Professional Documents
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NTN TR82 en
NTN TR82 en
NTN has developed the world's largest large-bearing-test apparatus (“WIND LAB.”) which allows evaluation of off-shore
wind power generator main shaft bearings with an outer diameter of up to 4.2m. This will enhance our ability to develop
technology to cope with increasing demand around the world. NTN introduced the equipment at the Advanced Technology
R&D Center (Kuwana-shi, Mie-ken).
“WIND LAB.” applies loading to the bearings with a total of 6 hydraulic cylinders, in vertical and horizontal directions, to
simulate the actual conditions experienced by a wind turbine. This enables detailed technological analysis and specification
review of bearings selected for large wind power generator applications. In addition to enabling evaluation of the load
conditions in the stationary or extreme state, it can also support various types of bearings, such as self-aligning roller bearings
and tapered roller bearings, so that the customers can conduct tests tailored to their needs.
NTN develops and provides all kinds of bearings used in the components of wind power generators including main bearings,
final gears, step-up gears, and generators. Wind power generators, including those for off-shore use, are increasing in size, and
main shaft bearings require advanced technology to support rotation of blades, which can exceed 100 m in diameter.
Therefore, evaluating the actual ultra-large bearings will help accelerate development and improve bearing reliability. In
addition, we will aim to monitor the bearing conditions during the test by integrating the condition monitoring system (CMS)
for wind power generators developed by NTN (“WindDoctor ®”- page 74). Our objective is to improve the functionality of
the bearings while continuing to further enhance the equipment diagnostic technology of CMS.
We will strive to enhance our advantage as a bearing manufacturer by using "WIND LAB." and further grow our business
for wind power generation equipment.
Hydraulic cylinder
▲ “WIND LAB.”
test equipment for ultra-large wind
power generator main shaft bearings
▲ An example of an ultra-large
main shaft bearing
R
TECHNICAL REVIEW
Special Issue: Composite Material,
No.82 Technology and Products
for Industrial Machines
corporation
NTN TECHNICAL REVIEW No.82
CONTENTS
Contribution Advanced Powders Processing – Recent Powder Metallurgy Techniques and It’s Trend –
2
Hideshi MIURA Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kyushu University
● Technical Papers
The Influence of the Humidity and Quantity of Hydrogen into Steel under the Abrasive Wear
88
Motohiro ITO
Evaluation of Shear Fatigue Properties of Medium Carbon Steels and
Rolling Bearing Steels up to Giga-cycle Regimes 94
Noriaki MIWA
[ Preface ]
Natsuhiko MORI
Executive Officer
As the manufacturing industry is globalized and both the market and demand of products
are expanding throughout the world, maximizing the effective use of the minimum resources
and paying attention to the global environment has become an urgent issue. In Japan,
development and utilization of advanced technologies and materials are accelerating in order
to maintain sustainable and constructive competitiveness. Therefore, methods for utilizing
materials and some manufacturing methods are about to change significantly. Some
examples are the expanded application of CFRP and use of 3D printers.
In view of these circumstances, NTN has formed a new division, the Composite Material
Product Division in April, 2011. The purpose of this division is to consolidate and enhance the
resin, sintered metal and magnetic material technologies to develop and introduce composite
products and unit module products into the market. Then, they can contribute to the fuel
efficiency and electric drive of automobiles and high-performance industrial machine
components.
At the 27th Japan International Machine Tool Fair (JIMTOF2014), which took place from
October 30 to November 4, with the theme “’Mono-Zukuri DNA’ connects to the Future and
the World”, NTN Technical Review No. 82 was published featuring NTN’s composite
material, technology and products for industrial machines.
In this Technical Review, we had a contribution entitled, “Advanced Powders Processing –
Recent Powder Metallurgy Techniques and Its Trend” from Professor Hideshi Miura.
Professor Hideshi Miura is from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kyushu
University, and is an authority on powder and powder metallurgy.
In the “Special Issue for Composite Material Products and Technology”, we introduce high-
strength sintered metal, magnetic material and resin as well as hybrid products. In the
“Special Issue for Manufacturing Technology”, we introduce technology and products that
were exhibited at JIMTOF2014, manufactured with our proprietary technology. Finally, in
“Special Issue for CMS Supertechnology New Products” we introduce base
technology/products and monitoring technology for industrial machines.
At NTN we will celebrate our 100th anniversary in fiscal year 2017. Following our theme,
“For New Technology Network: We shall contribute to international society through creating
new technologies and developing new products,” we are striving to contribute to
development of the industry by utilizing our proprietary technology development capabilities.
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NTN TECHNICAL REVIEW No.82(2014)
[ Contribution ]
Hideshi MIURA
Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kyushu University
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Advanced Powders Processing – Recent Powder Metallurgy Techniques and Its Trend –
-3-
NTN TECHNICAL REVIEW No.82(2014)
with the composition of the binders, account for the Table 2 Various debinding techniques
majority of the patents. Table 2 2) shows various Process name Binder content Debinding condition
debinding techniques.
Heated degreasing
In the industry, thermal decomposition and solvent
MACPHERSON process PE, camphor Vacuum
degreasing are mainly used, however the former still
WITEC process WAX,PE Turbulence, absorber
has issues such as long debinding time (slow heating
up to 600˚C) and possible deformation of the product. VI process WAX,PE,PP High vacuum, evaporation
-4-
Advanced Powders Processing – Recent Powder Metallurgy Techniques and Its Trend –
phase. As the above properties were only obtained by in any structure, highlighted by the arrows and are
using the natural phenomenon of aggregation of Ni surrounded by tempered martensite phases, seen as a
powder and composition of Fe-2% Ni-0.5%Mo, further network structure. It is observed that the bigger the Ni
superior properties (targeting more than 2000 MPa of powder grain size and the more the Ni content, the
tensile strength, more than 5% of elongation, and more larger the Ni-rich phases.
than 600 MPa of rotational bend fatigue strength) could Fig. 3 shows the distribution of Ni by EPMA. As it
be sufficiently expected by artificially changing the size shows the areas of high and low Ni concentration, it is
and content of the Ni powder or sintering/thermal clear that this is the heterogeneous structure with Ni
processing conditions based on this steel type. content gradient. It was found that when Ni powder of
Therefore, we examined the optimum structure on the small grain size is used, Ni is dispersed within an Fe
micro-level such as the composition and percentage of matrix resulting in a smaller difference in concentration.
each phase that composes the heterogeneous It was also revealed that when Ni content is large, the
structure and their dispersion state. difference in concentration also becomes larger.
Fig. 4 shows the tensile strength obtained from the
2.2 Method of Experiment tensile test. All the test pieces show a very high value
We used carbonyl iron powder (Fe-OM, average of around 2000 MPa.
grain size: 4.4 μm, made by Fukuda Metal Foil &
Powder Co., Ltd.) as the powder for this experiment.
We also used water atomization powder (AKT-Ni,
made by Mitsubishi Steel Mfg. Co., Ltd.) as the Ni to be (a)
added, classified into 3 grain sizes. The average grain
sizes were 6, 16 and 24 μm, which we called fine,
medium and coarse, respectively, and added 4, 6 and
8 mass% in the mixture. As the binder, we blended 69
mass% of paraffin wax, 20 mass% of atactic
polypropylene, 10 mass% of carnauba wax and 1
(b)
mass% of stearin acid. The powder and the binder
were kneaded so that the powder ratio became 65
vol% and a tensile test plate the shape of a dumbbell
was created by injection molding using the obtained
raw material. Paraffin wax was first removed from the
compact using the solvent degreasing method in the 50µm
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NTN TECHNICAL REVIEW No.82(2014)
Higher strength and elongation are seen in samples However, hardness of the Ni-rich phase increased
with smaller Ni powder grain size and the test pieces nearly 20% from before the test showing an even
with Ni content of 6% show the maximum values. Fig. 5 higher value than the tempered martensite phase. On
shows the elongation, showing that the smaller the Ni the other hand, little change was observed in the
powder grain size, the greater the elongation and the hardness of the martensite phase.
Ni content of 6% again shows the largest value. The We also attempted to quantify the retained austenite
test piece with fine Ni and 6% content showed a very before and after the tensile test by X-ray diffractometry
strong property of 2040 MPa of tensile strength and (XRD). Fig. 7 shows the retained austenite amount
8.1% elongation. This is the highest level among the before and after the tensile test. The retained austenite
reported sintered low alloy steels 11-14) by MIM. It is existed nearly 17% before the test and decreased to
concluded that such ultra high strength properties were 6% after the test. From the above, it is concluded that
obtained because of the fine heterogeneous structure. the stress-induced martensitic transformation (TRIP)
Fig. 6 shows the hardness of the test pieces of fine occurred in the Ni-rich phase resulting in improved
powder with Ni content of 6% before and after the hardness. It was found that this also caused ultra-
tensile test. The Ni-rich phase showed a lower value strong tensile properties in the thermal processed
than the tempered martensite phase before the tensile materials of sintered low alloy steel with
test. heterogeneous structure 15).
2500 680
Tensile strength, MPa
660
2000 640
Hardness, HV
620
1500 600
580
1500
560
500 Fine 540
520 Tempered α’
0 Medium 500
4 Coarse Ni rich phase
6 Before
8 After
Ni content, % Tensile test
Fig.4 Tensile strength of different Ni content and Fig.6 Micro vickers hardness of each region at before
particle size and after tensile testing
18
10
16
8
Retained austenite, %
14
Elongation, %
6 12
10
4
8
2 Fine 6
0
Medium
4
4 Coarse 2
6
8 0
Before After
Ni content, %
Fig.5 Elongation of different Ni content and particle size Fig.7 Retained austenite at before and after tensile testing
-6-
Advanced Powders Processing – Recent Powder Metallurgy Techniques and Its Trend –
paraffin wax) and the coating method, as well as the Fig.8 Sketch of laser forming equipment
property of the base material. There are also
improvements of strength and dimensional accuracy by
HIP processing instead of infiltration, or by applying
impregnation and infiltration after liquid phase sintering
of nickel phosphor bronze and completely melting it
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NTN TECHNICAL REVIEW No.82(2014)
3.1 Ti Powder Laser Forming The energy density is the energy input on the unit
An important aspect of laser 3D forming is the high area, P [W] is the laser output, s [mm] is the scanning
density and high accuracy of the product. In our interval and v [mm/s] is the scanning speed. The
research, we have improved the relative density of the surface roughness decreases as the energy density
compact up to 97.8% through the improvement of the increases and converges at around Sa=10 μm. It is
powder supply process. In this research, we have reported that the surface tension of the melted metal
created high density compacts by improving laser decreases as the temperature increases 23), therefore,
conditions, evaluating their mechanical properties and it is considered that the wettability of the melted part
examining the impact of the powder grain size on the increases on the board as the temperature increases
side surface accuracy. This is done with the intent of along with the increase of energy density to form a
creating compacts of even higher density and higher smooth layer on the surface.
accuracy. Next, we conducted a lamination experiment. We
decided that the shape of the laser formed compacts
3.2 Experiment Method would be the same as the test pieces for the tensile
We used Ti-6Al-4V alloy powder (TILOP64 made by test (14B test piece). For the forming parameters, we
Osaka Titanium technologies Co., Ltd.) by gas- used 260 W and 80 mm/s, which were the conditions
atomized technique as the raw material powder. The to make the lowest surface roughness in the single
grain size is under 45 μm and the average grain size is layer manufacturing experiment in the previous
33.4 μm. In addition, we prepared finer powder with the section.
grain size under 25 μm (average grain size of 18.8 μm) The annealing process was applied to some laser
to evaluate the impact of the powder grain size on the formed compacts. Annealing consisted of maintaining
side surface accuracy. We used ytterbium fiber laser of the pieces at 700˚C for 2 hours then cooling them in a
the continuous oscillation method with maximum furnace. Fig. 10 shows the cross-section image of a
output of 330 W for the laser oscillator. The laser beam laser formed compact. This is a high density compact
from this oscillator scans the powder with a final beam with a relative density of 99.8% with almost no voids.
diameter of 50 μm using the scanning system including Fig. 11 shows the corrosion structure. Generation of
galvanometer mirror. The manufacturing chamber is acicular martensite by laser forming can be observed.
filled with high-purity argon (600 Pa) after being In addition, epitaxial growth where the said structure
degassed. grew vertically on the direction of formation was also
observed. This structure did not change between
3.3 Test Results and Observations before and after the annealing process.
First, a single layer was created changing laser Fig. 12 shows the tensile test results of the high
parameters and the surface roughness was measured density compacts. The JIS Standard for 60 types of
with a laser microscope (OLS-4000 from Olympus) in titanium alloy specifies that the tensile strength and
order to evaluate the impact of laser parameters on the elongation to e 895 MPa and 10% respectively. The
surface roughness. Fig. 9 shows the measurement of
the surface roughness of the single layer compact over
energy density Ep [J/mm2] indicated by equation (1).
