Um dos possíveis modos de falha em engrenagens é relacionado com o carregamento cíclico e, por consequência, a ocorrência de fadiga. O início da falha por fadiga ocorre devido à intensificadores de tensão e é geralmente observado no pé do dente (fadiga de flexão) ou na região de contato na superfície do dente (fadiga de contato). Experimentos para avaliação da fadiga de contato em engrenagens são geralmente conduzidos em bancadas de teste e tem custos elevados. Um método alternativo de experimentação de fadiga de contato em engrenagens é avaliado neste trabalho, consistindo no rolamento de esferas sobre um plano (corpo de prova). Dois grupos de corpos de prova foram fabricados com características e propriedades superficiais semelhantes às da superfície do dente de engrenagens nas condições: a) sem shot-peening e b) com shot-peening. As diferentes características dos corpos de prova foram testadas utilizando um equipamento desenvolvido em trabalho anterior para avaliar a fadiga de contato de rolamento, que ocorre no diâmetro primitivo das engrenagens. Resultados indicaram a ocorrência de dois mecanismos de falha comumente encontrados em engrenagens: pitting e spalling, entretanto, o equipamento se mostrou incapaz de monitorar a ocorrência de pitting. Ademais, os corpos de prova com shot-peening apresentaram menor resistência à fadiga para as condições testadas, em desacordo com ensaios de bancada anteriores. Algumas hipóteses foram discutidas para prover justificativas relacionadas aos resultados obtidos. / One of the possible mechanisms of gear failure is related to the cyclic loading and, consequently, the fatigue occurrence. The onset of fatigue failure occurs due to stress intensifiers and it is generally observed on the fillet (bending fatigue) or on the tooth surface contact region (contact fatigue). Gear fatigue evaluation is usually carried out by test rigs, which are expensive. An alternative method of contact fatigue test of gears is evaluated in this work, which consists of balls rolling on a plane (specimen). Two groups of specimens were manufactured to obtain surface characteristics and properties like gears tooth\'s surface: a) without shot-peening and b) with shot-peening. The different features of specimens were tested by using an in house developed equipment to evaluate the rolling contact fatigue, which occurs on gears on its diametral pitch. Results indicate the occurrence of two failure modes: pitting and spalling, however, the equipment showed to be unable to monitor the occurrence of pitting. Also, the shot-peened group specimens presented lower fatigue life resistance for the analyzed conditions, which are not in agreement with previous rig tests. Some hypotheses were discussed to provide justifications related to the obtained results.

In this thesis, a hierarchical multiscale method was developed to predict rolling contact fatigue lives of mechanical systems. In the proposed multiscale method, the molecular modeling and simulation of lubricant was conducted to investigate the friction between rolling contact surfaces. The calculated friction coefficient was passed to the continuum model of rolling contact components to predict fatigue lives. Molecular dynamics modeling and simulation of thin film lubrication and lubricated contact surfaces were carried out to investigate mechanisms of hydrodynamic lubrication at nano-scale first. Although various lubricant alkane chains were considered in the molecular model, the chain length of eight united molecules were mainly employed in this thesis. In addition, the effects of temperature and nano-particles (debris) on the friction forces were discussed. It was found that the existing of nano-particles (debris) could increase the friction force between contact surfaces with hydrodynamic lubrication. In the continuum model of the developed multiscale method, finite element analysis was employed to predict rolling contact fatigue life of rolling contact components, including bearing and gear-tooth. Specifically, the fatigue crack initiation of bearing was studied, and then the fatigue crack initiation and propagation in gear-tooth. In addition, the enhancement of gear-tooth fatigue life by using composite patches was discussed as well. It should be noted that the friction coefficient used in the continuum model was calculated in the molecular model. It is one-way message passing in the developed multiscale method. Another continuum method was studied and developed in this thesis to provide alternate methods for the continuum model in the proposed multiscale framework. Peridynamics method has advantages in modeling and simulation of discontinuities, including cracks, over the conventional finite element methods. The applications of Peridynamics in predicting fatigue crack initiation and propagation lives were discussed in this thesis.

