Surface Life: The Next Challenge in Rolling Bearings and Other Heavily Loaded Lubricated Contacts?
Abstract
The talk will cover the motivation for the understanding of the surface life of heavily-loaded lubricated contacts and its industrial context in relation to rolling bearings and SKF. It would then review the different global challenges for engineers in this field (system approach, competitive failure modes, uncertain operating conditions, etc). Next, it would review different surface failure modes in these contacts and would discuss calculation schemes for them (e.g. surface distress, indentations, smearing, additive interaction, vibrations, friction, etc.). Finally a review of the remaining challenges and possible treatment schemes will be outlined. The main idea is to leave the audience with a clear message of the importance in the understanding of surface life in lubricated contacts, the current knowledge and the remaining gaps for future research.