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Root Cause Failure Analysis of Outer Ring Fracture of Four-Row Cylindrical


Roller Bearing

Article  in  Tribology Transactions · March 2009


DOI: 10.1080/10402000802180151

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Tribology Transactions, 52: 180-190, 2009
Copyright C Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers

ISSN: 1040-2004 print / 1547-397X online


DOI: 10.1080/10402000802180151

Root Cause Failure Analysis of Outer Ring Fracture


of Four-Row Cylindrical Roller Bearing
H. HIRANI
Department of Mech. Eng.
I.I.T. Bombay, Powai
Mumbai, 400076
India

Four-row cylindrical roller bearings having pin-type steel roller bearing having ID = 865 mm and OD = 1180 mm, 34 rollers
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cage and pronged machined solid brass cage are commonly in every row of solid brass cage bearing were observed compared
used in the back-up roll assembly of cold rolling mills. The to 38 rollers in the pin-type cage bearing. Reduction in the num-
present article briefs about these bearings and investigates the ber of rolling elements reduces the static and dynamic capacity of
root cause failure of such gigantic (inner ring ID = 865 mm, the brass cage four-row roller bearings compared to the pin-type
bearing, as depicted in Table 1. To determine the effect of re-
inner ring OD = 945 mm; outer ring ID = 1073.0 mm, outer
duced load capacity on bearing life, the following equation can be
ring OD = 1180 mm) four-row cylindrical roller bearings. In
used
the present study, a visual examination of failed rolling surfaces
has been emphasized. An analytical approach has been utilized Roller bearing life ∝ (Dynamic capacity)10/3
to determine the maximum load on the roller and the outer ring or
raceway interface. The maximum principal normal and shear  10/3
LSolid−brass−cage 21600
stresses have been evaluated for coefficients of friction equal to = = 0.8
Lpin−type−cage 23300
0.001, 0.1, 0.2, and 0.3. A three-dimensional static finite element
This equation clearly suggests that replacing the pin-type cage
analysis has been performed to explain the cracking of the outer
bearing with the solid brass cage bearing may reduce the bear-
ring of the bearing. Condition monitoring based on oil analysis ing life by 20%. Under normal conditions (oil viscosity at 40◦ C
is adopted to validate the conclusions drawn from the finite = 470 cSt, oil viscosity at 100◦ C = 31 cSt, operating temperature
element analysis of roller bearings. <55◦ C, and radial load = 3400 kN ± 5%) a pin-type bearing pro-
vides an estimated life of 40,000 hours; therefore, under the same
KEY WORDS conditions a solid brass cage bearing should survive for 32,000
Rolling Mill Bearing; Analytical Approach for Analysis of hours. Unfortunately, after installation of the solid cage four-row
Rolling Element Bearings; Finite Element Analysis of Roller roller bearings these bearings were uninstalled within 300 operat-
Bearing; Outer Ring Fracture ing hours due to excessive vibration and noise from CRM. Figure 1
shows the failure of outer rings of two gigantic roller bearings. The
outer ring of one bearing was splintered to pieces (Fig. 1a), while
INTRODUCTION 25% of the outer ring of the second bearing (Fig. 1b) disintegrated
Four-row cylindrical roller bearings are commonly used in cold to 10-12 pieces. Such premature failure of two bearings cannot be
rolling mills (CRM) to bear considerable radial load (3500 kN) at just a chance; therefore, the author was motivated to investigate
relatively low rotational speed (∼ 250 rpm). These large size bear- the root cause of bearing failure. It was necessary to pinpoint the
ings are available in pin-type steel and pronged machined solid root cause of bearing failure so that it can be prevented from hap-
brass cages. Solid brass cage roller bearings are relatively eco- pening again.
nomical ($80,000) compared to the pin-type cage roller bearings
($95,000). Due to the economics of brass caged bearings a com- VISUAL EXAMINATION
pany replaced the pin-type four-row roller bearings of company X The analysis of a failed roller bearing starts with a visual ex-
with brass cage four-row roller bearings of company Y in their cold amination of the rollers, the cage, and the inner and the outer
rolling mills (CRM). The solid cage occupies more space and thus rings. The visual observation of the bearing outer ring, shown in
reduces the space available for rollers. For example, in a typical Fig. 2, indicates the most common rolling contact fatigue failure,
which is also termed “pitting failure.” There is no point in analyz-
ing such failures, as pitting (spalling) of rolling surfaces is a natural
Manuscript received February 14, 2008
Manuscript accepted April 28, 2008 fatigue phenomenon. On comparing Fig. 1 with Fig. 2, it is clear
Review led by Bob Errichello that the failure of the outer ring, shown in Fig. 1, does not fall in