Rolling contact fatigue is a damage process that may arise in mechanical applications with repeated rolling contacts. Some examples are: gears; cams; bearings; rail/wheel contacts. The resulting damage is often visible with the naked eye as millimeter sized surface craters. The surface craters are here denoted spalls and the gear contact served as a case study. The work focused on the asperity point load mechanism for initiation of spalls. It was found that the stresses at asperity level may be large enough to initiate surface cracking, especially if the complete stress cycle was accounted for. The gear contact is often treated as a cylindrical contact. The thesis contains experimental and numerical results connected to rolling contact fatigue of cylindrical contacts. At the outset a stationary cylindrical contact was studied experimentally. The stationary test procedure was used instead of a rolling contact. In this way the number of contact parameters was minimized. The cylindrical contact resulted in four different contact fatigue cracks. The two cracks that appeared first initiated below the contact. The other two cracks developed at the contact surface when the number of load cycles and the contact load increased. The influence of a surface irregularity (asperity) was studied numerically with the Finite Element Method (FEM). Firstly, the stationary contact was modelled and investigated numerically. At the cylindrical contact boundary a single axisymmetric was included. The partially loaded asperity introduced a tensile surface stress, which seen from the asperity centre was radially directed. Secondly, FE simulations were performed where a single axisymmetric asperity was over-rolled by a cylindrical contact. The simulations were performed for pure rolling and rolling with slip. For both situations, tensile forward directed stresses in front of the asperity were found. The presence of slip and a surface traction greatly increased the stresses in front of the asperity. Finally, when rolling started from rest with applied slip, the distance to steady-state rolling was determined for elastic similar cylindrical rollers. / QC 20100702

Os processos de manufatura, bem como os parâmetros de processamento utilizados produzem diferentes resultados com relação à integridade de uma superfície. Estas alterações se refletem em mudança das propriedades da superfície, as quais podem influenciar o desempenho dos componentes. O presente trabalho estuda o efeito da integridade superficial gerada pelos processos de torneamento e retificação na resistência à fadiga de contato do aço ferramenta AISI H13. A influência do processo de usinagem e dos parâmetros de corte no estado da superfície e subsuperfície, e como estas características afetam o desempenho são determinados. Foram geradas quatro condições diferentes para as superfícies torneadas mediante a combinação de parâmetros de corte. As superfícies retificadas foram produzidas empregando as mesmas condições de retificação, com isso, obteve-se a mesma condição para todos os corpos de prova ensaiados. As características medidas da integridade superficial foram: os parâmetros de rugosidade, tensões residuais, microdureza Vickers da seção transversal e ruído magnético de Barkhausen. Foi determinado o desempenho das superfícies por fadiga de contato de rolamento, num equipamento na configuração esfera-plano. Os corpos de prova foram anéis de AISI H13 temperados e revenidos. A totalidade dos ensaios foi realizada até a ocorrência de lascamento (Spalling). Os ensaios foram realizados com lubrificação e com uma máxima pressão de contato de Hertz de 3,6 GPa. Foi observado que dependendo do nível de integridade superficial induzido pelo processo de usinagem e dos parâmetros selecionados, o desempenho da superfície em fadiga de contato de rolamento foi afetado. Contudo, as melhores condições de desempenho foram dos materiais retificados, e para os materiais torneados o melhor desempenho foi obtido com maiores velocidades de corte. / The manufacturing process and the machining parameters selected lead to different integrity of the surface, and these characteristics will influence the functional performance of the components. This study evaluated and analyzed the effect of surface integrity on the contact fatigue resistance of the H13 hot work tool steel. The surfaces were manufactured by hard turning and grinding process. Therefore, the influences of the machining process and the cutting parameters on the surface and on the subsurface layer were studied. Four different turned surfaces were obtained as a combination of cutting parameters selected for the tests. On the other hand, grinding surfaces were generated using the same machining conditions. The characteristics of surface integrity evaluated were: surface roughness parameters, residual stresses, Barkhausen noise, and microhardness of surface and sub-layers in transverse section. It was also evaluated the performance of the samples by rolling contact fatigue tests conducted in a ball on washer machine. The specimens were rings made of AISI H13 steel, which were quenched and tempered. All tests were performed until the occurrence of spalling. The tests were carried out under lubrication and with a maximum Hertz contact pressure of 3.6 GPa. Monitoring and failure detection were carried out by analyzing the changes in the vibration signal of the test machine sensors. It was observed that the performance of the surface in rolling contact fatigue resistance was affected by the level of the surface integrity, related to the machining process and the machining parameters.

