ABSTRACT
Ball and roller bearings were historically called antifriction bearings because of the low
friction properties associated with them. Actually, the major portion of friction associated
with rolling bearings is caused by sliding motions in the contacts between components such as
rolling elements and raceways, rolling elements and cage, roller ends and roller guide flanges,
and cage rails and inner or outer ring lands. This excludes the friction due to sliding between
bearing seals and inner or outer ring lands; this friction is generally greater than that
produced by all of the other sources of friction combined. In this chapter, the friction between
rolling elements and raceways will be investigated.
