Fatigue life of high-speed ball bearings with silicon nitride balls
Evaluation of hot-pressed silicon nitride as a rolling-element bearing material. Two grades of hot-pressed silicon nitride balls were tested under rolling contact conditions in a five-ball fatigue tester. A digital computer program was used to predict the dynamic performance characteristics and fatigue life of high-speed ball bearings with silicon nitride balls relative to that with bearings containing steel balls. The results obtained include the finding that fatigue spalls on silicon nitride balls are similar in appearance to those obtained with typical bearing steels.