180
Four-Row Cylindrical Roller Bearings 181

TABLE 1—LOAD CAPACITY OF PIN VS. SOLID BRASS TYPE BEARINGS Mn = 0.4, S = 0.025, P = 0.025, Cr = 1.95, Ni = 0.25, Mo = 0.25,
Pin Type Cage Brass Cage Cu = 0.3, As = 0.04, Sn = 0.03, Sb = 0.005, Pb = 0.002, Al = 0.05)
was used to provide the hardening needed for the heat treatment
Dynamic load capacity 23,300 kN 21,600 kN of such a large size outer ring of the bearing. Ring failure, as shown
Static load capacity 67,000 kN 60,000 kN
in Fig. 1, very rarely occurs in such (high chromium SAE-52100)
high-quality materials.
Ai and Nixon (2) performed an experimental study on the re-
the category of pitting failure. As per Brandlein et al. (1) if a bear-
duction of roller bearing fatigue life due to debris denting and
ing fails earlier than its predicted fatigue life (like in the present
concluded that ductile particles cause a more severe life reduction
study predicted life = 32,000 hours, while bearing failed within
than brittle particles. Visual observation of the failed bearing, car-
300 hours), then overloading by external forces, poor lubrication,
ried out in the present study, revealed a mild abrasion (Fig. 3) on
contaminants in the lubricant, or faulty installation are possible
the roller surfaces. Therefore, particle abrasion cannot be the root
causes of bearing failure. All these failures leave their traces on
cause of the outer ring failure.
bearing surfaces, which can qualitatively be identified by visual
Figure 4 illustrates the possibility of corrosion or fretting-
observation.
corrosion of the outer ring of the failed bearing. Cantley (3) stud-
The modified SAE-52100 material with higher chromium (hot
ied the effect of water on bearing fatigue life and observed the
rolled SAE-52100 with weight percentage C = 1.02, Si = 0.4,
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detrimental effects of water concentration in lubricating oil on the


fatigue life of rolling bearings. Bearings that operate in an environ-
ment where water is absorbed in the lubricant may be subjected
to pitting corrosion by hydrolysis. Sulfur and chlorine of the lubri-
cant could react with the water to attack the steel on a microscopic
scale. However, in the present study, the outer ring was disinte-
grated in a number of pieces, which cannot happen solely due to
water ingress. Therefore, water contamination cannot be the root
cause of the failure of the outer ring in question.
Kim, et al. (4) expressed that large bearings generally experi-
ence significant tensile hoop stress and sometimes fail due to radial
cracking. Such cracking of rollers may lead to the fracture of the
contacting raceways. Kim, et al. (4) analyzed the initiation and
propagation of the crack and examined the conditions necessary
to cause radial cracking and fracture in large bearing components.
Pearson (5), after his analysis of 14 bearing failures, indicated that
tensile stresses as low as 140 to 200 MPa were sufficient to cause
cracks to grow in fatigue. He concluded that when tensile stresses
drive the cracks in the radial direction, fracture rather than spalling
would occur. Figure 1 of the present study depicts the cracking
of the outer ring. The prerequisite for such cracking is the ini-
tiation of cracks, and one of the aims of the present article is
to find out the initiation of such a crack, which occurred within
105 operating hours. In addition, it is customary to determine the
source of tensile stress that leads the crack to grow in fatigue
(Pearson (5)).
Figure 5 shows an interesting failure of the outer ring. It shows
beach marks, which are indicative of fatigue failure. In addition,
this figure shows a ruptured surface, which is indicative of excessive
loading on the outer ring raceway. In short, the visual examina-
tion of Figs. 1–5 clearly indicates “cracking” as the main source
of bearing damage. Mainly, the excessive load cracks the rolling
surfaces; therefore, identifying the reasons for the excessive load
should be the primary target of the present study.
Excessive load occurs due to (a) wrong tolerances between
housing (choke) and outer ring, (b) excessive operational load
(c) improper load distribution, or (d) misalignment. The dimen-
sions in which the back-up outer ring were mounted are listed in
Table 2. These data clearly indicate that there was nothing wrong
in the tolerance values of the chock (housing). After examining
Fig. 1—Failure of four-row roller bearing. all load data recorded in the logbook during every shift of the
182 H. HIRANI
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Fig. 2—Spalled outer ring of pin-type roller bearing.

