienced a shorter fatigue life when tested against silicon nitride
lower balls. In general, the slope of fatigue failure data for M50
3. Results and discussion
against silicon nitride is much greater than that of 52100 against
silicon nitride.
3.1. Data analysis
Table 3 shows a summary of the L10 and L50 life of the upper
balls in all-steel and steelsilicon nitride congurations. The L10 of
The two-parameter Weibull distribution was chosen for rep-
52100/silicon nitride and M50/silicon nitride combinations is 43%
resentation of the results [21,22]. The two parameters, scale
and 16% of 52100/52100 and M50/M50 combinations, respectively.
parameter (also called the Characteristic Life) and the shape param-
The fatigue damage on the ring of upper balls is shown in Fig. 4.
eter, were derived from a normalized version of the Weibull
The silicon nitride lower ball did not experience any fatigue when
function. In order to plot the experimentally obtained values in
used against 52100 upper balls. However, when the upper ball was
this format, the median ranks method was used. The data was
M50, silicon nitride lower balls experienced fatigue after several
arranged in ascending order of cycles to failure, and the median
M50 fatigued. Fig. 4(e) shows the fatigue spalling of a silicon nitride
rank values were calculated. The Weibull Probability plot was
lower ball. Since the four ball tester was automatically shut down
generated by substituting each samples fatigue life and its cor-
at the onset of fatigue damage to the balls, the damages to the steel
responding rank into the normalized Weibull function. Using the
balls in Fig. 4 might not show severe spall characteristics.
shape and scale parameters, the reliability data for a range of life
cycles was generated. From the reliability data, the L10 and L50 life
for each sample type was calculated. Table 3
Summary of fatigue life for the upper ball (104 cycles).
3.2. Weibull plots and fatigue failure
RCF life 52100/52100 52100/Si3 N4 M50/M50 M50/Si3 N4

The RCF life of steel upper balls (representing the inner raceway L10 6.68 2.9 11.78 1.94
L50 12.11 3.9 95.45 15.2
in a ball bearing) is plotted for the all-steel and steelsilicon nitride
2474 M. Mosleh et al. / Wear 271 (2011) 24712476

Fig. 4. Fatigue damages on tested specimens. Maximum Hertzian contact stress for 52100/52100, 52100/Si3N4, M50/M50 and M50/Si3N4 combinations were 7.6, 8.49, 7.36,
and 8.33 GPa, respectively. The rotational speed and normal contact load temperature were 10,000 rpm and 3922 N, respectively.

The frictional torque for all material combinations are plotted
in Fig. 5. The frictional torque of M50 against silicon nitride is 50%
lower than the M50/M50 combination. The frictional torque of AISI
52100/silicon nitride is also slightly smaller than the torque for AISI
52100 against AISI 52100.
3.3. Gross plastic deformation of running track on upper balls
The calculated maximum Hertzian contact stresses in all test
combinations exceeded the yield and tensile strengths of the rolling
elements. Therefore, gross plastic deformation of the balls occurred.
This plastic deformation, in turn, reduces the maximum contact
stress calculated based on the Hertzian contact calculations. The
deviation of the width of the running track on the upper ball from
the predicted width value based on the Hertzian contact theory is
shown in Table 4. The measured width is the average of running
track widths of 12 tested upper balls at locations with no fatigue
spalls.
The data in Table 4 suggests that the plastic deformation
of AISI 52100 is more extensive than that of AISI M50, espe-
cially when they are rolled against silicon nitride balls. Some
smearing and plastic deformation was observed on the running
 M. Mosleh et al. / Wear 271 (2011) 24712476 2475

Fig. 5. Frictional torque of AISI 52100 bearings (a) and M50 bearings (b). The rotational speed and normal contact load temperature were 10,000 rpm and 3922 N, respectively.

track of the upper balls in regions with no apparent fatigue
damage.
3.4. Elastohydrodynamic (EHL) lm thickness and lubrication
regime
The central lm thickness for a circular contact between spheres
can be calculated from the following equation [23]:
are the dynamic viscosity and the pressure-viscosity coefcient
of the lubricant at the inlet oil temperature. The highest oil tem-
perature of 85 C in the RCF tests was considered in determining
the oil viscosity to account for the worst case lubrication scenario.
Subscripts 1 and 2 refer to the upper and lower balls.
The calculated central lm thickness is shown in Table 5. Since
the contact is not fully ooded, the contact lubricant ow number
was also calculated. This number was used to nd the EHL lm

h

U
0.67 P 0.067 reduction factor which was multiplied by the central lm thickness
contact to obtain the reduced lm thickness [24].
(E  )
0.53

