GOALI/Collaborative Research: Reliable Prediction of Endurance Life of Ultra-High-Strength Aerospace Rolling-Element Bearings

GOALI/合作研究：超高强度航空航天滚动轴承耐久性寿命的可靠预测

• 批准号: 1434834
• 负责人: Qian Wang
• 金额: $ 20万
• 依托单位: Northwestern University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-08-01 至 2019-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1434834&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: GOALI; Collaborative; Research; Reliable; Prediction

Rolling-element bearings are key precision components used for rotor support in nearly all machinery. The annual revenue associated with bearings is a substantial $50.5 billion worldwide. Future demands on high performance rotor support for advanced aircraft engines, wind turbines and high-speed rail require bearings to survive thousands of hours and consequently billions of Rolling Contact Fatigue (RCF) cycles under severe operating conditions. A new generation of high strength bearing steels with graded material properties has been designed to meet these challenges. Existing life prediction methodologies rely on empirical models dating back to the 1940s, resulting in a large discrepancy between observed and predicted life, for the new generation of materials. This Grant Opportunity for Academic Liaison with Industry (GOALI) collaborative researh project aims to predict reliable service life and structural integrity of new generation bearing materials based on novel experimental and computational procedures for understanding material degradation due to RCF at the micro and nanometer scale. The results will translate to the design of other components with large economic impact such as transmission gears, cams, railway wheels and tracks, and manufacturing tooling. This research is an effort to bring back an academic focus to manufacturing-related research to campuses and to better assist US industries. The project will contribute to the education and training of future manufacturing research workforce and leaders.This collaborative GOALI project involves developing a novel physics-based material-specific life prediction model rooted in fundamental understanding of local material properties of as-manufactured and RCF-affected materials from sub-micrometer/nanometer to macroscopic length scales. The project will develop: 1) quantifiable measures for subsurface graded material response as a function of load, temperature and RCF cycles; 2) computational approaches for understanding the influence of microstructural features on the material cyclic response, resultant stress and strain fields, and fatigue damage; and 3) a material-specific RCF life prediction methodology based on enhancements to the existing Lundberg-Palmgren empirical approach by the evolving elastic-plastic subsurface stress and strain fields. Methodologies for tracking RCF material damage in the giga-cycle regime will become available for reliable life prediction, which are of considerable importance with applications to broader areas of tribology and heterogeneous materials for future component design. Intellectual significance of the project comprises of two novel contributions: 1) it will aid development of a new material-specific RCF life prediction model, particularly beneficial to accelerated design of new bearing materials, and 2) it will result in a methodology to model cycle-specific material property evolution in rolling contacts, with direct relevance to design of gears, cams, railway wheels and tooling.

滚动轴承是几乎所有机械中用于转子支撑的关键精密部件。与轴承相关的全球年收入高达505亿美元。未来对先进飞机发动机、风力涡轮机和高铁的高性能转子支承的需求要求轴承在恶劣的运行条件下能够经受数千小时的滚动接触疲劳(RCF)循环。为应对这些挑战，新一代具有分级材料性能的高强度轴承钢应运而生。现有的寿命预测方法依赖于20世纪40年代的经验模型，导致新一代材料的观测寿命和预测寿命之间存在很大差异。这个GOALI合作研究项目旨在基于新的实验和计算程序预测新一代轴承材料的可靠使用寿命和结构完整性，以便在微米和纳米尺度上了解RCF引起的材料退化。结果将转化为其他具有重大经济影响的部件的设计，如变速器齿轮、凸轮、铁路车轮和轨道以及制造工具。这项研究是一项努力，旨在将学术重点带回校园，让与制造业相关的研究回到校园，并更好地帮助美国工业。该项目将有助于未来制造业研究队伍和领导者的教育和培训。这一合作项目涉及开发一种新的基于物理的材料特定寿命预测模型，该模型植根于对从亚微米/纳米到宏观长度尺度的制造和RCF影响的材料的本地材料性质的基本了解。该项目将开发：1)作为载荷、温度和RCF循环的函数的亚表面分级材料响应的量化测量；2)用于了解微结构特征对材料循环响应、合成的应力和应变场以及疲劳损伤的影响的计算方法；以及3)基于对现有的Lundberg-Palmgren经验方法的改进的特定材料的RCF寿命预测方法，该方法通过发展弹塑性次表面应力和应变场。在千兆周期内跟踪RCF材料损伤的方法将可用于可靠的寿命预测，这对于应用于更广泛的摩擦学领域和未来部件设计的非均质材料具有相当重要的意义。该项目的学术意义包括两个新的贡献：1)它将有助于开发一种新的特定材料的RCF寿命预测模型，特别有利于加快新轴承材料的设计；2)它将产生一种方法，模拟滚动接触中特定循环的材料性能演变，与齿轮、凸轮、铁路车轮和工具的设计直接相关。