Ep=P/(s・v) ……………………………(1)
speed,
Ti compact
mm/s
60 50
60
40 (a) (b)
80
20 100
160
0
0 200 400 600
Energy density, J/mm2
Fig.9 Surface roughness of single layers in function of Fig.11 Etched microstructures of laser formed Ti compacts
volumetric laser energy density (a) As – formed (b) After heat treatment
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Advanced Powders Processing – Recent Powder Metallurgy Techniques and Its Trend –
Elongation, %
800
8.88 10.0 When laser scan is applied linearly on the evenly
placed metallic powder layer, the metallic powder
6.89
forms one linear compact as the metallic powder melts
400 6.0
Tensile strength and solidifies as shown in Fig. 14. At that time,
granular residues are generated around the formed
Elongation
0 2.0 compact. Fig. 15 shows the graph indicating the
(a) (b) diameter of the residues. It was found that the diameter
of residues became smaller by increasing the laser
Fig.12 Tensile properties of laser formed Ti compacts
(a) As – formed (b) After heat treatment output and was halved when fine powder was used.
Fig. 16 shows the side surface roughness of the laser
formed compacts. Improvement of around 60% in
surface roughness was confirmed in the compact using
tensile strength of the laser formed compacts is a fine powder. A change in side surface properties was
sufficiently higher value than the standard. verified by using fine powder even with the same
The elongation indicates a lower value, but it is forming parameters however, the stable supply of
improved by the annealing process by over 10% in uniform powder layer is difficult with fine powder.
some samples. The fusion and solidification of the Therefore, further study is required for the
surface of the compacts is repeated by the laser improvement of side surface accuracy.
scanning during laser forming, which generates
residual stress within the formed compacts. This
residual stress is considered to be one of the causes of
the reduced elongation. We assume that by applying
the annealing process, the residual stress was
removed and the elongation was improved with a
closer value to the JIS Standard. Fig.14 Appearance of a laser formed line
Next, we also evaluated the dynamic mechanical
properties. We introduced fatigue using the pulsating
tension test with a frequency of 30 Hz and stress ratio 100
of R=0.1 using an electro-hydraulic servo testing Ti64_33.4µm
Diameter, mm
80 Ti64_18.2µm
machine. Fig. 13 shows the fatigue test results. The
vertical axis indicates fatigue strength under pulsating 60
tension (twice the stress amplitude). The fatigue
40
strength estimated from the tensile test result is more
than 600 MPa and the fatigue strength of this test was 20
100 150 200 250 300
260 MPa, a significantly lower value than the estimated
Laser power, W
600
Stress amplitude*2, MPa
100
500
Under 45µm
Roughness Rz, µm
400 80
Under 25µm
300 60
200
40
100
1.E+05 1.E+06 1.E+07 1.E+08
20
Number of cycle, N Right side Left side
Fig.13 S-N curve of laser formed Ti compacts Fig.16 Side surface roughness of laser formed Ti
after heat treatment compacts using different Ti particle powders
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NTN TECHNICAL REVIEW No.82(2014)
References
4. Conclusion 1) R. M. German, Powder metallurgy science, translated by Hideshi
Miura et al. Uchida Rokakuho (1996).
Metal injection molding (MIM) and powder lamination 2) Kazuo Okamura et al. Plastic molding technology, 27 (1996) 235.
3D printing by laser are introduced as new powder 3) D Weinand et al. Plastic molding technology, 13 (1996) 19.
forming methods from our research and the former 4) C. Quichand:Proc. of Powder Met.World Congress,EPMA,2
(1996) 1101.
MIM is already recognized as an industrially useful 5) Hideshi Miura et al. Powder and powder metallurgy, 40 (1993) 393.
forming method. However, creating large products is 6) Hideshi Miura et al. Powder and powder metallurgy, 42 (1995) 353.
still difficult because of deformation due to their own 7) Hideshi Miura et al. Powder and powder metallurgy, 41 (1994) 1071.
8) Takeharu Baba et al. Powder and powder metallurgy, 42 (1995)
weight during the debinding process and long 1119.
processing time. If these problems are resolved, the 9) Hideshi Miura et al. Powder and powder metallurgy, 40 (1993) 988.
scope of application is expected to be greatly 10) Hideshi Miura et al. Powder and powder metallurgy, 42 (1995) 378.
11) H. Miura, M. Matsuda, Material Transactions, 43 (2002) 343.
expanded.
12) Materials Standards for PM Structural Parts, 2009 Edition, MPIF,
On the other hand, metallic powder lamination 3D Princeton, NJ, (2009) 48-49.
printing has just begun with the ability of forming 13) Materials Standards for Metal Injection Molded Parts, 2007 Edition,
complex structure on the outside, as well as the inside. MPIF, Princeton, NJ, (2007) 16-17.
14) Metals Handbook, 10th ed., 1, ASM Int., Materials Park, OH, (1990)
However, as the powder is melted and laminated, 430-448 and 793-800.
particularly roughness of the side surface and the 15) W. Harun, H. Miura et al. J. Japan Soc. Pow. & Pow. Met., 59 (2012)
entire dimensional accuracy need to be improved. 677.
16) Masato Imamura,Powder and powder metallurgy,48 (2001) 415.
There are also issues associated with volume 17) Hideshi Miura et al. Powder and powder metallurgy, 53 (2006) 740.
production but, this is unique from the manufacturing 18) Hideshi Miura et al. Powder and powder metallurgy, 54 (2007) 707.
viewpoint and attracting a lot of attention. Based on 19) Hideshi Miura et al. Powder and powder metallurgy, 55 (2008) 738.
20) H. Miura, et al. Proceedings of the MPIF/APMI International
this, further development is very much expected.
Conference on Powder Metallurgy & Particulate Materials (CD-
ROM), (2009) 708.
21) H. Miura, et al. Materials Science Forum, 654-656, (2010) 2057.
22) H. Miura, et al. Proceedings of the 2012 Powder Metallurgy World
Congress & Exhibition(CD-ROM), (2012).
23) Akio Sasama, et al. : Journal of The Japan Institute of Metals,40
(1976) 1030.
<Author biography>
Hideshi Miura
Professor, Doctor of Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kyushu University
1997 Steel Metallurgy Course (Master) completed, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kyushu University, Assistant
1985 Doctor of Engineering received from Kyushu University, Assistant Professor, Department of Materials Development Engineering,
Kumamoto University
1992-1993 Visiting Researcher, Rensseaer Polytechnic Institute, USA
1995 Professor, Faculty of Engineering, Kumamoto University
2004 Professor, Mechanical Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Kyushu University
2011- present President, Education and Research Center of Manufacturing, Kyushu University
[Specialty]
Material processing, powder metallurgy, metallic injection molding, laser powder lamination 3D printing
[Academic society and committee affiliations]
Japan Society of Powder and Powder Metallurgy: Board Director (1996-2010), Vice President (2003-2010), President (2012-2014), Adviser (2014-)
The Japan Institute of Metals and Materials: Subcommittee V, Manager (1995, 1996), Vice Chairman (1997, 1998), Chairman (1999, 2000)
The Iron and Steel Institute of Japan: Division Steering Committee Member (Powder/Particle Forum Chair) (1998-2012),
Division Vice Chair (2012-2014), Division Chair/Board Director (2014-2016)
American Powder Metallurgy Institute: Powder Injection Molding International Symposium Organization Committee Member (1995, 1996, 1998-)
P/M Sci. & Tech. Briefs Editorial/Review Member (1999-2005), International Conference Program
Committee Member (2004-)
The Japan Society of Mechanical Engineering: Materials and Processing Division, 81st Period Steering Committee Member (2nd Technical
Committee Chair) (2003-2004), Division Vice Chairman (2005-2006), Division Chair (2006-2007),
Fellow (2010-)
The Japan Society for Technology of Plasticity: Board Director/Publishing Business Committee Chair (2007-2009), Kyushu District Head (2010-2012)
Conference Steering Committee Chair, Publication Editorial/Review Committee Member, Award Selection Committee Member, Representative,
Council Member, Program Committee Member of Powder Metallurgy International Conferences, Organizing Committee Member, Chair of the above
academic societies
-10-
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NTN TECHNICAL REVIEW No.82(2014)
[ Technical Article ]
Yoshio OKI*
sintered metal
BEARPHITE®
2) Development of light and compact sliding bearings
NTN Powder Metal Corporation
as an alternative to rolling element bearings Sintered oil-impregnated bearings,
3) Sintering of machine parts which require high sintered machine parts
strength NIKAMET®
4) Product development for industrial and automotive Nippon Kagaku Yakin Co., Ltd.
industries applying magnetic material technologies Magnetic material products, resin molding products,
sintered machine parts
5) Proposal of “only one” technology including
Hydrodynamic BEARPHITE
amorphous magnetic material into growing markets
NTN Manufacturing (Thailand) Co.,Ltd
Hydrodynamic bearing units
Fig. 1 Products and production system of composite
material products
-12-
Product Introduction and Complex Technology of Resin, Sintered Metal and Magnet for Growth Markets
Crack by impact ○ × × ○
Table 1 shows a comparison of performance among Deformation by
impact ○ ○ ○ ×
typical sliding bearings used in fluid. Bearings made of
Degree of freedom
carbon excel in wear resistance in fluid; however, they for design ◎ × ○ ×
show a lower degree of freedom in shape because they Price ◎ × ○ ×
are machined from formed materials and possess ◎ Excellent ○ Good △ Fair × Poor
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NTN TECHNICAL REVIEW No.82(2014)
Fig. 4 shows the specific wear rate of BEAREE results in a longer life when compared to general-
AS5704 and various PPS resin materials with glass purpose resin sliding screws.
fiber, carbon fiber, and PTFE resin blended in. NTN has recently developed resin sliding screws for
AS5704 is superior in wear resistance when high load, which have been limited to lower load
compared to other PPS materials because it has applications, and proposing them for a cleaner
special filler materials added to the PPS resin. production environment and increased load capacity.