O presente trabalho destina-se à discussão sobre o cálculo de vida útil de rolamentos. Mostrando o avanço do processo de cálculo ao longo das décadas até o mais alto grau de desenvolvimento atual. A preocupação do texto é demonstrar de forma simples e objetiva as divergências que existem entre a formulação teórica e a real vida dos rolamentos, no que tange a fadiga de contato. Neste contexto foram realizados testes, em máquina especialmente destinada ao ensaio da fadiga de rolamentos. Variando-se para as duas séries de ensaios, apenas, a temperatura (aproximadamente 85°C e 110°C). Os resultados obtidos indicam que a vida real dos rolamentos apresenta grande divergência se comparada com a vida útil calculada, principalmente, no regime com maior temperatura. Atribui-se a esta disparidade, a ausência de cálculos precisos quanto à correlação da vida útil com o fator l, que é uma forma de se calcular o espaçamento entre as superfícies de contato, e o não emprego do cálculo do fator de carga, na formulação da vida útil de rolamentos. / The present work has the purpose of discussing the life of rolling bearings, describing the evolution of bearing life calculation until its current state of the art. Our focus is to demonstrate, simply and objectively, the inconsistencies occurring between the actual life of rolling bearings and their theoretical fatigue life estimation. For such purpose, tests were developed in a special bearing test rig to assess bearing fatigue. Two test sets were carried out with temperature being the only variation (approximately 85°C and 110°C). Results obtained from these tests suggest that the real life of rolling bearings is indeed very different from calculated bearing life, especially under higher temperature. Such disparity can be attributed to the lack of a precise computation of the relationship between bearing real life and the l factor - which determines the thickness of lubricant separating raceways and balls - as well as to the failure to compute the load factor in bearing life estimation.

Diversos componentes mecânicos como engrenagens, rolamentos, cilindros de laminação, trilhos e rodas de trem sofrem uma determinada solicitação conhecida por fadiga de contato, que consiste em uma solicitação causada pela tensão gerada entre o contato de dois corpos sob a ação de uma carga cíclica. Este trabalho teve como objetivo avaliar a resistência a esta solicitação para um aço ferramenta com microestruturas martensíticas e bainíticas. Para isto, foi utilizado um equipamento na configuração esfera contra plano, onde as esferas foram confeccionadas em material comercial ABNT 52100 e os discos em aço ferramenta tratados termicamente para obtenção de microestruturas martensíticas e bainíticas. Os ensaios foram realizados com a aplicação de uma pressão máxima de contato de 4,8 GPa até que ocorresse a falha por microlascamento da superfície do disco. Os resultados de vida em fadiga destes materiais foram apresentados por uma distribuição de Weibull que demonstraram uma maior resistência do material bainítico. Os resultados apresentados para ambas as microestruturas demonstraram que as falhas se iniciaram predominantemente na sub-superfície, atendendo as premissas iniciais do trabalho que buscava uma baixa ocorrência de falhas superficiais prematuras ocasionadas por possíveis inclusões, defeitos ou poros superficiais que agiriam como um concentrador de tensões, levando a uma falha antes que efetivamente as características físicas e metalúrgicas das microestruturas sejam testadas. / Several mechanical components such as gears, bearings, rolling mill rolls, rails and train wheels suffer a particular request known to contact fatigue, which consists of a request caused by the tension generated between the contact of two bodies subjected to a cyclic loading. This study aimed to evaluate the resistance to this request for tool steel with bainitic and martensitic microstructures. For this, was used a machine in the configuration ball against flat washer, where balls were made of commercial material ABNT 52100 and flat washer in tool steel heat-treated to obtain martensitic and bainitic microstructures. The tests were performed by applying a maximum contact pressure of 4.8 GPa until the failure by micro-spalling on the disk surface or subsurface. The results of the fatigue life of those materials were presented by a Weibull distribution that showed a better resistance to the bainitic material to this request. The results presented for both microstructures showed that the failures were initiated predominantly sub-surface, given the initial goals of the work, as evidenced by the low occurrence of premature superficial failures possibly caused by inclusions, pores or surface defects that would act as a stress concentrator leading to a premature failure before the physical and metallurgical microstructures characteristics were really tested.

