H P In Reliability

Heinz P. Bloch, Reliability/Equipment Editor

Bearing life and contamination

As if we didnt know, lubricant contamination will reduce bearing life. However, a thorough understanding of the contamination/bearing life relationship is essential if improvements are to be achieved in bearing life and equipment reliability. Once we quantify and understand how even a small amount of lubricant contamination can adversely affect bearing life, we will better appreciate why signicant thought and investment must be made in machinery and support equipment design and maintenance to ensure the utmost cleanliness in machinery lubrication systems. Where: L10 = basic rating life C = basic dynamic load rating P = equivalent dynamic bearing load p = exponent (p = 3 for ball bearing, p = 10/3 for roller bearing). The above equation was primarily developed by Lundberg and Palmgren in 19471952. It has been used extensively for predicting rolling-element bearing life. Improvements in manufacturing methods, design and steel quality resulted in comsideable bearing life extension compared with the calculated life. In addition, the equation does not take into account lubrication conditions. In 1977 ISO introduced a revised life equation: Lan = a1 a23 L10 Where: a1 = life adjustment factor for reliability a23 = life adjustmen factor for material and lubrication. Values of a23 are calculated as a function of the viscosity ratio. This ratio is dened as actual viscosity divided by viscosity required for adequate lubrication at the operatng temperature. This parameter represents oil lm thickness relative to surface irregularities of the bearing stationary and rotating elements. The recently introduced SKF life equation is a major impovement over previous mathematical expressions. It takes into account contamination lubrication and also introduces a fatigue load limit concept. The adjusted rating life according to the new theory is calculated by the following equation: L10aa = aSFK (C/P)p Where the factor aSFK can be written as:

Quantifying effects of lubricant contamination on bearing life. In recent years bearing

materials, design and fatigue life calculation methods have been substantially improved. Major improvements include: A more accurate fatigue life prediction method; the new approach takes into account operating temperature, lubricant viscosity and lubricant contamination. It is now possible to obtain almost innite bearing life provided that loads are lower than the fatigue limit (given in bearing catalogs) and utmost lubricant cleanliness is being assured. New spherical roller bearing designs offer substantial increases in dynamic load capacity and consequently much longer service life compared with ball bearings.

Bearing life equations. Bearing life equations

have been developed to quantify the effects various factors have on bearing life. Contamination is only one. The following will outline the evolution and development of bearing life equations. The simplest bearing life equation is based on International Standards Organization (ISO) guidelines: L10 = (C/P)p

The author is HPs Reliability/Equipment Editor. As a precticing consulting engineer, he advises process plants on reliability improvement and maintenance cost reduction issues. He can be reached at hpbloch@juno.com. HYDROCARBON PROCESSING / JULY 2001 19

contamination.pdf August '02 Rev. 0

H P In Reliability. . .
Table 1. Fatigue life reduction of rolling-element bearings due to lubricant water contamination (mineral oil).
Wet oil water Base oil content, % description Mineral 0.002 Oil dried 0.014 Over sodium 3.0 6.0 Fatigue life reduction, % 48 54 78 83 Test equipment and Hertzian stress Rolling 4-ball Bearing tester 8.6 GPa GPa (1.25 x 104psi)

Rt = a contamination balance factor, it takes into account the amount of contaminants entering and removed from the system. Dp = particle size HV = particle hardness S = safety factor. The effect of water on bearing life is well documented but not well understood. Tests conducted by various researchers showed that a concentration of water as small as 0.01% can decrease bearing life to half of its original value. Interestingly, a change in failure mode from ball failures to raceway failures occurred when water content was increased. For these reasons the new SFK life theory does not at this stage take into account the inuence of water on bearing life. It is assumed that the water content does not exceed 0.05%. Rough guidelines, applicable to fully oxidation-inhibited lubricants, suggest that the calculated life may be halved by water content of 0.1% and a further 50% reduction may be assumed in heavily loaded bearings if the water content increases to 0.2%. Curtailment of bearing fatigue life is considerably more severe for pure, uninhibited mineral oils. Here, 0.002% water (20 ppm, or roughly one drop of water per quart of oil) has been found to reduce bearing life by 48% (Table 1).
Excerpted from Bloch, H.P., Practical Lubrication for Industrial Facilities, ISBN 0-88173-296-6, also ISBN 0-8247-0407-X, issued in 19999 by both The Fairmont Press and Marcel Dekker Publishing.

aSKF = f(k, c, Pu/P) Here, k represents the lubricant lm thickness c takes into account solid contaminants Pu is fatigue load limit. Inuence of contamination on bearing life. The damage mechanism can be rather complicated but in the case of relatively large hard particles it usually occurs in two steps. First, the hard particles induce permanent indentations. As a result the smooth surfaces of the bearing components are destroyed. Secondly, the rough surfaces will produce higher contact stresses resulting in shorter bearing life. Abrasive wear caused by contamination can also change the load zones in the bearing. It is also known that hard particles larger than the oil lm thickness decrease bearing life. Typical oil lm thickness is on the order of 0.1 to 3 m. In tests conducted under ultra-clean conditions where the oil was ltered through a 3 m lter, bearing life was found to increase by a factor of 40 compared to calculated values. Under standard test conditions the bearings were known to have 4 to 5 times their theoretical lives. It was observed that damage to the bearing by particles during the rst half-hour of operation was enough to cause early failures. Also, even if the contaminated oil was replaced the bearing did not recover and its life was signicantly reduced. It should be noted that only a very small number of hard particles is needed to reduce bearing life to a fraction of its undamaged life. Tests conducted by FAG on 7208B angular contact bearings showed a reduction of bearing life by a factor of 10 resulting from plastic indentations of 0.1 mm diameter. A contamination factor, c, is used in the new life equation. This somewhat complicated parameter depends on size, hardness, shape and quantity of solid particles, bearing size, lubricant lm thickness, loads, etc. The factor can be expressed as: c, f (k1 dm, Pu, P, Rt, Dp, HV, S) where: dm= mean diameter of bearing 20

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