Further Understanding of Rolling Contact Fatigue in Rolling Bearings

滚动轴承已广泛应用于汽车、工业、船舶和航空航天等领域。现代滚动轴承具有极长的寿命，通常通过滚动接触疲劳(RCF)机制失效，这是由于在小体积材料上施加反复循环应力而导致的材料失效。滚动接触疲劳可以表现为在中到高接触压力和高滚动循环下形成的微结构损伤，如黑色蚀刻区(DER)和白色蚀刻带(WEB)。在过去的几十年里，人们进行了许多研究来研究DER和Web中的特征及其形成机制。然而，目前尚不清楚操作条件和材料性能与DER和腹板的故障率之间的关系，以及腹板中出现特定角度的原因。该项目旨在通过对RCF条件下材料退化过程的法医分析，进一步了解滚动接触疲劳的形成机制和驱动因素。成功的候选人将与摩擦学中心(NCATS)、大学内的工程材料小组以及德国舍弗勒集团密切合作。具有很强的机械工程(摩擦学、材料、润滑等)能力的应聘者。欢迎有背景的学生申请或联系，了解更多关于这个研究项目的详细信息。

Rolling element bearings have been widely used in automotive, industrial, marine, and aerospace applications. Modern rolling bearings have extremely long lives and typically fail through rolling contact fatigue (RCF) mechanisms due to material failure caused by the application of repeated cyclic stresses to a small volume of material.Rolling contact fatigue can manifest by the formation of microstructural damage such as dark etching regions (DERs) and white etching bands (WEBs) under medium to high contact pressures and high rolling cycles. Many studies have been conducted to investigate the features in DERs and WEBs as well as their formation mechanisms over the past few decades. However it is still unclear how the operating conditions and material properties are related to the rate of failure due to DER and WEB as well as causes of the specific angles seen in WEBs. This project aims to further understand rolling contact fatigue especially the formation mechanisms and drivers of DER and WEBs by forensic analysis of material degradation processes under RCF conditions.The successful candidate will work closely with the Tribology Centre (nCATS) and the engineering materials group within the University as well as the Schaeffler Group in Germany.Applicants with strong mechanical engineering (tribology, materials, lubrication, etc.) background are welcome to apply for the studentship or get in touch to find more details about this research project.