NTN has created a composite nut applying PPS resin
sliding material onto the surface of threads of a brass
500 nut as indicated in Fig. 6, by injection molding, and
increased the heat transfer and load capacity. The
Specific wear rate
-14-
Product Introduction and Complex Technology of Resin, Sintered Metal and Magnet for Growth Markets
(3) Hybrid PEEK bearings 2) The hybrid PEEK bearings have the following features
The majority of power consumption of an air compared to conventional PTFE resin wrapped bushings:
conditioner is occupied by the compressor. Therefore, [Features]
higher efficiency is required to reduce energy Compared to conventional products (PTFE resin
consumption of an air conditioner. Fig. 7 shows the wrapped bushing)
structure of a compressor and the installation positions (1) Friction coefficient: 2/3, wear: 1/3
of the bearings. The bearings are required to have (2) Heat resistance: more than 5 times
improved friction/wear properties and resistance against
heat (the refrigerant liquefied by over-compression can
4. Sintered metal products
make the refrigerant oil leak from friction).
Therefore, NTN is developing hybrid PEEK bearings NTN Powder Metal Corporation works on high
with improved friction/wear properties and resistance functionality of conventional oil-impregnated sintered
against being burnt using composite material of bearings and develops high-strength machine parts
sintered alloy and PEEK resin. mainly for automotive applications. In the automotive
Fig. 8 shows the structure of hybrid PEEK bearings. applications, sintered products are increasingly used as
Different from polytetrafluoroethylene resin wrapped a part of the component cost reduction, which accounts
bushings made by the impregnation/sintering process for approximately 60% of the sintering market or
on the sintered intermediate layer of a steel plate, these approximately 9.2 kg per vehicle. The following is the
bearings are made with a layer of 0.5 mm thick PEEK introduction of high-strength sintered materials and
resin applied on the internal surface of the sintered alloy various types of sintered bearing products developed
bushing by injection molding. PEEK resin is suitable for for this growing market:
injection molding and excels in heat, wear, chemical,
and fatigue resistance. In addition, it also considerably (1) High-strength sintered materials 4)
improved heat transfer properties in the composite Sintered machine parts for automotive applications
structure with metal compared to the bearings with only include engines, drive components, and in-vehicle oil
PEEK resin material. pumps and starter motors. Fig. 9 shows an example of
sintered gears. In addition, Fig. 10 shows the results
from a comparison test of ring compressive fatigue
strength of high-strength sintered materials. The fatigue
strength of the developed products is about 2.3 times
Fixed scroll that of the conventional products. The sintered machine
parts require not only high-strength but also support for
Revolving scroll
high precision and the ability for complex shaping.
Thrust bearing
Additionally, we are optimizing material composition,
manufacturing method, and thermal processing to
Bearing expand applications starting from replacement of cold
Motor
forging materials.
[Features]
(1) True density ratio: achievement of 96%
Main shaft
(2) Fatigue strength: 2.3 times compared to the
conventional products
(3) Young’s modulus: achievement of 180 GPa
Fig. 7 Structure of air conditioner compressors
PEEK resin
Fig. 8 Structure of hybrid PEEK sliding bearing Fig. 9 High strength sintered gear
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NTN TECHNICAL REVIEW No.82(2014)
Fatigue limit
Density
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Product Introduction and Complex Technology of Resin, Sintered Metal and Magnet for Growth Markets
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NTN TECHNICAL REVIEW No.82(2014)
amorphous with small iron loss is used for the area of (2) Dual track magnetic encoder
electric-magnetic conversion for lower heat generation Industrial machine robotics require high positioning
and injection amorphous with superior shaping flexibility accuracy and use high-resolution absolute angle
is used for the magnetic conduit for retransmitting the sensors which requires a highly accurate encoder.
converted magnet to the coil. Fig. 16 shows an NTN is introducing our newly developed dual track
analytical example of heat generation of the hybrid magnetic encoder. Fig. 17 shows the structure of this
core, which indicates appropriate placement of the newly developed product. Hard magnetic material is
respective cores. In addition, Table 4 shows a injected on the core metal of compressed ferrous soft
comparison of hybrid core performance against magnetic material. This diagram shows an axial type
injection and compression amorphous cores, dual track encoder with inner and outer ring patterns of
respectively. The hybrid core exhibited favorable results a different number of accurately magnetized poles. The
in any property enabling manufacturing of pod-shaped following are the features of the developed product:
core, which is difficult with compression amorphous [Features]
core. (1) Supports opposite angle detection
[Features] (2) Angle accuracy: ±0.2˚
(1) Can be used in applications where large (3) Supports hollow structure
current or high frequency is required
(2) Compact and low heat generation by In addition, Fig. 18 shows an absolute angle
composite structure measurement method using this developed dual track
(3) Higher degree of freedom for reactor shape magnetic encoder. Two sensors facing inside and
design by injection molding outside magnetized rings, respectively, detect the
signals. The absolute angle can be accurately
measured by calculating the relative displacement of
the patterns from the magnetic sensor signals, using a
Compressed core Injected core principle called caliper or Vernier principle.
125℃
Coil
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Product Introduction and Complex Technology of Resin, Sintered Metal and Magnet for Growth Markets
(3) Choke coil for MRI 6) This is used in this developed product and the
The MRI shown in Fig. 19 is a medical device used generally-used ferrite/iron-silicon (Fe-6.5Si) soft
to provide images of sections of the human body using magnetic material.
large magnetic energy. The choke coil integrated in this In addition, Fig. 23 shows the frequency response of
device is an electronic component to generate large the inductance when weak current is applied. From
current for creating a gradient magnetic field during these properties, the following features can be pointed
testing. out and this choke coil is suitable for this application
Fig. 20 shows the components used for the developed which requires large current and stable high-frequency
choke coils. The coil, covered by an insulating case, is response characteristics:
incorporated in the injection amorphous core to make the [Features]
choke coil shown in Fig. 21. (i) Inductance deviation rate is small even when
Fig. 22 shows the inductance deviation rate (DC bias high current is applied compared to the
characteristic), which serves as a measure of the conventional ferrite and Fe-6.5Si.
magnetic field generation capability when applied (ii) Change rate of inductance in the high
current is swept for amorphous soft magnetic material. frequency range is smaller than ferrite.
120 Amorphous
Rate of change of inductance %
Fe-6.5Si
100
Ferrite
80
60
40
20
120
Rate of change of inductance %
100
a)Coil b)Case c)Injection amorphous
60
40
Amorphous
20 Fe-6.5Si
Ferrite
0
1 10 100 1000
Frequency kHz
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NTN TECHNICAL REVIEW No.82(2014)
6. Conclusion
In this article, new products with composite materials
for growing markets are mainly introduced.
With increased fuel efficiency and use of electric
drive components in automobiles, being lightweight is a
focal point in the development of components and
composite material products.
In addition, NTN is also proposing new products to
contribute to the development of our customers in the
broad field of industrial machines, including medical
devices, food equipment, robotics, etc.
NTN is poised to actively develop products by
integrating a wide range of materials and technologies
in response to the trend of the consistently growing
markets and contributing to these markets.
References
1) Norio Itoh, Takuya Ishii: Plastic Bearings of Electric
Pump for the Next Generation Cell, NTN TECHINICAL
REVIEW, No. 77 (2009) 51-55.
2) Takuya Ishii, Yoshihide Himeno: Functional
Improvement of Resin Sliding Bearing Through the
Combination with Metal, Journal of the Japan Society of
Polymer Processing, 25 (2), 73, 2013
3) Takuya Ishii, Ken Yasuda: Hybrid PEEK Sliding
Bearing, NTN TECHNICAL REVIEW, No. 79 (2011)
125-129.
4) Tomonori Yamashita, Tomokazu Sonozaki: The
Introduction of Sintered New Products for Automobile,
NTN TECHNICAL REVIEW, No. 81 (2013) 74-77.
5) Yosuke Sugai, Toshihiko Mouri: Multi Layer
BEARPHITE, NTN TECHNICAL REVIEW, No. 80
(2012) 83-86.
6) Takuji, Harano, Shinji Miyazaki, Hajime Katsuura:
Introduction of Magnetic Material Products, NTN
TECHNICAL REVIEW No. 80 (2012) 87-91
7) Takayuki Oda, Shinji Miyazaki, Eiichiro Shimazu: The
Reactor Core for HEV Boost Converter, NTN
TECHNICAL REVIEW No. 81 (2013) 46-51
Photo of author
Yoshio OKI
Composite Material
Products Division
-20-
NTN TECHNICAL REVIEW No.82(2014)
[ Technical Article ]
Takahiro OKUNO*
Naoki YASHIRO*
-21-
NTN TECHNICAL REVIEW No.82(2014)
-22-
The Improvement in Strength of Sintered Machine Parts
3.4 Infiltration
3. Methods for densification/strengthening Infiltration is a method to infiltrate melted material of a
Densification methods can be performed during low-melting point into the pores of a sintered compact.
molding, sintering and after sintering. Table 3 shows Material is communicated from the surface using
those densification methods in each process. capillary phenomenon to fill in the pores 10). Specifically,
the sintered compact and the green compact of low-
melting point material are placed in contact with each
Table 2 The method of densification at the production process other and heated to a temperature more than the
Process Method melting point of the green compact and less than the
Warm forming melting point of the sintered compact for infiltration.
During molding
Warm forming with mold lubrication, etc. Since it is possible to close the pores in the sintered
2 forming 2 sintering compact, it is used in the applications where high air-
During sintering
Infiltration, etc.
tightness is required such as compressor components
After sintering Sinter forging, etc.
or hydraulic pressure resistant components.
-23-
NTN TECHNICAL REVIEW No.82(2014)
8.5 2500
Repetitive load
7.5 1500
7.0 1000
6.5 500
6.0 0
Fig. 4 Schematic the method of measuring ring
Developed Control compressive fatigue strength
material
Fig. 2 Sintered density and radial crushing strength
σ
σmax
Stress amplitude
σmin
Average stress
600
(a) Developed material (b) Control Developed material
Density 7.63g/cm3 Density 7.01g/cm3
Stress amplitude MPa
500 Control
Fig. 3 Optical micrographs of sintered part
400
-24-
The Improvement in Strength of Sintered Machine Parts
-25-
NTN TECHNICAL REVIEW No.82(2014)
[ New Product ]
Takuji HARANO*
Nihon Kagaku Yakin Co., Ltd. of the NTN group develops various
magnetic materials satisfying demand properties. In this report, it is
attached to the heating coil part of the induction hardening device and
introduces about a high-performance magnetic core in a magnetism
characteristic and a mechanical characteristic to be used for control of
the quenching depth.
Drive shaft
Shaft
-26-
High Performance Magnetic Core for Induction Hardening Devices
number, direction and position of the installed magnetic 3.3 Features and performance of developed
cores. This controls the hardening depth of the work. magnetic cores
Nihon Kagaku Yakin Co., Ltd. developed high 3.3.1 Structure and features
performance magnetic core by combining iron powder Fig. 3 shows the structure of the developed high
and thermosetting resin as shown in Fig. 2. performance magnetic cores.
We used iron powder for powder metallurgy as the
magnetic powder, added a small amount of
thermosetting resin with high adhesive effect, and
applied insulating layer on the iron powder surface by
granulation process. This is a composite material which
reduces the damage to the insulation layer by applying
compaction molding at low pressure and thermal
hardening.
This process brought a magnetic material that is
strong yet has low contacts among magnetic powders.
It has low iron loss, even in the high frequency range,
so that the material can be used in a broad frequency
range.
