Bearing failure issues and corrective measures through surface engineering

Abstract Surface engineering technology governs many industrial applications ranging from microelectromechanical system to biological to heavy earth-moving machinery industry. Without surface-coating technology, it would not be possible to see rapid growth in many of the industries due to the fracture of component and material loss. Loss of material during contact either sliding or rolling results in premature failure of components and loss of energy, which accelerates high consumption of economy. To prevent this failure, physical vapor deposition (PVD) coating is applied to the components for better fracture resistance to machineries that are operating in relative contact and severe environmental situations. Bearings are important machine elements that support another machine element with which it is in contact motion and allows relative motion between contact surfaces with minimum friction force. Present study analyzes a fatigue wear situation in bearing elements during rolling contact motion. Some of the important parameters that affect bearing fatigue behavior are speed, load, material, lubrication, and radial clearance. Bearings in constructional equipments such as dumpers, excavators, dozers, and cranes operate in three different severe-wear situations: first, combined high load and shock; second, high load and high speed; third, a high load, low speed situation. With the aid of the PVD process, cracks that have been generated on the bearing surface could be minimized, which results in prolonged bearing fatigue life.