The Detection of Potential Fatigue Nuclei in Rolling Contact Bearings

A number of life performance tests were conducted on 45 mm bore cylindrical roller bearings, nondestructively inspected by a special ultrasonic technique and by conventional magnetic particle examination. The results indicate that ultrasound is more effective than magnetic particle in locating potential fatigue nuclei. It is shown that ultrasound can differentiate between poor, average, and good quality bearing steel in terms of group life performance. Future use of ultrasound in the bearing industry is also discussed.