Fig. 2 High performance magnetic core
The features of the developed high performance
magnetic cores are as follows:
・Saturation magnetic flux density: 1300 mT
3. Development of high performance ・Relative permeability: 54
magnetic core ・Iron loss [10KHz/200mT]: 1480 kW/m3
3.1 Background of the development ・Radial crushing strength: 150 MPa
Commonly used ferrite based magnetic core has
relatively small iron loss even in the high frequency
range. However, a larger size may be required to Pore
maintain hardening performance due to its low
saturation magnetic flux density. Magnetic steel sheet
cannot be used, even if it has high magnetic flux
density, because the iron loss becomes larger in the
higher frequency range.
Commercially available cores or base material of
powder compact based cores manufactured by powder
metallurgy are frequently used as magnetic cores
installed on heating coils of induction hardening
equipment. They are expensive, exhibit low material Resin
Iron powder
strength, and are challenging to machine and handle.
Therefore, our task was to develop magnetic cores Fig. 3 Structure of the high performance magnetic core
(Image)
that have better characteristics than the conventional
material, can be produced with a simple manufacturing
process, and are suitable for volume production.
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NTN TECHNICAL REVIEW No.82(2014)
40
Table 1 Saturation magnetic flux density and relative
permeability Developed material
20
Saturation magnetic Relative Conventional material
Material flux density
mT
permeability 0
1 10 100 1000
Developed material 1300 54
Frequency kHz
Conventional material 1200 40
Fig. 5 Frequency characteristics
1400
(iii) Iron loss
Fig. 6 shows iron loss of the developed and
1200
conventional materials in the high frequency range (10
Flux density B mT
200
Developed material
Conventional material
Frequency : 10kHz
0 3000
0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 30000
Magnetic field strength H A/m Developed material
2500
Conventional material
Iron loss kW/m3
1500
1000
500
0
0 50 100 150 200 250
Flux density mT
-28-
High Performance Magnetic Core for Induction Hardening Devices
References
Load 1) Takayuki Oda, Shinji Miyazaki, Eiichiro Shimazu: The
Reactor Core for HEV Boost Converter, NTN
TECHNICAL REVIEW No. 81 (2013) 46-51
2) Takuji, Harano, Shinji Miyazaki, Hajime Katsuura:
Introduction of Magnetic Material Products, NTN
TECHNICAL REVIEW No. 80 (2012) 87-91
3) Shin Tomogami: Technical Trends in Constant Velocity
Universal Joints and the Development of Related
Products, NTN TECHNICAL REVIEW, No. 75 (2007)
10-15.
4) Japan Electronics and Information Technology
Industries Association: Soft Magnetic Metal Materials
Fig. 7 Method for radial crushing strength measuremen
Photo of author
Takuji HARANO
Engineering Dept.,
Nihon Kagaku Yakin Co, Ltd.
-29-
NTN TECHNICAL REVIEW No.82(2014)
[ New Product ]
Tomonori YAMASHITA*
-30-
The Copper-Iron-based Material Equivalent to Bronze-based Material for Sintered, Oil-impregnated Bearings
Table 1 Chemical components of the developed product The friction coefficient of the developed material was
Chemical components wt% the lowest at the beginning of operation and it was the
Developed Cu Sn C Fe same as the bronze-based material at the time before
material 15∼22 0.5∼2.5 0.5∼2.5 Remainder stabilization. In addition, the friction coefficient 10
minutes later was at the same level as the bronze-
based material and even lower than the copper-iron-
Copper thin layer Upper layer of the based material containing an equivalent amount of
bearing bore surface copper.
From these results, it was found that the developed
product has excellent initial fitness and that its friction
properties are equivalent or superior to the bronze-
based material.
<Test condition>
・Peripheral speed: 75 m/min
Iron ・Contact pressure: 1.2 MPa
Copper ・Bearing size: φ6×φ12×6J
・Shaft material: SUS420J2
Fig. 1 Section of the developed material
・Test temperature: Room temperature
・Test time: 10 min.
Iron 0.14
0.13
Friction coefficient
Graphite
0.12
0.11
0.10
Copper
0.09
0.08
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NTN TECHNICAL REVIEW No.82(2014)
-32-
The Copper-Iron-based Material Equivalent to Bronze-based Material for Sintered, Oil-impregnated Bearings
80
Developed Product
The features of the developed product as observed in
60
the evaluation results of the previous section are as
40 follows:
(1) Equivalent friction properties as the bronze-
20
based product
0 (2) Equivalent limiting PV value properties as the
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
copper-iron-based product
Test time min
(3) Superior wear resistance
Bronze-based Developed material (4) High oil film forming properties in low
Fig. 6 (1) Result of oil film forming evaluation (-40°C) temperatures
Because of these features, the application of the
developed material can be expanded into diverse areas
as an alternative to bronze-based material. In particular,
100 its application in electric motors, such as the starter
Oil film forming rate %
80
motor, is expected due to its good low-temperature
characteristics.
60 In industrial machines, it can also be applied to the
small diameter motors where large loads are applied,
40
such as vibration motors and stepping motors.
%
20
0 6. Conclusion
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Test time min In this paper, we presented the newly developed
Bronze-based Developed material copper-iron-based material equivalent to bronze
sintered material for sintered, oil-impregnated bearings.
Fig. 6 (2) Result of oil film forming evaluation We are poised to expand our sales by leveraging the
(Room temperature)
unique features of these products and continue our
development aiming at further enhancement.
Photo of author
Tomonori YAMASHITA
Engineering Dept.,
NTN Powder Metal Corporation
-33-
NTN TECHNICAL REVIEW No.82(2014)
[ New Product ]
Kei HATTORI*
Takuya ISHII**
As one of the cost reduction for business machine typified in copiers and printers,
rolling bearings is required replaceable from sliding bearings. Because of using
bearing conditions at fuser roller of medium and high-speed models are very hard, it
is difficult to apply the sliding bearing. Therefore, NTN developed “High Load Sliding
Bearing Unit”, that combined the metal inner ring and PPS resin outer ring, has
twice load capacity,lower friction and wear properties in comparison with
conventional resin sliding bearings. This article introduces the characteristic and
performance of “High Load Sliding Bearing Unit”.
2.1 Bearing specifications for the fuser roller Fuser roller bearing
Fig. 1 shows the design of a laser beam printer while
Toner
Fig. 2 shows the design of a fuser assembly. The
image captured in the optical unit is replicated onto the
transfer belt with toner in the development and Separating claw
exposure unit. The replicated image is then moved from Shaft Paper
the transfer belt and fixed onto paper at the fuser roller. Pressure roller bearing
Pressure roller
During this process, the paper passes between the
fuser roller and the pressure roller, is heated to Pressure
approximately 200°C and has the toner/image pressed Fig. 2 Fuser assembly
-34-
High Load Sliding Bearing Unit For Use in Copier and Printer Fusers
pressure roller are supported by. and In operation the properties. The material for the inner ring is common
pressure roller is pressed onto the fuser roller, usually bearing steel while a fluoride based grease is used.
by springs that transmit the force through the bearings. With this design and materials, we have improved
Therefore, the bearings of the fuser roller and pressure friction/wear properties of the bearing, made it usable
roller are always pressed in one direction and are used under the high load conditions, and given the bearing a
under shaft rotation. self-aligning property, as well.
Table 3 provides a comparison between resin sliding
2.2 Issues for bearings in the fuser roller bearings, a high load sliding bearing unit and rolling
Resin sliding bearings are widely used in low-speed bearings. The high load sliding bearing unit, which has
machines with maximum printing speeds of 30 sheets a hybrid structure, has the following features compared
per minute, since the load on the pressure roller is with the resin sliding bearings:
relatively low. However as the printing speed increases
both the temperature and pressure of the fuser roller
increases in order to quickly print the toner. It becomes
Flange Grease
difficult for sliding bearings to survive under these (any shape allowed) (applied between inner
and outer rings)
operating conditions necessitating the move to, rolling Slit
bearings that possess higher load capacities.
There are other issues that a designer needs to
consider when using resin sliding bearing in the Rotation stop
(any shape allowed)
application such as different friction/wear characteristics
depending on the material of the bearing, the shaft fit,
shaft surface roughness and uneven wear due to
deflection and/or misalignment of the shaft.
Outer ring Inner ring
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NTN TECHNICAL REVIEW No.82(2014)
0.2 0
4. Performance of high load sliding
bearing unit 0.1
4.1 Friction/wear property
Fig. 5 shows the test machine used for measuring 0
Conventional Developed
the friction coefficient and wear amount. The bearing product product
under test was installed in the housing, to which load Fig. 6 Friction and wear property
was applied upward from underneath the housing. Then
the shaft was rotated to measure the friction coefficient
and resulting wear. The bearing under test had an inner 4.2 Limiting PV property
diameter of 25 mm and width of 7 mm. The inside of the One important operating condition of sliding bearings
shaft was heated and the surface temperature was is known as the PV value. This is defined as a product
controlled using a thermocouple. of the contact pressure at bearing sliding surface P and
Table 4 shows the test conditions. The friction the sliding velocity V. The limiting PV values were
coefficient and amount of wear for both the high load evaluated under the test condition shown in Table 5.
sliding bearing unit (developed product) and the resin We defined allowable contact pressure as the
sliding bearing (conventional product) were measured. maximum contact pressure where the increase of the
Both the developed product and the conventional operating clearance between the inner and outer rings
product are of the non-conductive type. The from the test was 0.1 mm or less, through a number of
conventional product is a sliding bearing made of PPS tests with different loads at the predetermined rotation
resin with polytetrafluoroethylene resin blended in. speeds. Here, the contact pressure is a value of load
Fig. 6 shows the amount of wear and dynamic divided by the product of the inner diameter and width
friction coefficient forthe bearings. We defined the of the bearing.
amount of wear in the developed product by measuring Fig. 7 shows the P-V curve, which shows the relation
the increase in the operating clearance between the between the rotation speed of the shaft and allowable
inner and outer ring from the test. The amount of wear contact pressure of the developed product and
and the dynamic friction coefficient of the developed compares this with the PV curve for conventional
product were 1/3 and 1/2, respectively, when compared product. This test revealed that the developed product
to the conventional product. is superior in load carrying capacity as the allowable
-36-
High Load Sliding Bearing Unit For Use in Copier and Printer Fusers
contact pressure was twice that of the conventional dimensions similar to those of equivalent rolling bearings.
product. However it should be noted that it is also possible to
Fig. 8 shows the time-dependent change of dynamic provide thinner bearing units with smaller outer
friction coefficient of the developed product with the shaft diameters. This is achieved by reducing the thickness of
rotation speed of 10 m/min and contact pressure of 1.66 both the outer and inner rings. In addition, as the outer
MPa.This revealed that the dynamic friction coefficient ring is manufactured by injection molding, the size and
was low and consistent at approximately 0.06. shape of the flange and rotation stop can be arbitrarily
We also evaluated bearings of the conductive type. changed and the number of peripheral components,
The conductive type bearings showed equivalent such as the retaining ring, may be reduced.
friction/wear results and limiting PV values as the However, since the resin outer ring has a slit, a
conductive type. rotation stop needs to be provided on the outer ring .
Table 5 Test condition Table 6 Dimensions of high load sliding bearing unit
Item Description Main dimensions mm Allowable
Flange aligning angle
5m/min (64min-1) Inner diameter Outer diameter outer diameter Width mm/mm
Shaft rotational
10m/min (128min-1)
speed 20 32 34.8 7 1/100
16.5m/min (210min-1)
Mating shaft 25 37 39.8 7 1/100
Aluminum alloy
200˚C (surface of mating shaft) 30 42 44.8 7 1/100
Temperature
35 47 49.8 7 1/100
Time 100h
Notice : Allowable misalignment is a reference level to vary according to condition of use.
