Verification of the Non-Axisymmetric Deformation Mechanism of Bearing Rings after Quenched in a Multi-Field Coupled Simulation

Abstract

In this paper, the elliptical deformation mechanism of the bearing ring after quenching has been studied by using the theory of “metal-thermal-mechanical” and the multi-field coupling simulation method. It has been mainly considered that it occurred as an experimental phenomenon in the past that, when the bearing ring had been oil quenched, a vapor film had usually formed on its surface, and the breakage and boiling of the vapor film had been observed to be uneven in a circumferential direction. For this reason, based on the phase transition kinetics, several types of heat transfer boundary conditions on the outer surface of bearing rings during oil quenching have been assumed, and the multi-field coupled simulation of the quenching process of bearing rings has been carried out in this paper. According to the simulation results, it could be concluded that when two different heat transfer boundary conditions have been set on the outer surface of the bearing outer ring in the form of orthogonal symmetry, the quenched bearing outer ring would produce elliptical deformation. The above simulation results have been basically verified by comparing the experimental results.