Rolling Contact Fatigue Mechanisms—Accelerated Testing Versus Field Performance

Cycling tests in the laboratory serve to assess the qualitative and quantitative influences of specific parameters on the service life of rolling bearings by systematically varying these parameters in the tests. The applicability of the test results to the field is a precondition for the optimization of material and design. Material stress is analyzed and described by various alterations in the material caused by cyclic stressing. The conditions under which cyclic stressing generates structural alterations are demonstrated. This paper refers especially to the influence of different contact pressures and residual stresses on material stress and the failure mechanism at cyclic stressing.