4
Allowable contact pressure MPa
Developed product
6. Conclusion
3 Conventional product
We have developed a high load sliding bearing unit
2 with significant improvement on the load carrying
capacity and friction/wear properties in a high-
temperature environment. Additionally the new bearing
1
allows for a high degree of freedom in designing the
shaft and alignment accuracy. With this development,
0
0 5 10 15 20 we are able to provide an alternative to rolling bearings
Shaft rotational speed m/min for the fuser rollers of copiers and printers.
Fig. 7 Limiting P-V curve In addition, the high load sliding bearing unit can be
applied to various other applications by changing
0.40 materials of the components. NTN is looking at
Shaft rotational speed:10 m/min expanding the use into food processing equipment and
0.35
Contact pressure:1.66 MPa
Dynamic friction coefficient
medical equipment.
0.30 Temperature : 200 ˚C
0.25 References
0.20 1) Yoshio OKI, Takumi HAYASHI, Takuya ISHII: Characteristics
and Applications of Super Engineering Plastics, Journal of
0.15
Japanese Society of Tribologists 49 (7), (2004) 31.
0.10
0.05
Photo of authors
0
0 20 40 60 80 100
Time h
5. Dimension of bearings
Table 6 shows an example of dimensions for a high
load sliding bearing unit mainly used in the fuser rollers Kei HATTORI Takuya ISHII
Composite Material Engineering Dept., Engineering Dept.
for copiers and printers. This table shows bearings with Composite Material Products Division NTN Engineer Plastic Corp.
-37-
NTN TECHNICAL REVIEW No.82(2014)
[ New Product ]
Yushi ONDA*
Kikuo FUKADA*
Yohei YAMAMOTO**
Masato YOSHINO***
NTN developed “Machine Tool Main Shaft Bearing with Air Cooling
Spacer” with the air cooling technology for machine tool main spindle
bearings, which realizes high-speed and high-rigidity at the same time with
higher level than ever. In this paper, bearing cooling effect through the
technology and technical activities for practical use are introduced below
with tests and analysis results.
-38-
Machine Tool Main Spindle Bearings with Air Cooling Spacer
Direction of rotation
(inner ring)
A
Fig. 1 Structure of the bearing with air cooling spacer
When cooling air nozzles are not offset When cooling air nozzles are offset
-39-
NTN TECHNICAL REVIEW No.82(2014)
10
Bearings with
5
air cooling spacer
Cooling air (inlet)
0
-5
0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000
Driving Speed of rotation min -1
motor
Fig. 4 Cooling air amount and temperature difference
between inner ring and outer ring
Spindle position Horizontal Fig. 5 Cooling air amount and noise level
-40-
Machine Tool Main Spindle Bearings with Air Cooling Spacer
Inner ring Location where air Inner ring Location where air
tapered surface curtain is produced tapered surface curtain is produced
in the bearings in the bearings
Slow Location where air curtain is produced in the bearings Fast Slow Location where air curtain is produced in the bearings Fast
Fig. 6 Cooling air flow near inner ring spacer surface Fig. 7 Cooling air flow near inner ring spacer surface
(Fluid analysis results) for the case of special space
(Fluid analysis results)
-41-
NTN TECHNICAL REVIEW No.82(2014)
100 66
No cooling air
No space, cooling air: 300 NL/min
With space, cooling air: 300 NL/min
95
Noise level dBA
85
Fig. 9 Bearing with air cooling spacer of 66mm width
80
0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 30
Speed of rotation min-1 No cooling air
25
15
the cooling air flow of 300 NL/min and with 23,000 min-1 No cooling air
(dmn value of 2,070,000). As a result, the maximum Cooling air: 100 NL/min
rotation speed of the bearings can be increased by 95 Cooling air: 200 NL/min
Cooling air: 300 NL/min
Noise level dBA
-42-
Machine Tool Main Spindle Bearings with Air Cooling Spacer
Photo of authors
-43-
NTN TECHNICAL REVIEW No.82(2014)
[ New Product ]
Wakana INOUE*
Mineo KOYAMA*
Soichiro ONITSUKA**
Rolling element
2. High speed angular contact ball · High speed main spindle: Ceramic ball
bearings - HSE type · Mid/low speed main spindle: Steel ball
The high speed angular contact ball bearings - HSE Fig. 1 High speed angular contact ball bearings HSE type
type (shown in Fig.1) employs a special material
featuring improved wear resistance and anti-seizure
-44-
New Engineering Plastic Cage of High Speed Angular Contact Ball Bearings for Machine Tools
3. Features of cages with new resin High speed operation of main spindle
Initial wear/melt 0
0 5000 10000 15000 20000
Bearing rotating speed min-1
-45-
NTN TECHNICAL REVIEW No.82(2014)
3.2 Adoption of polyamide resin material with rolling element due to the decrease of dynamic modulus
a high melting point of elasticity and the resulting heating can be reduced.
As mentioned in the previous section, it is necessary To evaluate the developed cage material, we made a
to apply the materials with a high glass transition point cage with the same shape as the conventional cages
and high melting point, in particular, to prevent local for comparison.
wear and melt of the cage pocket, as shown in Table 1, Fig. 6 shows the test spindle, Fig. 7 shows the test
for resin cages to allow higher speed of rotation. result with air oil lubrication, and Fig. 8 shows the test
Table 2 shows the characteristics of the developed result with grease lubrication.
cage material. We adopted a high melting point semi- Even if no difference in rise of temperature was
aromatic polyamide as the material for the developed observed between two cages, the resin of the
cage. It has a higher melting point and glass transition developed cages with both air oil and grease lubrication
point compared with the conventional polyamide used demonstrated durability for applications of higher speed
for cages, with smaller strength deterioration and than the conventional polyamide resin.
dimensional change due to high temperature.
Fig. 5 shows the relationship between the dynamic
modulus of elasticity*2 to temperature.
×1010
The dynamic modulus of elasticity of polyamide for 1.2
Pa
Developed cage
the conventional cages starts decreasing from approx. Dynamic modulus of elasticity 1.0 material
50°C, around the glass transition temperature; however,
0.8
polyamide with a high melting point for the developed
cages has a higher glass transition temperature, 0.6
maintaining a gradual decrease of dynamic modulus of Conventional
0.4 cage material
elasticity up to around 120°C. Therefore, when the cage
pocket is heated by the high speed slide contact with 0.2
the rolling element, increase of the contact area with the
0
-50 0 50 100 150 200 250
Temperature ˚C
Table 1 The necessary characteristic of cage material Fig. 5 Relationship between the dynamic modulus of
for high speed operation elasticity to temperature
※2 Dynamic modulus of elasticity is obtained from the response of the sinusoidal amplitude given to the test piece.
-46-
New Engineering Plastic Cage of High Speed Angular Contact Ball Bearings for Machine Tools
Rotational
【Test condition】
direction
Bearing 2LA-HSE014DB (contact angle of 20˚)
under test φ70×φ110×20 back-to-back assembly
Fixed position preload Plain (2) guide to
Preload
Preload during assembly: 300 N axial direction Axial direction Rolling
element
Grease
lubrication NTN SE-1 Conventional cage Developed cage
Fig. 9 Cage pocket shape
External cylinder
cooling Yes
30
Developed cage material
Rise in temperature of outer ring ˚C
Rise in
25
temperature 4. Performance of the developed cage
Conventional cage material Rise in
temperature
We evaluated the HSE bearings using ceramic balls
20
with air oil lubrication and grease lubrication, and using
15
steel balls with grease lubrication in high speed
operation with the test spindle shown in Fig. 6.
10 The results are shown in Fig. 10, Fig. 11 and Fig. 12.
We verified that the developed cage experienced
5
reduced the rise of temperature enabling higher speed
0 operation.
0 5000 10000 15000 20000
Speed of rotation min-1
0 0.5 1 1.5
dmn value ×106
-47-
NTN TECHNICAL REVIEW No.82(2014)
Rise in temperature
Developed cage material temperature 30
30 Conventional cage material
Conventional cage material 25 Rise in
25 temperature
20 20
15 15
10 10
5
5
0
0 10000 20000 30000 0
0 5000 10000 15000 20000
Speed of rotation min-1
Speed of rotation min-1
Fig. 10 Test result under air-oil lubrication with ceramic ball Fig. 12 Test result under grease lubrication with steel ball
【Test condition】
5. Conclusion
Bearing 5S-2LA-HSE014DB (contact angle of 20˚)
under test φ70×φ110×20 back-to-back assembly We have improved the high speed performance of
Fixed position preload
Preload Preload during assembly: 300 N
cages for high speed angular contact ball bearings for
Grease machine tools over the conventional cages made of
lubrication NTN SE-1 polyamide resin by adopting high melting point
External cylinder
cooling Yes polyamide resin and a new cage shape.
30
We have enabled cages made of newly developed
Rise in
Rise in temperature of outer ring ˚C
Developed cage material temperature polyamide resin applicable for a higher speed range
25 Conventional cage material where machined cages made of phenol resin have
Rise in
temperature been traditionally used. We will introduce this cage
20
using ceramic balls with air oil lubrication for HSE
bearings to be used with dmn value of 1,600,000.
15
We strive to work on further improvement of
10 performance of the bearings for main spindles
contributing to higher speed, rigidity and reliability of
5
machine tools.
0
0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000
Photo of authors
Speed of rotation min-1
0 0.5 1 1.5 2
dmn value ×106
-48-
NTN TECHNICAL REVIEW No.82(2014)
[ Technical Article ]
Data received
24 hour/7 day
by email
support
In recent years, machine tool and spindle manufactures have been developing various products which can
meet the new customer demands. To support the activities, NTN developed the bearing technical calculation
system for machine tool spindles. Machine tool and spindle manufactures can calculate various
characteristics like spindle rigidities and fatigue life of spindle bearings through the system in short time.
Features, mechanism and functions of the system are introduced below.
-49-
NTN TECHNICAL REVIEW No.82(2014)
3. System features, configuration, and flow ① The customer enters required information into the dedicated
Excel ® file.
3.1 Features
Industry-first technical calculation system with
② The customer attaches the file of ① to an email and sends
automatic processing it to the NTN dedicated server.
(1) Fast technical calculation of bearings for main
spindles
③ The NTN dedicated server automatically calculates the data.
10 minutes after sending a request email
(traditionally, at least 1 day)
④ Approx. 10 minutes after ②, an email is sent from the NTN
(2) Technical calculation of many types of main dedicated server to the customer. The Excel ® file attached
spindle layouts to the email contains the calculation result (specifications
10 types of main spindle layouts can be processed of the bearings and properties of the main spindle
determined by them).
(3) Automatic calculation within the dedicated
server
⑤ The customer confirms the calculation results and evaluates
24×7 operations if they satisfy the objective. If they do not satisfy the
(4) Simple communication of input/output data objective, the customer can repeat ① to ④ as many times
as the customer wants.
Adoption of a practical Excel ® file
③Automatic calculation
support
¡Receive email
¡Automatic calculation
¡Send calculation Automatic
⑤Design main spindle result to customer calculation
based on output sheet
④ Receive
¡Bearing property output sheet
¡Main spindle property 24 hour/ 7 day support
-50-
Bearing Technical Calculation System for Machine Tool Spindles
Layout 1 Layout 6
Layout 2 Layout 7
Layout 3 Layout 8
Layout 4 Layout 9
Layout 5 Layout 10
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NTN TECHNICAL REVIEW No.82(2014)
4.2 Input/Output screen examples to the output screen of the file in Fig. 4, and
The customer selects layouts that need to be automatically sends the file to the customer.
examined from the main spindle layout group shown in The customer can receive the calculation results
Fig. 2 and enters the required information into the approx. 10 minutes after sending email to the server.
shaded cells of the dedicated Excel ® file shown in Fig. 3.
