Why Rolling Contact

Bearings?

Rolling contact bearings are used to

minimize the friction associated with
Rolling Contact Bearings relative motion performed under load.

Lecture 23

Engineering 473 Typical applications

Machine Design include supporting
shafts.

Bearing Nomenclature Ball Bearings

Retainer
or Cage
Thrust
Rolling Element Force
Outside
Diameter Bore (Ball)
Inner Race
Radial
Outer Race Force
Radial Ball
Angular Ball

Inner and outer races are typically pressed onto the shaft or Angular ball bearings have higher thrust load capacity
hub with a slight interference fit to make them move with the in one direction than due radial ball bearings.
shaft (inner race) or remain stationary (outer race).
www.torrington.com/products

Roller Bearings Needle Bearings

Heavy Duty
Drawn Cup
Radial Cylindrical Radial Tapered

Roller bearings have

higher load capacity Thrust
than ball bearings. Gage
Thrust Needle bearings have very high load
www.torrington.com/products ratings and require less space.
www.torrington.com/products

1
 Other Types of Bearings Rolling Contact Bearing
Materials

Sperical

Polymer
Bearings The space shuttle uses silicon nitride balls
in the oxygen and hydrogen turbopumps.
www.igus.com/iglide/iglide.htm
Mott, Table 14-2
Bronze Bushings

Static Load Capacity Bearing Life

G The static load rating is the load at which permanent
deformation of a race or ball will occur.
G The bearing is not rotating when this measurement is
made.
G The static load rating is usually designated at C0.
Bearings of the same type, size, and material
will exhibit wide variations in life.
Life – number of revolutions (or hours of operation at
design speed) of the inner race that a certain
percentage of the bearings will survive at a known
load.
L10 Life - 10% of the bearings tested at or fail before a rated
number of revolutions of the inner race at the
rated load.

Statistical Nature of Life

Load/Life Relationship
Estimates
k
10% of the bearings L 2 æ F1 ö k = 3 for ball bearings
=ç ÷
tested had failed by L1 çè F2 ÷ø = 3.33 for roller bearings
18 million cycles.

Basic Dynamic Load Rating

50% of the bearings
tested had failed by L1 = 1,000,000 revolutions
100+ million cycles. F1 = C = Basic Dynamic Load Rating

The Basic Dynamic Load Rating is that load which will

cause 10% of a sample of bearings to fail at or before 1
Typical Weibull Plot of Bearing Fatigue Failures
million revolutions. (i.e. 90% of bearings would achieve at
least 1 million revolutions at this load).
B.J. Hamrock and W.J. Anderson, Rolling-Element
Bearings, NASA Reference Publication 1105, 1983.

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 Rated Load/Life Example Bearing Data
Relationship

k
L 2 æ F1 ö Bearing manufacturers
=ç ÷ provide one set of data
L1 çè F2 ÷ø relating load and life.

k
æCö This equation is used to
L 2 = çç ÷÷ × 106 Revolutions find the life at different
è F2 ø loads.

SKF Catalog

Combined Radial and

Outer Race Rotation
Thrust Loads
Manufacturer’s data is normally based on a rotating
inner race and a stationary outer race. The AFBMA has also developed a standard equation
A rotating outer race and a stationary inner race for computing an equivalent radial load.
will have a lower life.
The Anti-Friction Bearing Manufacturer’s Fe = XVFr + YFa
Association (AFBMA) has developed a standard Fr
F α
equation for computing an equivalent radial load
that takes this into account. V = 1.0 Rotating Inner Race
V = 1.2 Rotating Outer Race
Fe = XVFr
Fa X and Y depend on the bearing
V = 1.0 Rotating Inner Race geometry and are given in
V = 1.2 Rotating Outer Race manufacturers data books

Variable Loads Mounting Bearings

Fe,3 , n 3 Fe,4 , n 4 Most manufacturer’s catalogs specify the limiting
Fe,1 , n 1 dimensions for the shaft and housing bore. These are
Fe,2 , n 2
generally controlled to within a few thousands of an
inch.
T1 T2 T3 T4
Fe,i ≡ Equivalent radial load for ith event
n i ≡ Speed of the ith event
Ti ≡ Time period of the ith event

1k
é j k ù
ê å Ti n i (Fe,i ) ú
Fe ≡ ê i =1 j ú
ê ú
ê i =1
ë
å T i n i ú
û Mott, Fig. 14-13

3
 Assignment
1. A certain application requires a bearing to last for 1800 h
with a reliability of 90 percent. What should be the rated
life of the bearing?

2. A ball bearing is to be selected to withstand a radial load

of 4 kN and have an L10 life of 1200 h at a speed of 600
rev/min. The bearing maker’s catalog rating sheets are
based on an L10 life of 3800 h at 500 rev/min. What load
should be used to enter the catalog?

3. Read Shigley, Chapter 11

4. Read www.timken.com/bearings/fundamen/