Fig. 3—Mild abrasive wear of rollers.

Fig. 4—Fretting corrosion of outer ring.


Four-Row Cylindrical Roller Bearings 183
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Fig. 5—Beach marks indicating fatigue failure of outer ring.

bearing operation, the author did not find any abnormality in the by nine rollers at a time. In the solid brass cage, each roller was
load. These observations led the author to concentrate on load placed at an angular separation (ψ) of 10.59◦ (=360/34) from the
distribution within the bearing. nearby two rollers. For static equilibrium, the applied radial load
(850 kN) must equal the sum of the vertical components of the
LOAD DISTRIBUTION WITHIN ROLLER BEARING: rolling element loads (Harris (6)),
ANALYTICAL APPROACH
Very high magnitude and almost constant direction load is sup-   
ported by cylindrical roller bearings of cold rolling mills. In the 
31.77,42.36
850, 000 = Qmax 1 + 2 1
present study, viewing the logbook load data revealed that the ψ=10.59,21.18
nearly constant direction 3000 to 3400 kN load was supported by 1.11 
the four-row roller bearing. Assuming uniform distribution of the δr
− (1 − cos ψ) cos ψ [1]
load among four rows of the roller bearing leads the author to δr − radial clearance
conclude that 850 kN (=3400/4 kN) was applied on each row of
rollers. Subsequently, this 850 kN load from rollers is transferred
to a certain portion of the cylindrical outer ring. The load distri-
bution on the outer ring depends on the number of rollers and
radial internal clearance. The radial clearance for multi-row gi-
gantic bearings was in the range of 0.59 to 0.73 mm. Such large
clearance generally reduces the extent of the load zone and in-
creases the maximum value of the load. As per available design
of the bearing, only a quarter of the outer ring supports the com-
plete load; therefore, the side face of the outer ring is divided into
four zones indicated by I to IV. When a four-row roller bearing
is mounted for the first time, zone I is positioned in the direction
of the applied load and after a period of 1000 operating hours the
outer ring is supposed to be turned through 90◦ . The outer ring of
the roller bearing, studied in the present article, contains a max-
imum of nine (∼34/4) rollers; therefore, 850 kN load was shared

TABLE 2—CHOCK DIMENSIONS (MM) IN WHICH BACK UP BEARING WAS


RUNNING
A B C D

1 1180.25 1180.19 1180.15 1180.19


2 1180.19 1180.15 1180.10 1180.15
3 1180.24 1180.14 1180.06 1180.18
4 1180.25 1180.20 1180.04 1180.14
Fig. 6—Load distribution in roller bearing.
184 H. HIRANI

TABLE 3—REDUCTION IN EFFECTIVE LENGTH DUE TO HOLE


Nominal Hole Parting
Diameter (mm) Depth (mm) Dimension (mm)

