초록
A large amount of research has been performed on the rolling contact fatigue(RCF) life of bearings, since it directly affects the safety and reliability of mechanical systems. It is well known that rolling contact fatigue life is influenced by several parameters including contact pressure, oil contamination by water or metal particles, and the surface conditions of bearings. However, the detailed damage mechanisms involved in rolling contact fatigue have not been clearly identified yet. In this paper the effects of water contamination of the lubricant and surface roughness of bearing steel on the rolling contact fatigue life were investigated. Two types of specimens with different surface roughness values were prepared through turning and lapping operations. They were tested under two different lubrication conditions, i.e. oil lubricant with 100% of oil and the water contaminated condition with 80% of oil and 20% of water using the rolling contact fatigue testing machine. The surface damage induced by the rolling contact fatigue was observed by using atomic force microscope(AFM). Experimental results show that the rolling contact fatigue life, $L_{10}$ was reduced by 24 to 33% depending on the lubrication condition. The reduction of fatigue life in the range of 53 to 57% was also observed at different surface roughness conditions.