The file has a function to check the entered items;
5. Calculation examples
therefore, the customer can easily check if any entered
information is missing or wrong. As a part of the output examples shown in Fig. 4, the
After entry of the required information, the customer calculation results of main spindle axial rigidity when
sends the file to NTN's dedicated server by email. bearings, arrangements and preload methods in Fig. 5
The server which receives this email automatically are examined against the main spindle layout 1 of Fig. 2
calculates based on the input information and enters are shown in Fig. 6.
the calculation results, such as the main spindle rigidity, The time needed to narrow down design candidates
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Bearing Technical Calculation System for Machine Tool Spindles
Fig. 5 Technical study example of spindle layout 1 Fig. 7 Technical study example of spindle layout 4
18 18
16 16
14 14
12 12
10 10
8 8
6 6
4 4
2 2
0 0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
Axial force kN Axial force kN
Axial rigidity of spindle Axial rigidity of spindle
Photo of authors
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NTN TECHNICAL REVIEW No.82(2014)
[ Technical Paper ]
Hiroki FUJIWARA*
Angular contact ball bearings for high-speed spindles are lubricated by air-oil
lubrication. A main factor of bearing friction torque is rolling viscous resistance.
On the air-oil lubricated bearings, oil starvation leads to decrease in the rolling
viscous resistance. In this article, the expression of deduction factor of rolling
viscous resistance under the driving condition is proposed. It is derived by
comparing between rolling viscous resistances estimated from measured friction
torques of angular contact ball bearings under the air-oil lubrication and calculated
rolling viscous resistances under the full lubrication. The friction torque of the bearing is computed with
consideration for differential slip, spin, elastic hysteresis loss, cage guiding friction, and the starved rolling
viscous resistance. The starved rolling viscous resistance is obtained for product of the deduction factor and
the rolling viscous resistance by the NTN original regression formula under the full lubrication.
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Estimation Method for Friction Torque of Air-oil Lubricated Angular Contact Ball Bearings
starvation, and applied an experimentally obtained T0 :Standard value on the ball pass cycle
reduction factor to the rolling viscous resistance. This U :Dowson's dimensionless parameter on velocity
reduction factor is proposed as an equation W :Dowson’s dimensionless parameter on the
experimentally identified comparing the experimental point contact load
value of the friction torque with the calculated value of α0 :Viscosity-pressure factor of lubricating oil
sufficient lubrication. α :Contact angle
β :Inclination of the ball’s axis of rotation
δ :Distance from the pure rolling point to the
2. Symbols
contact point
a :Long axial radius of contact ellipse μt :Coefficient of traction
a0 :Standard value on the long axial radius of contact μt max :Maximum coefficient of traction
ellipse ν :Kinematic viscosity of lubricating oil
C :Reduction factor constant of rolling viscous resistance ν0 :Standard value on the kinematic viscosity of
(includes standard values of the parameters) lubricating oil
C’ :Reduction factor constant of rolling viscous resistance τ :Shear stress due to Couette flow of contact area
dp :Pitch circle diameter of a ball between the ball and raceway ring
F! :Traction generated inside differential slip φr :Reduction factor of rolling viscous resistance
F@ :Traction generated outside differential slip φre :Reduction factor of rolling viscous resistance
FHD :Dimensionless rolling viscous resistance (experimental value)
Fr :Rolling viscous resistance ω :Angular velocity
Fs :Traction ω0 :Standard value on angular velocity
G :Dowson's dimensionless material parameter ωb :Rotational angle of the ball
k :Ellipticity of contact ellipse Subscripts
l! :Length of the contact point and pure rolling point i :Inner ring
in the radius direction inside the differential slip o :Outer ring
l@ :Length of the contact point and pure rolling point
in the radius direction outside the differential slip
M :Moment around rotational axis on the ball 3. Static analysis of angular contact ball
Mr :Friction torque of the bearing due to friction between bearings with only preload
the ball and raceway in the rolling direction High speed spindle angular contact ball bearings are
m :Moment due to F! and F@ typically arranged with 2-rows or 4-rows on the front
Pb :Component force of the oil film reaction force on side and used with fixed position or constant pressure
the ball in the rolling direction preload. Although minor radial load may be applied
Pe :Component force of the oil film reaction force in the during operation depending on the use of spindles, we
rolling direction in the equivalent system ignored the effect of the radial load and assumed pure
P1 :Component force of the oil film reaction force applied axial load with only preload applied to discuss the
on object 1 (ball) in the rolling direction motion of a ball. Regarding the static analysis of angular
P2 :Component force of the oil film reaction force applied contact ball bearings, Fujii has provided a detailed
on object 2 (raceway) in the rolling direction review 4) and Fujii has determined rotational axis of the
r1 :Radius of object 1 (ball) ball based on Jones' control ring theory 5). With Jones’
r2 :Radius of object 2 (raceway) theory, the ball only rolls on the raceway of the ring
rb :Radius of the ball which has larger friction and only spin occurs on the
rb' :Distance from the center of the ball to the pure other raceway. However, in actuality, the rotational axis
rolling point of the ball should be determined by the way that the
re :Equivalent radius force and moment are balanced and the consumed
S! :Inside area of differential slip of inner ring contact energy is minimized. In the following sections, we will
S@ :Outside area of differential slip of inner ring contact discuss hydrostatic movement of the ball considering
s :Slip ratio additional force due to slippage.
sm :Slip ratio to give the maximum coefficient of traction
sT :Index on the ball pass cycle 3.1 The force and moment produced due to
sν :Index on the kinematic viscosity of lubricating oil slippage between the ball and raceway
sα :Index on the long axial radius of contact ellipse Fig. 1 shows the schematic diagram of an axial cross
sω :Index on angular velocity section of one ball and the inner/outer ring indicating the
T :Pass cycle of the ball force due to slippage within the contact ellipse.
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NTN TECHNICAL REVIEW No.82(2014)
When a tangent force is applied to the ball as shown The moment of the ball around the pure rolling point
in Fig. 1, the force can be obtained with the following due to slippage can be calculated with the following
equation: equation:
∫ ∫
Fs,i = τi dS@− τi dS! ∫ ∫
mi = τi l!dS!+ τi l@dS@
…………………… (3.1) …………………… (3.2)
Fs,o =∫τo dS −∫
@ τo dS ! mo =∫τo l! dS!+∫τo l @ dS@
The moment of the ball around its rotational axis due and from equation (3.3), it can be rewritten as follows:
to slippage can be expressed as follows:
rb cos (αi−β) (−Fr,i )+rb cos (αo−β) (−Fr,o )
∫
Mi = (r’b+δ)τi dS = rb Fs,i−mi +Mi cos (αi−β) +Mo cos (αo−β) = 0 ……… (3.8)
…………… (3.3)
Mo =∫(r’b+δ)τo dS = rb Fs,o−mo
F@,o F!,o
mo
Fr,o
Pb,o
Fr,i Pb,i ωb
F@,i
mi
F!,i ωi β αo
αi
Fig. 2 Forces and moments on a ball
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Estimation Method for Friction Torque of Air-oil Lubricated Angular Contact Ball Bearings
The moment applied to the outer ring of Fig. 3 can 4. Starvation effect to rolling viscous
be expressed by Equation (3.9): resistance
Mr =( d2 + r cosα ) (F +F )−m cosα
p
b o r,o s,o o o
4.1 Theoretical regression of rolling viscous resistance
The main undertaking of EHL is to study oil film
=( + r cosα ) F +
d p d p thickness. Hamrock-Dowson 8), Chittenden et al. 9) and
b o F +M cosα
r,o s,o o o
2 2 others are proposing many theoretical regression
…………………… (3.9) equations. On the other hand, only a few reports exist
This is the friction torque of the bearings generated on rolling viscous resistance, and with regard to line
by the contact between the ball and raceway. contact, no equations based on EHL theory are found
except for Zhou-Hoeprich's equation 6). Also, with
Fr,o regard to point contact, few reports exist on equations
Fs,o = F@,o−F!,o to easily obtain rolling viscous resistance. The equation
proposed by Houpert 10) lacks material parameter and no
mo consideration was given to a viscosity-pressure factor. It
is natural to think that the rolling viscous resistance is
affected by the viscosity-pressure and therefore we do
not adopt Houpert’s equation in this paper.
Fujiwara is proposing the theoretical regression
equation regarding point-contact rolling viscous
resistance by defining dimensionless rolling viscous
resistance with Equation (4.1), and summarizing it as
Equation (4.2) using a point-contact dimensionless
Fig. 3 Forces and moment on the outer race used to number of Dowson, etc. 11).
calculate outer ring friction torque
Frαo
FHD = ………………………………… (4.1)
re2
FHD = 44.6U 0.694G 0.961W 0.401{1−0.962exp (−0.818k)}
The rotational speed, orbital speed and the inclination ………………………………… (4.2)
of the rotational axis of the ball are determined so that We used the equation for rolling viscous resistance
the force and moment of the ball are balanced and the under sufficient lubrication to obtain the rolling viscous
friction torque is minimized. resistance under air oil lubrication by multiplying a
By determining the behavior of the ball in a certain reduction factor to account for the lubricant starvation.
state, the slip distribution and rolling viscous resistance
can be calculated. The tangent force is the contact 4.2 Reduction factor of rolling viscous resistance
pressure at the observation point multiplied by the When a ball passes on the raceway, lubricating oil on
coefficient of traction. The coefficient of traction can be the raceway is pushed away by the ball but moves back
given as the function of slip ratio. to the center of the raceway before the next ball
We adopted Lee-Hamrock’s circular model 7) shown passes, thus the lubricating oil quantity at the EHL oil
in Equation (3.10). film inlet is recovered. It is considered that the recovery
quantity of lubricating oil is affected mainly by the ball
s / sm passage cycle T, kinematic viscosityν, and long axial
μt = =μt max ……………… (3.10)
radius of contact ellipse a . The longer the passage
1+ (s / sm ) 2
cycle of ball T, the larger the recovery amount. The
In this model, the maximum coefficient of traction smaller the kinematic viscosityν, the greater the
μmax and the slip ratio sm must be assumed so we have recovery amount because lubricating oil can move
set μt max=0.05 and sm=0.003. more easily. The smaller the contact ellipse long axial
The rolling viscous resistance is calculated radius of the ball, the greater the recovery amount
considering the starvation effect which is discussed in because the distance the lubricating oil has to move is
detail in the next section. The numerical calculation shorter. It is also possible that centrifugal force on the
considers the forces due to this slip and rolling viscous lubricating oil may also affect the recovery amount. With
resistance for a convergent calculation. a large centrifugal force, lubricating oil moves outward
on the raceway and therefore the recovery amount is
reduced on the contact area on the inner ring side.
