Semi-analytical modeling of crack initiation dominant contact fatigue life for roller bearings

The fatigue test of a needle roller bearing suggests that the dominant failure mechanism is subsurface crack initiation and propagation. Therefore, a new semi-analytical contact fatigue model is derived from a micromechanics based crack initiation model. The analysis indicates that in the life calculation the selection of the critical stress, such as the maximum orthogonal shear stress, maximum shear stress, octahedral shear stress, or von Mises equivalent stress, becomes arbitrary under the nonfrictional Hertzian line contact condition. The fatigue life of roller bearings under the pure rolling condition can be predicted by simply knowing the Hertzian contact pressure and the contact width, which avoids complicated calculation of the subsurface stresses. The film thickness, roughness, and the material hardness effects on contact fatigue are also included in the new model. The comparisons with different models and the experimental data indicate that the new model makes similar life predictions as the Ioannides-Harris model, but the new model is much simpler to use. The Lundberg-Palmgren model does not fit with the experiment data.