ABSTRACT
Modern rolling element bearings began in 1886 in Germany when Friedrich Fischer designed and built the first machinery for the production of precision bearing balls. To withstand the extremely high Hertzian fatigue stresses and give relatively long life, the steel used in rolling element bearings is heat treated to be very strong and hard. The functions of the cage are to maintain the proper spacing between the rolling elements, to minimize friction, and to distribute the rolling elements’ load carrying ability evenly around the rings. There are dozens of cage materials and the proper selection can be critical to both the bearing’s performance and the cost. To determine the life of a ball or roller bearing, the bearing companies initially used a huge sample of identical bearings, all lubricated in the same manner and subjected to the same loads. Electrical fluting is generally better defined and there are many more flutes, but a metallurgical analysis can give a definite answer.