1.6 2.9 5
2.5 4.6 7
4 7.4 11
6.3 11.5 18
10.0 18.4 28

N. The load distribution among nine rollers in the load zone at a


moment of time is shown in Fig. 6. This load distribution indicates
that every roller is subjected to variable load, which varies from
zero to maximum 166,550 N. Therefore, rollers are subjected to
fatigue loading even though the applied load is unidirectional and
of nearly constant magnitude. Due to the dynamic loading of the
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Fig. 7—Material handling holes in bearing outer ring. roller the outer ring also experiences a dynamic load. The point p
on the outer ring (being stationary) as shown in Fig. 6 experiences
where the ring radial shift, δr , is evaluated using the following
34
2
× (1 − 64/1009) ≈ 16 times load variation in one rotation of
equation (Harris (6)), the inner ring. Therefore, it can be said that the outer ring is sub-
jected to dynamic load up to 166,550 N and the frequency of this
radial clearance
δr = variation is 240,000 (= 15.92 * 250 * 60) per hour. Such high radial
cos(angular extent of load zone/2)
load with high frequency (due to rolling) along with the tangential
or
load (due to sliding) induces contact stress (which causes pitting
0.66 mm failure), shear stress (which causes crack initiation and may cause
δr = = 0.93 mm [2]
cos(π/4) crack propagation), and tensile stress (which causes rapid failure)
The maximum load, Qmax , on any roller can be determined by in the outer ring. To determine all three stresses analytically, it is
employing Eq. [1]. In the present study, Qmax is equal to 166,550 necessary to model cylinder-on-cylinder geometry having a roller

Fig. 8—Fracture near hole.


Four-Row Cylindrical Roller Bearings 185
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Fig. 9—Solid models of rollers, inner ring and outer ring.

Fig. 10—Finite element meshing with tetra-solid-elements.


186 H. HIRANI
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Fig. 11—Von Mises stress distribution in outer ring.

radius equal to 32 mm and outer ring radius equal to −536.5 mm stresses. The expression relating the applied stresses to the prin-
(negative sign indicates a concave surface). The plane strain condi- cipal stresses is (Norton (7))
tion with x-axis aligned to the direction of rotation, and the y-axis   
σx − σ τxy 0 nx
radial to the rollers can be considered. The total stress can be de-   
 τyx σy − σ 0  ny  = 0 [4]
termined by superimposing the component due to the normal and
0 0 σz − σ nz
tangential loads (Norton (7)):
Stress = Stress due to normal + Stress due to frictional loading where σ is the principal stress magnitude and nx , ny , and nz are the
direction cosines of the unit vector n. The maximum shear stress
σx = σxn + σxt
can be determined from the values of the principal normal stresses
σy = σyn + σyt using (Norton (7)):
 
σz = ν(σx + σ y )  σmax − σmin 
τmax =  
 [5]
2
τxy = τxyn + τxyt [3]
To evaluate the stress levels, the Young’s modulus equal to
In Eq. [3] subscript n denotes the normal load while subscript 205.8 GPa and the Poisson ratio equal to 0.27 have been em-
t denotes the tangential friction force. To find the largest tensile ployed. Using Eqs. [4]-[5] and Viete’s cubic root finding method,
and compressive stresses, it is necessary to find principal normal the maximum principal normal stress, σmax , equal to 1.205 GPa
Four-Row Cylindrical Roller Bearings 187
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Fig. 12—Distribution of Von Mises stress due to loading at generated crack edge.

(compressive); the minimum principal normal stress, σmin , equal indicates that the fourth hole, which is not shown in the figure,
to 546.75 MPa (compressive); and the maximum shear stress, τmax , was placed in the load zone and was subjected to 166,550 N load.
equal to 329 MPa have been calculated for the coefficient of fric- Surprisingly, these four holes were missing in the original drawing
tion, µ, equal to 0.1. However, increasing the value of µ to 0.2 of the outer ring supplied by the manufacturer. On interaction
increases σmax to 1.349 GPa and increases σmin to 563.42 MPa and with the shop-floor worker, it was revealed that four holes of 3/8
τmax to 393 MPa. Increasing µ to 0.3 increases σmax to 1.494 GPa 10 UNC 3B of 45 mm depth were drilled and tapped to facilitate
and increases σmin to 580 MPa and τmax to 457 MPa. For friction- the handling of the outer ring. As per IS 2473 (8), the center hole
less (µ = 0.001) interface, σmax = 1.062 GPa, σmin = 530 MPa, and in any workpiece reduces the load area. If the center hole is to be
τmax = 266 MPa have been calculated. These results indicate that removed from the finished product, then parting off the dimension
increasing the coefficient of friction increases shear stresses sig- needs to be greater than the length of the hole. In other words,
nificantly, which may cause the shear fracture of roller bearings. the effective (load bearing) length will be less than the length of
However, this stress analysis clearly indicates that tensile stress is the workpiece having a hole at the center. The effective length
completely absent. According to Pearson (5), fracture of a large- can be obtained by subtracting the parting dimension (listed in
size ring mostly happens due to tensile stresses. Therefore, it was Table 3) from the length of the workpiece. Further, due to the
necessary to revisit the failed bearing. hole at the center of the ring thickness, the effective thickness
Figure 7 shows the outer ring fastened with chains through of the outer ring decreases to half, which makes the outer ring
bolts. This figure indicates that a heavy weight outer ring was made very flexible. Increase in flexibility of the outer ring reduces the
with four tapped holes to facilitate its handling. This figure also extent of the load zone and increases the value of the maximum
188 H. HIRANI
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Fig. 13—Distribution of maximum principal shear stress due to loading at generated crack edge.

