A Study of the Effect of Friction on Bearing Surface Fatigue Taking into Account the Microplastic Deformation

Microplastic deformation associated with rough surface and dents are found to generate tensile residual stress, which can be a source of surface fatigue. Both pre-existing hoop stress and friction-induced lateral normal stress parallel to surface are found to have an effect on the plastic strains and tensile residual stress. This finding can possibly explain many reported experimental observations that in rolling/sliding contact, the slower surface is more susceptible to surface fatigue than the faster mating surface. Micropitting probability and wear volume loss can be formulated based on Mode I crack growth process using the tensile residual stress as the fatigue criterion.