= 1.92 (2)
R R E   2
RE Based on the reduced lm thickness and the composite surface
0.5
where h is the central lm thickness, R and E are the reduced roughness  = (12 + 22 ) , the lambda ratio  = h/ was calculated.
1 Since lambda is less than 1, marginal lubrication condition existed.
radius (1/R1 + 1/R2 )1 and modulus ((1 v21 )/E1 + (1 v22 )/E2 ) of

the contacting solids, U is the mean linear speed (U1 + U2 )/2,  and The surface smearing accompanied with wear on some parts of the
running tracks points to this poor lubrication condition.

Table 4
Comparison of width of the running track on the upper ball with the contact width
determined based on the Hertzian contact formulation. Table 5
EHL lm thickness and lambda factor.
Ball combination Hertzian contact Measured contact Ratio of measured
width on upper width on upper to actual width Ball combination EHL central lm EHL reduced lm 
ball (mm) ball (mm) thickness (m) thickness (m)

52100/52100 0.658 1.066 1.619 52100/52100 0.188 0.06 0.87

52100/Si3 N4 0.622 1.296 2.084 52100/Si3 N4 0.186 0.059 0.95
M50/M50 0.668 1.022 1.529 M50/M50 0.189 0.06 0.88
M50/Si3 N4 0.628 1.029 1.639 M50/Si3 N4 0.187 0.059 0.96
2476 M. Mosleh et al. / Wear 271 (2011) 24712476
3.5. Maximum Hertzian contact stress and fatigue life
The fatigue life of rolling elements can be expressed as:
 1
p
L (3)
Pcontact
where L is the fatigue life in millions of cycles, Pcontact is the normal
contact load, and p is the load-life exponent [25]. Also, the relation-
ship between the normal contact load and the maximum Hertzian
contact stress  H in a point-contact is expressed as:
Pcontact H3 (4)
From Eqs. (3) and (4), it follows that L (1/Hn ), where n = 3p is
the Hertz stress-life exponent. For ball bearing with point-contact,
n equals 9 when p = 3, or 12 when p = 4 [25].
For the test carried out in this study, the substitution of sil-
icon nitride balls into 52100 and M50 combinations resulted in
an increase of 11.7% and 13.1% in the maximum Hertzian contact
stress. Based on a Hertz stress-life exponent of 9, it is predicted
that RCF life of hybrid combinations is shortened by 36.9% and 33%
for 52100/Si3 N4 and M50/Si3 N4 , compared with their respective
all-steel combinations, respectively.
The experimental results summarized in Table 3 show that the
L10 life of upper ball in the 52100/Si3 N4 combination was 43% of
the 52100/52100 combinations RCF life which is within the sta-
tistical variation from the predicted value of 36.9%. On the other
hand, the L10 life of upper balls in the M50/Si3 N4 combination was
16.5% of the M50/M50 combination which is signicantly below
the predicted value of 33% based on a Hertz stress-life exponent
of 9. If a Hertz stress-life exponent of 12 is assumed, the RCF
life of the hybrid combination is expected to be by 22.8% of the
all-steel one which is in fair agreement with the experimental
results.
4. Summary of results
The experimental results indicate that the increased Hertzian
contact stress due to the substitution of a silicon nitride rolling
element into an all-steel bearing results in a signicantly reduced
RCF life for the bearing, even though the silicon nitride element
itself has a much longer RCF life compared with steel. A summary
of the ndings are:
- The RCF life for the AISI 52100/Si3 N4 combination is 43% of that
of all-AISI 52100 steel rolling ball combination.
- The RCF life for the M50/Si3 N4 combination is 16.5% of that of
all-M50 combination.
- The plastic deformation of running tracks on AISI 52100 balls was
more extensive than that of AISI M50 tracks, especially when they
are rolled against silicon nitride balls.
- The starved lubrication condition resulted in smearing and plastic
deformation on some regions of the running track of steel balls.
This phenomenon was more enhanced in AISI 52100 rolling balls
compared with the AISI M50 balls.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the Boeing Corporation under con-
tract TBC-HU-GTA-1 (RA-5). The authors acknowledge Mr. James
Grifn of the Howard University Nanoscience Facility (HNF) for his
assistance in using the surface characterization facilities.
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