Fig. 14—Distribution of tensile stress due to loading at generated crack edge.


Four-Row Cylindrical Roller Bearings 189

outer ring and the housing.” Special attention is given to model


the hole of dia 10 mm and depth 45 mm on one side of the outer
ring. A solid model of rollers, the inner ring, and the outer ring
is shown in Fig. 9. The right-hand side of this figure provides the
right view of the roller assembly indicating four material handling
holes drilled at a phase angle of ninety degrees. Finite element
meshing of this assembly, consisting of 7680 tetra solid elements,
is shown in Fig. 10. Static contact condition with mesh refinement
has been utilized to estimate the bearing stresses with reasonable
accuracy. Figure 11(a) shows the Von Mises stress distribution in
the outer ring and clearly demonstrates the deep indentation near
the hole caused by the high load transmitted from the roller to
the outer ring. Figure 11(b) shows a vector diagram of maximum
Fig. 15—Material handling holes and load zone arrangements.
principle stress in the cut section of the outer ring. This figure also
indicates tensile stress (positive stress) generated at the lifting
load on the roller-raceway interface. Figure 8 shows the fracture hole of the edges. Such high stress concentration joins the crack
near the hole, which confirms our guess that the weakest portion
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indented at the surface with the drilled hole. To model the deep
of the outer ring was subjected to maximum load and resulted crack in the ring, Young’s modulus of elements near the crack
in the fracture of the outer ring. To reconfirm this conclusion, a have been made equivalent to zero (Zienkiewics and Taylor (10)).
finite element modeling of the outer ring was performed, which is Figure 12 explains the increase in magnitude of stresses developed
discussed in the next section. in the modified ring (ring with 23 mm deep crack). These high
levels of stresses cause direct shearing of the outer ring and deepen
FINITE ELEMENT ANAYSIS OF ROLLER BEARING the crack to the outside surface of the outer ring. The distribution
A typical roller bearing system consists of five contact (Cheng of maximum shear stress is shown in Fig. 13. In addition, the edge
(9)) parts: housing, outer ring, inner ring, roller set, and shaft. In (developed by deep crack) loading induces tensile stress in the
the present study the rolling bearing system is simplified into three- outer ring near the contact line of the next roller, as shown in Fig
body contact by combining “the shaft and the inner ring” and “the 14. Such high tensile stresses immediately fracture the outer ring,