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NTN TECHNICAL REVIEW No.82(2014)
However, the recovery amount is increased on the In addition to rolling viscous resistance, other factors
outer ring side because the lubricating oil is forced to to impact the friction of rolling bearings are differential
move toward the center of the raceway. Since it is not slip, spin and elastic hysteresis loss. The behavior of
possible to separate the torque produced at the inner the ball is determined by the balance between traction
ring and outer ring by the experiment, the impact of the due to slip produced by various frictions and the
reduction of torque at the inner ring side offset by the resistance against those frictions. Therefore, resistance
increase of torque at the outer ring side is considered cannot be separated into these various factors.
using angular velocity ω. Although lubricating oil However, we consider that the sum of the friction
quantity affects starvation, in the case air oil lubrication, torques given by each factor is the friction torque of the
the impact was determined to be relatively small as a bearings. In this study, in order to identify the reduction
result of the experiment shown in Fig. 4, so we ignore factor of rolling viscous resistance, we compared the
will it in this discussion. friction torque obtained from the experiment removing
the calculated friction torques of differential slip, spin,
Bearing: inner diameter 100 mm, ceramic ball specification
elastic hysteresis loss and friction within the cage
Preload: 2360 N guiding surface, and the friction torque due to rolling
Lubricating oil: ISO VG32
0.4
viscous resistance obtained by calculation assuming
sufficient lubrication. We defined the value of the rolling
viscous resistance obtained from the experimental data
Friction torque N・m
0.3
divided by the calculated value of sufficient lubrication
as the experimental reduction factor of rolling viscous
0.2 resistanceφre . We determine C, sT, sν, sa, sω of
Equation (4.4) so that the square of the difference
20000 min-1
0.1 betweenφr andφre becomes the smallest. We can
15000 min-1
then obtain mathematically precise values if we conduct
10000 min-1
0
multiple linear regression. However, for the purpose of
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 this report, due to the accuracy of the experiment and
Lubricating oil quantity mL/h
assumptions given, we do not have to define accurate
Fig. 4 Effect of oil quantity on friction torque
values. Instead integers or similar values such as
0, ±1/2, ±1, ±2, …can be selected for sT, sν, sa and sω.
The reduction factor of the rolling viscous resistance For C, it is sufficient to round to two significant figures
is a function of the amount of lubricating oil recovered on the average of ratios betweenφr andφre when C=1
and therefore can be considered to be as a function of is assumed.
the ball passage cycle T, kinematic viscosityν and Skipping the details of the data, we identifiedφr under
long axial radius of contact ellipse a . The reduction the above considerations using experimental data of
factor for the rolling viscous resistance can have a friction torque by varying the bearing size, ball material,
value between 0 and 1 and it is adequate to consider speed of rotation, preload and lubricating oil viscosity,
that each parameter has a standard value when we could obtain the following equation:
determining the starvation factor 1. Therefore, we
T 0.5
define the reduction factor of the rolling viscous φr = 3.5 × 10-11 ………………………… (4.5)
resistance in the following equation: νa 2
S Sν Sa Sω
This matches with the physical perception that the
T Tν a ω longer ball passage cycle T makes largerφr because it
φr = C’ …………………… (4.3)
T0 ν0 a0 ω0 allows longer time for recovery of lubricating oil, smaller
Where, when T>T0, T = T0 kinematic viscosity ν makes largerφr because it allows
whenν>ν0, ν=ν0 lubricating oil to move quickly for recovery, and smaller
when a> a0, a = a0 contact ellipse long axial radius a makes largerφr
when ω>ω0 ω = ω0 because the distance lubricating oil needs to move for
However, since it is difficult to obtain the standard recovery is shorter. In addition, ω which we introduced
values of T0, to consider the impact of centrifugal force was
ν0,a0 andω0, by experiments, Equation (4.3)
is converted to Equation (4.4) to identify C, ST, Sν, Sa, Sω. negligible. Since the coefficient 3.5 x 10-11 includes T0,
ν0 and a0, it has a dimension of [m4/s1.5].
C’ ST Sa Sω
νν a ω
S
φr = S Sν Sa Sω T
T0 T ν0 a0 ω0
ω Sa
=C T T ν a ω ………………………… (4.4)
ν S S S
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Estimation Method for Friction Torque of Air-oil Lubricated Angular Contact Ball Bearings
0.2 0.2
0.1 0.1
0 0
0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000
Rotational Speed min-1 Rotational Speed min-1
(a) Comparative example 1 (b) Comparative example 2
0.4 0.4
0.3 0.3
0.2 0.2
0.1 0.1
0 0
0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000
Rotational Speed min-1 Rotational Speed min-1
(c) Comparative example 3 (d) Comparative example 4
Bearing: inner diameter 100mm Bearing: inner diameter 70mm Ceramic ball specification
Ceramic ball specification Rotational speed: 1800min-1
Preload: 2360N Lubricating oil: ISO VG32 Lubricating oil: ISO VG32
0.5 0.5
Experimental
0.4 Calculated
Friction torque N・m
0.4
0.3 0.3
0.2 0.2
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NTN TECHNICAL REVIEW No.82(2014)
Photo of author
Hiroki FUJIWARA
Advanced Technology
R&D Center
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NTN TECHNICAL REVIEW No.82(2014)
[ Technical Paper ]
Kohei HIGASHI*
Hajime ISA*
Takakazu KITAGAWA*
Takashi ONISHI**
Kazuhito OHASHI**
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NTN TECHNICAL REVIEW No.82(2014)
Oscillation φ
Grind stone Pressure πa fcosφ
Pressure
Work piece πa f
f
Loaded θ
Polishing surface Work piece
Vs
Vmax Vw
(b) Polishing state
(c) Self-dressing
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Real-time Monitoring of the Superfinishing Process
Ra 0.3 Ra 0.03
4. Investigation of superfinishing
machining characteristics
4.1 Test conditions
After grinding process After superfinishing process To understand the machining characteristics of
Fig. 3 Improvement of surface roughness superfinishing and to estimate the formation process of
the finished surface, an experiment was conducted
under the test conditions shown in Table 2.
The test used a grinding stone wheel (WA1200) with
3. Experimental setup
a thickness of 5 mm and the work piece was made from
Fig. 4 shows the experimental apparatus used for bearing steel pre-processed to a cylindrical shape with
this study. In order to model the setup shown in Fig. 2, a surface roughness of Ra 0.3 – 0.4. In addition, water-
a cylindrical stepped round bar was selected as the insoluble grinding fluid was used as the coolant. The
work piece. The work piece is supported on both sides grinding directional angleθselected was 3.2˚ and
and rotated by the lathe shaft. The grinding stone is based on experience is positioned between grinding
held by a fixture and pushed horizontally against the and polishing processing, allowing for continuous
work piece by an air cylinder in a direction transitions from the grinding state to the polishing state.
perpendicular to the work piece. The grinding stone, The machining time was set at 20 seconds max. and
holding fixture and air cylinder are attached to a table allowed an arbitrary 2 – 20 seconds to find the
which oscillates axially with respect to the work piece. machining state during the process.
Table 1 lists the sensing devices used in this study to
monitor the machining process and the items that were Table 2 Experiment condition in one step
evaluated. They include a sizing sensor to measure the Spec:WA1200 20A
Grinding stone
work piece diameter, a laser displacement sensor to Size:t5×W30 mm
measure the movement of the grinding stone table as Work piece SUJ2 φ20(HV770)
Grinding stone oscillating amplitude 0.75mm
an indication of the stone wear, and a three-component
Cooling flow 2.0L/min (Water-insoluble)
force sensor, installed between the stone and the air
Grinding stone oscillating frequency 1870 c/min
cylinder, to measure the machining force applied to the
Shaft rotational speed 1230 min‐1
stone. In this study, these sensors were used to Grinding direction angle 3.2˚
determine the finish accuracy by monitoring the Pressure on grinding stone 0.54 MPa
machining force applied to the grinding stone. Machining time 2∼20s
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NTN TECHNICAL REVIEW No.82(2014)
grinding wheel mm
Stock removal µm
Advancement of
constant; however, we could verify that the principal Stock removal
force Q gradually decreases after 3 seconds. 0.2 5
Focusing on this change, the machining force ratio Advancement of grinding wheel
80 5
be related to the roughness of the finishing surface. Thrust force P
60 4
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Real-time Monitoring of the Superfinishing Process
grinding wheel mm
Stock removal µm
Advancement of
piece’s preprocess surface (stock removal) and
Advancement of grinding wheel
achieve final finish accuracy. To meet these 0.2 5
requirements, it is common to program machining
conditions for both grinding and polishing and have Stock removal
0 0
the cycle changed sequentially by the timer. That way 100 6
Thrust force P
stock removal is ensured and the stone is forced to be
Machining force N
loaded for polishing.
Therefore, the conditions were set for the test 60 4
P/Q
machine grinding and polishing processes in two stages
40 3
and the machining characteristics were investigated. Principal forceQ
grinding stone, coolant and work piece were equivalent 10 Grinding Polishing 1
0 5 10 15 20
to those shown in Table 2 and the wheel swing speed
Time s
was set to 670 min-1 for both grinding and polishing.
The grinding directional angle was changed by reducing
the stone oscillation frequency from 1,870 c/min (cycles
per minute) for grinding to 500 c/min for polishing to
constitute the forced transition condition from grinding to
polishing. The machining time for both grinding and
1µm
Table 3 Test conditions in two steps Fig. 8 Machining characteristics during two stage processing
Spec:WA1200 20A
Stone
Size:t5×W30 mm
Work piece SUJ2 φ20mm(HV770)
Stone oscillating amplitude 0.75mm
6. Determination of finishing accuracy
Coolant flow 2.0L/min (Water-insoluble)
via threshold
Machining condition Grinding (1st step) Polishing (2nd step) 6.1 Method for determining threshold
Stone oscillating frequency 1870 c/min 500 c/min A high correlation between the machining force ratio
Main shaft rotational speed 670 min-1 670 min-1 P/Q (force ratio) and the finish accuracy (roughness)
Grinding direction angle 6.0˚ 1.6˚ was verified by the results shown in Fig. 6 and 7.
Stone pressure 0.54 MPa 0.54 MPa Therefore, to estimate the finish accuracy (roughness)
Machining time 10s 10s in real-time during the machining process, the force
ratio was monitored during the machining process and it
was compared to a threshold. Fig. 9 shows a diagram
5.2 Test results of the signal processing system. The output signals
Fig. 8 shows the monitoring data from the machining from the three component force sensor are transferred
test conditions listed in Table 3. For the first 10 to the processing unit after the A/D conversion. The
seconds, the large machining directional angle is set to processing unit has an output terminal which sends the
the grinding state. During this time, the grinding wheel signal to the air cylinder which in turn applies pressure
and stock removal are both progressing at a constant to the stone.
speed and the machining force of the grinding stone Fig. 10 shows the flowchart used for roughness
and the machining force ratio (P/Q or force ratio) are determination. The two-step machining conditions that
constant. After 10 seconds, when the grinding were used are listed in Table 3. At the beginning of the
directional angle is reduced to transition into the machining process, the part is ground for 10 seconds
polishing state, both stone advancement and stock for pre-process stock removal. Next, after switching to
removal cease and the force ratio starts to increase. At polishing conditions, the force ratio is continuously
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NTN TECHNICAL REVIEW No.82(2014)
Stop work piece/ 6.3 Relationship between the force ratio (P/Q )
stone operation
and surface roughness
Machining ends In order to obtain a straightforward relationship
between the force ratio (P/Q) threshold and roughness,
Fig. 10 Judgement signal flow chart roughness and polishing time were plotted against P/Q
End of machining with force ratio P/Q=3.4 End of machining with force ratio P/Q=3.7
100 6 100 6
Thrust forceP
Machining force ratio P/Q
Thrust forceP
Machining force N
Machining force N
80 5 80 5
Threshold
60 4 60
Threshold
4
40 3 40 3
P/Q P/Q
20 2 20 2
Principal force Q Principal force Q
10 1 10 1
0 10 20 30 0 10 20 30
Time s Time s
Before After threshold Before After threshold
machining reached machining reached
1µm
1µm
1mm 1mm
Fig. 11 Comparison of surface roughness after processing using threshold force ratio
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Real-time Monitoring of the Superfinishing Process
Kohei HIGASHI Hajime ISA Takakazu KITAGAWA Takashi ONISHI Kazuhito OHASHI
Production Engineering Production Engineering Production Engineering Graduate School of Natural Graduate School of Natural
R&D Center R&D Center R&D Center Science and Technology, Science and Technology,
Okayama University, Division of Okayama University, Division of
Industrial Innovation Sciences Industrial Innovation Sciences
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NTN TECHNICAL REVIEW No.82(2014)
[ New Product ]
Sebastien BRISSON*
Robotic arms do have many qualities, but intelligence is not their best point.
