Due to the complexity of investigating deformation mechanisms in helical rolling(HR) process with traditional analytical method, it is significant to develop a 3D finite element(FE) model of HR process. The key forming conditions of cold HR of bearing steel-balls were detailedly described. Then, by taking steel-ball rolling elements of the B7008 C angular contact ball bearing as an example, a completed 3D elastic-plastic FE model of cold HR forming process was established under SIMUFACT software environment. Furthermore, the deformation characteristics in HR process were discovered, including the forming process, evolution and distribution laws of strain, stress and damage based on Lemaitre relative damage model. The results reveal that the central loosening and cavity defects in HR process may have a combined effect of large negative hydrostatic pressure(positive mean stress)caused by multi-dimensional tensile stresses, high level transverse tensile stress, and circular-alternating shear stress in cross section.
The influences of subsurface cracks,distributing along the axial direction,on the rolling contact fatigue(RCF)faliure in a bearing ring are investigated.A realistic three-dimensional model of the bearing ring containing three subsurface cracks is used to evaluate the fatigue crack propagation based on stress intensity factor(SIF)calculations.Moreover,the distributions of the subsurface cracks along the axial direction are varied to study their effects on RCF.The results provide valuable guidelines for enhanced understanding of RCF in bearings.
Pre-heat treatment is a vital step before cold ring rolling and it has significant effect on the microstructure and mechanical properties of rolled rings.The 100Cr6 steel rings were subjected to pre-heat treatment and subsequent cold rolling process.Scanning electron microscopy and tensile tests were applied to investigate microstructure characteristic and mechanical property variations of 100Cr6 steel rings undergoing different pre-heat treatings.The results indicate that the average diameter of carbide particles,the tensile strength and hardness increase,while the elongation decreases with the decrease of cooling rate.The cooling rate has minor effect on the yield strength of sample.After cold ring rolling,the ferrite matrix shows a clear direction along the rolling direction.The distribution of cementite is more homogeneous and the cementite particles are finer.Meanwhile,the hardness of the rolled ring is higher than that before rolling.