TABLE 4—ANALYTICAL OIL-TEST REPORT


Fresh
Sample Number Sample 4 5 7 8 9 10 11 12

K.V. @ 100◦ C, cSt IP 71 31.059 30.824 30.949 30.962 29.431 31.098 30.735 30.822 29.124
K.V. @ 40◦ C, cSt IP 71 469.50 506.75 486.92 494.74 438.40 483.98 490.42 494.84 432.95
V.I. IP 226 96 89 93 92 95 94 90 91 95
TAN mg KOH/g IP 18 0.59 0.66 0.56 0.36 0.23 0.82 0.99 0.36 0.36
Total insolubles % w/w ASTM D 893 Not Detected
Flash point, ◦ C >190 >190 >190 >190 >190 >190 >190 >190 >190
Elemental analysis, ppm ICP
Mg <1 1 <1 <1 <1 1 1 <1 <1
Ca 38 42 32 33 29 33 38 34 30
Ti <1 <1 <1 <1 <1 <1 <1 <1 <1
V <1 <1 <1 <1 <1 <1 <1 <1 <1
Cr <1 <1 <1 <1 <1 <1 <1 <1 <1
Mn <1 1 <1 <1 <1 <1 <1 <1 <1
Fe 42 86 45 4 15 34 42 15 22
Ni <1 <1 <1 <1 <1 <1 <1 <1 <1
Cu 4 206 13 <1 <1 216 126 3 5
Zn 75 81 15 6 11 39 30 8 24
Al <1 <1 <1 <1 <1 <1 <1 <1 <1
Si 2 6 1 <1 1 1 <1 <1 <1
Sn <1 1 <1 <1 <1 6 4 2 4
Pb 1 3 <1 <1 <1 1 2 1 <1
Cd <1 <1 <1 <1 <1 <1 <1 <1 <1
Mo 3 <1 1 3 3 4 5 6 5
Ba 93 <1 3 1 17 1 1 2 11
B 31 71 34 55 40 41 49 51 47
Na <1 26 1 <1 <1 <1 <1 <1 <1
190 H. HIRANI

level of the air changes and affects the oil supplied to the bearing
and results in mild corrosive wear as observed in Fig. 5.
The test report of the remaining nine samples (fresh oil, sam-
ples 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12) is listed in Table 4. These results
show no significant variation in the viscosity index and the TAN
numbers of the fresh and the used oil. It is interesting to note a neg-
ative correlation between Cu and Ba. A decrease in the anti-wear
additive increases the wear rate of the solid brass cage material.
These results indicate a relatively healthy condition of the roller
bearing and it can be said that the observations made in the an-
alytical and the finite-element analysis are valid. In other words,
the placement of a hole directly under the maximum load was the
root cause of the bearing failure. The installed bearing remain-
ing in healthy condition after 1000 hours of operation is shown in
Fig. 16.

CONCLUSIONS
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Fig. 16—Bearing in good condition. r The root cause failure analysis of the CRM roller bearing has
been carried out using visual observation, an analytical ap-
separating one piece from the outer ring. This process of tensile proach, and finite element analyses. Finite element analysis
failure remains continuous until one quarter of the outer ring is showed that the outer ring failed under the bending fatigue
fractured into a number of pieces as shown in Fig. 1. and the root cause of this failure was the wrong placement of
the lifting hole directly under the maximum load.
r The fracture did not occur when the lifting hole was placed out
VALIDATION OF THEORETICAL STUDIES of the load zone.
The conclusion made in the finite-element study that the hole
in the thickness of the outer ring was a root cause of ring failure ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
needs to be verified using the experimental study. To validate this The author is grateful to Profs. Deshpande and Bose (Dept. of
conclusion, a similar solid brass bearing was installed in the cold Mech. Eng., IIT Bombay) for providing insight in the operation of
rolling mill under the same operating conditions. The bearing was the rolling mills and fatigue fracture, to Mr. Mukesh Gupta (Cas-
mounted with a consideration to keep holes (which were required trol India Ltd) for helping in the oil analysis, and to Mr. Bhatia, Mr.
for ring handling) away from the maximum load point. During the Khan, and Mr. Nair (Jindal Iron and Steel) for providing related
bearing assembly, the holes were located at 45◦ from the load line, data and drawings.
as shown in Fig. 15. As per the author’s hypothesis, this arrange-
ment would allow better distribution of the load and the bearing REFERENCES
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13 contained 1.28%, sample 14 contained 1.84%, and sample 16 (6) Harris, T.A. (2001), Rolling Bearing Analysis, Fourth edition, John Wiley
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have occurred due to a used oil-air mixing unit. In such a lubrica- tact System with Roller Bearing-Part Ii: Semi Finite Element Analysis and
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