The aim of the work presented in this thesis is to clarify one of the most fundamental aspects of fatigue damage in bearings steels through critical experiments, in particular whether damage in the form of cracks precedes hard “white-etching matter" formation, which is carbon supersaturated nanoscaled ferrite. Heat treatments have been designed to create four different crack types and distributions: scarce martensite plate cracks, fine grain boundary cracks, abundant martensite plate cracks, and surface cracks. Subsequent rolling contact fatigue experiments showed that the amount of hard white-etching matter is higher in pre-cracked samples compared to those without prior damage and that its formation mechanism is the frictional contact of disconnected surfaces within the bulk that elevate the temperature and localise deformation. These key experiments indicate that hard white-etching matter is the consequence, not the cause, of damage. Therefore, one way to avoid white-etching matter is by increasing the toughness of the material. The macroscopically homogenous distribution of microcracks proved also to be a useful rolling contact fatigue life enhancer due to damage deflection via crack branching and a powerful trap for diffusible hydrogen. Successful trapping was corroborated by the inability of hydrogen to cause crack propagation via embrittlement or accelerate white-etching matter generation during rolling contact fatigue. By also studying the behaviour of a nanostructured bainitic steel under rolling contact fatigue, it was found that its degradation mechanism is ductile void formation at bainitic ferrite/stress-induced martensite interfaces, followed by growth and coalescence into larger voids that lead to fracture along the direction of the softer phase as opposed to the conventional damage mechanism in 52100 steel of crack initiation at inclusions and propagation. Given the relevance of phase quantification in nanobainite and the possible surface artefacts introduced by preparation, alternative methods to X-ray diffraction such as magnetic measurements were also investigated. The lack of hard white-etching matter obtained in the carbide-free nanostructured bainite led to conclude that an alternative route to mitigate hard white-etching matter could be by eliminating pre-eutectoid carbides from the microstructure, therefore restricting their dissolution and ultimate carbon supersaturation of the mechanically deformed and homogenised nanoferrite.

Bearings are employed in a number of applications under extremely demanding conditions. During long operation times, the material undergoes rolling contact fatigue where microstructural damage manifests as dark-etching regions and white-etching areas, which display different properties from the surrounding region. The aim of this study is to identify the mechanisms for such damage and to suggest models that can explain the influence of the initial microstructure and test conditions. In order to appraise the stress state in rolling contacts, two testing techniques were employed and it was examined if the testing methods could reproduce the same damage as in bearing operation. During ball-on-rod fatigue testing, microcracks were generated adjacent to inclusions and some were decorated with white-etching areas. Repetitive push tests showed a similar extent of subsurface hardening compared to the ball-on-rod tests, and allowed the strain per stress cycle to be measured. The microstructural alterations in a white-etching area were studied both on a macroscale and on an atomic-scale. The degree of stress concentration near a microcrack was calculated employing a nite element method. The microstructure, as well as the segregation behaviour of alloying elements in the white-etching area, were investigated by employing transmission electron microscopy and atom probe tomography. A nanocrystalline structure with scattered carbide particles was observed in the white-etching area. Carbon and silicon segregation was highly pronounced in some boundaries of dislocation cell structures. Models were suggested to account for the microstructural alterations during rolling contact fatigue. Carbide coarsening in dark-etching regions was modelled by considering how carbon di usion is assisted by dislocation glide. The predicted hardness evolution was consistent with experimental observation. The kinetics of carbide dissolution in white-etching areas was calculated by taking two processes into account: deformation accumulation and carbon diffusion. These models suggest that the microstructural changes during bearing operation can be controlled by tailoring the initial microstructure and managing the test conditions.

The aim of the thesis is to reconstruct obsolete R-mat test stations, which are used for rolling contact fatigue tests of material, which are still of interest from industry. It was necessary to replace the original control electronics with a new industrial computer to allow use modern sensors and automate the entire test process. At the same time, the measurement was supplemented by an acoustic emission method, which can also record the development of damage. Design modifications have been made that allow the installation of all new sensors. The main method for evaluating the tests is vibrodiagnostics, which is supplemented by the acoustic emission method. With the help of several experiments, the shortcomings of the new control system were identified, some parameters were designed, and the main functionality of the modernized R-mat station was verified. According to the proposed parameters and the identified shortcomings, the control system was modified, and a script was created, which is used to evaluate the test. It is still possible to perform rolling contact fatigue tests of the material on the modernized equipment, and thanks to the modernization of the electronics, it is possible to test completely new methods of test evaluation.

The master´s thesis deals with reconstruction of RCF test rig AXMAT. Main goal is design new hydraulic load system and his realization. The first part of thesis describes similar experimental machines and their pros and cons. This analysis is base for complete reconstruciton of AXMAT. New hydraulic load system allows dynamic programmable load cycles. Control system with close loop and feedback was created in software Matlab – Simulink. Main frame was reconstructed too. Control and action parts were asseble to station. Output of thesis is function sample.