Study on the vibration characteristics of angular contact ball bearing cage under rolling-sliding compound motion

Abstract Cage fracture has become the main form of bearing failure, the study of factors affecting the operating condition of the cage has an important impact on the operating performance and life of bearings. This study takes the angular contact ball bearing H7006C as the object of study and extracts the bearing inner ring and cage speed to analyse the bearing slip rate law. Extract cage vibration data and analyse cage vibration frequency characteristics using the variational mode decomposition method. The effects of load and speed induced bearing slippage on the vibration characteristics of cages are investigated by varying the induced bearing slippage factors. The effects of load and speed induced bearing slip on the vibration characteristics of cages are investigated separately by varying the induced bearing slip factors. The study found that, at a fixed rotational speed, the bearing slip rate decreases as the axial load increases from 0 to 350 N, and then stabilizes beyond 350 N. Under fixed load conditions, the bearing slip rate increases with the rotational speed ranging from 1000 to 9000 rpm. At a constant speed, the axial load is varied within 50–100 N, resulting in vibration frequency increases of 72 Hz, 43.5 Hz, and 24 Hz at 1000 rpm, 5000 rpm, and 9000 rpm, respectively. The characteristic frequency of cage vibration rises with increasing load, contributing to smoother cage operation. Nonetheless, as the rotational speed increases, the influence of axial load-induced slippage on the vibration characteristics of the cage diminishes gradually. At a set load of 500 N, the amplitudes of the cage vibration eigenfrequencies at 1000 rpm, 3000 rpm, and 7000 rpm are 0.0317, 0.0288, and 0.0174, respectively, decreasing with rotational speed. This indicates that the cage does not operate smoothly. The findings of this study serve as a theoretical foundation for detecting and diagnosing bearing slip and vibration issues in rotating machinery.