Studies of Rolling-Element Lubrication and Fatigue Life in a Reduced Pressure Environment

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Abstract
Fatigue tests were conducted in a modified five-ball fatigue tester on SAE 52100 steel ball specimens, at atmospheric pressure and at the approximate lubricant vapor pressure with two different lubrication methods, using a super-refined naphthenic mineral oil as the lubricant. Additional tests were conducted with AISI M-50 ball specimens with polyphenyl ether lubricants. Differences in fatigue life, deformation and wear with the mineral oil lubricant were insignificant regardless of the ambient pressure environment or lubrication method employed. Polyphenyl ether lubricants exhibited large amounts of wear both at atmospheric and reduced pressures, indicating a lack of an elastohydrodynamic film with this lubricant under the stresses and sliding velocities present in the five-ball fatigue tester.

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