It is necessary and important to be programmed move by move. They work in
a XYZ coordinates world associated to θX θY θZ for rotations. Moreover,
programming and maintenance are matter for specialists. Their size and
potential tremendous force imply large secured areas and heavy procedures
when an incident occurs.
Some trends can be found such as Cobotics that have new technologies of
motion control and can coexist with surrounding humans.
Based on its know-how, experience and Market understanding, NTN-SNR prototyped a bearing concept
that aims to accompany the Robotics Megatrends. Making the bearing lighter, less expensive by tuning its
stiffness according to real needs of coming technologies.
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Lightweight Bearing for Robot
Controller
Fig. 1 6 axis robot (manipurator and controller)
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NTN TECHNICAL REVIEW No.82(2014)
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Lightweight Bearing for Robot
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NTN TECHNICAL REVIEW No.82(2014)
5.4 Weight
Table 2 shows the comparison of weight between the
conventional bearings made of steel and the developed
product of the equivalent size. The developed bearings
reduced the weight by 63% for the separable type and
73% for the non-separable type compared to the
conventional bearings, resulting in a significant weight
reduction.
Photo of author
Table 2 Weight comparison between developed bearing
and current bearing
Developed Developed
Current bearings bearings bearings
Bearing type (separate (separate (non-separate,
crossed roller) crossed roller) deep groove ball)
Appearance
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Condition Monitoring System (CMS) for Wind Power Generators
Wind Doctor ® R
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NTN TECHNICAL REVIEW No.82(2014)
[ Technical Article ]
Keisuke HASHIZUME*
Akitoshi TAKEUCHI*
Yuzuru TANAKA*
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Development of Condition Monitoring System
maintenance are necessary, but it is also important to dedicated server through the Internet. Based on this
gather information beforehand in order to identify acquired data, various analyses and precise diagnoses
anomalies and their locations based on early and are done using dedicated software applications
accurate detection of changes in equipment condition In installed on the user PC. Fig. 3 shows the base screen
fact, with the gas turbine generation and steam power of this condition monitoring. When an anomaly is
generation, various sensing technologies, such as detected, an alarm is displayed on the screen, and
vibration, temperature, rotation speed, pressure, emergency emails are sent to the designated email
displacement and acoustic response, are used for addresses.
continuous monitoring and for associated maintenance This software also displays the trend view of RMS
operations. values as shown in Fig. 4 and vibration wave patterns
On the other hand, in the field of industrial machines, of acquired data as shown in Fig. 5. In addition, it also
some businesses, including those with long production has capabilities of various calculations and analyses
lines such as steel, papermaking and chemical plants, such as the envelope signal processing as shown in
are conducting preventive maintenance with immediate Fig. 6 based on vibration wave patterns as shown in
effect by introducing their own CMS with the objectives Fig. 5 and FFT spectrum analysis and display as
of maintaining supply capabilities and ensuring stable shown in Fig. 7 It also allows arbitrary setting of band-
quality. pass filters to maximize the signal-to-noise ratio (S/N
ratio), which is appropriate for displaying defect
frequencies of the bearings and step-up gears
4. Examples of equipment and applications diagnosed as damaged.
NTN is moving forward with the development and
market introduction of CMS related technology
including special sensors. In this section, we describe
some of the typical examples of NTN's commercial
products.
Caution/
warning
Server
Precise
diagnostics
Reporting
Wind Doctor ®
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NTN TECHNICAL REVIEW No.82(2014)
In addition, the raw data can be downloaded in CSV vibration data is automatically sent to the server through
format so that users can freely process the data. the Internet using a dedicated application as shown in
These operations can be run repeatedly without Fig. 9. The server determines normal/abnormal status
limitation, so they can be used as an effective data of inner rings, outer rings and rolling elements of the
analysis tool. bearings through calculation and analysis and sends
the results back to the smartphone.
Fig. 10 shows an example of the operation screen
and result display screen on the smartphone. Fig. 11
shows FFT analysis results, Fig. 12 shows the overall
values and Fig. 13 shows a trend view of the RMS
values. These data are stored on the dedicated server
Fig. 5 Wave pattern of acquired data not only on a temporary basis, but also past data can
Smartphone
Bluetooth
Server
Fig. 7 FFT Analysis Results
Vibration pick-up
A/D converter
4.2 Handy type failure detection device
Fig. 8 shows the handy type failure detection device
developed for condition monitoring and maintenance of
general industrial machines such as general-purpose Data display
motors and fans. Fig. 9 Layout of handy type failure detection device
This system consists of a vibration pick-up and
Operation button Judgment Results
pocket-sized A/D converter that are provided by NTN
and link to a user-provided smartphone. This product
was realized by applying bearing diagnostics
technology which has been developed over the years
with the goals of performing diagnostics “easily”,
"consistently”, “on the spot” and “in a short time”.
Conventional all-in-one type diagnostics systems
calculate and analyze the measured vibration data
within the system, and require large displays for easy Fig. 10 Operation screen and judgment screen
identification of detailed data, limits how far their size
and weight can be reduced. In contrast, by using
smartphones, displayed data can be easily recognized
by zooming in to the most detailed view.
In addition, maintenance personnel of manufacturing
equipment and production lines need to carry the
system together with tools and paperwork during their
maintenance and inspection activities.
Therefore, NTN’s handy type failure detection device
is made very compact and portable for the
measurement of vibration. In this system, the acquired Fig. 11 FFT Analysis Results
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Development of Condition Monitoring System
be downloaded; therefore, the data can be used for prediction based on much broader information will be
fixed-point monitoring of facilities such as displaying the enabled by integrating the data obtained from SCADA
trend view of past measurement results. with data from CMS which is useful for early detection
of anomalies.
The ultimate function required for CMS is not only
early discovery of damage, but also prediction of
remaining life. It is important to know how to minimize
the period of downtime due to anomalies; and
specification of operating limitations is frequently
requested in order to secure preparation time.
However, because the progression from anomaly
Fig. 12 View of overall values detection to failure can vary significantly depending on
the operating conditions, disturbances and
environment, predicting remaining life is fraught with
challenges. In the future it may become necessary to
employ new analysis methods and to introduce precise
diagnostics technologies incorporating not only vibration
and displacement data but also acoustic and visual
sensing data.
7. Conclusion
We have discussed why CMS is necessary and also
Fig. 13 Trend view of RMS values NTN’s products and activities. We are poised to
contribute to further improve availability and reduce
maintenance burden of not only wind power generation
but also industrial machines in general, by continually
5. Participation in the NEDO (New
advancing high functionality and high performance data
Energy and Industrial Technology
acquisition devices and providing highly accurate and
Development Organization) project
useful technology information services.
NTN is participating in the “NEDO Advanced
Practical Research and Development of Wind Power
Generation” (R&D of Smart Maintenance Technologies)
project with other organizations such as the University References
of Tokyo, to perform experimental evaluations of CMS. 1) Akitoshi Takeuchi, Takashi Haseba, Hiroshi Ikeda:
This research and development aims to increase Application of Condition Monitoring System for Wind
average availability of domestic wind power generation Turbines, NTN TECHNICAL REVIEW, No. 80 (2012)
facilities from the current level below 20% to over 23% 15-18.
by developing highly-efficient maintenance techniques
and conducting demonstration tests on actual wind
turbines. NTN will conduct demonstration tests for this
R&D project by installing Wind Doctor ® modules to the
wind power generation facilities across Japan thereby
promoting the further advancement of CMS equipment
diagnostic technology. Photo of authors
6. Future development
Power plants in general including wind power are
building remote monitoring/controlling systems
(SCADA: Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) to
acquire operational data of their facilities and entire
sites. We believe that advanced control such as Keisuke HASHIZUME Akitoshi TAKEUCHI Yuzuru TANAKA
CMS Engineering Dept., CMS Engineering Dept., CMS Engineering Dept.,
automatic trend analysis and degradation trend Industrial Machinery Division Industrial Machinery Division Industrial Machinery Division
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NTN TECHNICAL REVIEW No.82(2014)
[ New Product ]
Shogo TABATA*
Kouhei TODA**
Yasuhiko SHIMIZU***
※ ULTAGE ® is a name created from the combination of “ultimate,” signifying refinement, and “stage,” signifying NTN’s
intention that this series of products be employed in diverse applications. This is the general name for NTN’s new
generation of bearings that are noted for their industry-leading performance.
-78-
Introduction of "ULTAGE" series : High Functionality Roller Bearings
2.2 Structure
Stress concentration point of
Fig. 1 shows an example of the structure of NU type conventional bearing crown design
cylindrical roller bearings.
High ULTAGE
Reduction of
Conventional Bearing Design
edge stress
Contact pressure
1) Optimized internal design
Adoption of larger diameter rollers and optimized
crowning shape enabled use under tough conditions
such as larger inclination and heavy load, increasing
load carrying performance. Low
2) Resin cage material is standard
Glass fiber enhanced polyamide resin is used as the Roller length
material. Resin cages are lightweight and
characterized by low torque and low noise. Fig. 2 Contact stress distribution of rollers
<<Test Condition>>
Bearing part number: NU307E (φ35×φ80×21)
Radial load: 3.5 kN (5% Cor)
Bearing internal clearance: CN clearance (0.025 - 0.050)
Inner ring Roller Lubrication: Turbine oil VG32 circulation lubrication
¡Optimum crowning shape
¡Large diameter rollers are adopted
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NTN TECHNICAL REVIEW No.82(2014)
<<Calculation Conditions>>
3. ULTAGE Large Tapered Roller Bearings Bearing part number: 30316U (φ80×φ170×42.5)
The ULTAGE large tapered roller bearings have the Radial load: 102 kN
following features by optimizing the internal design of Inclination: 1/600 (0.0017 rad)
conventional bearings:
3.1 Features
High ULTAGE
(1) Load carrying capacity (compared with Conventional Bearing Design
Contact pressure
conventional tapered roller bearings)
• Basic dynamic load rating: 1.3 x
• Basic rating life: 3 x
(2) Limiting speed (compared with conventional
tapered roller bearings ) Low
Roller
2
1
-80-
Introduction of "ULTAGE" series : High Functionality Roller Bearings
70
Another manufacturer's
50 Bearing Design Conventional
(Bearing steel)
40
Case
30 hardening steel
20
ULTAGE
10
Fig. 8 Running torque test results Cage Shaft rolling bearing washer
¡Window type punched ¡Optimized groove curvature
steel cage ¡Optimized rib curvature
-81-
NTN TECHNICAL REVIEW No.82(2014)
Temperature rise ˚C
and the curvature of the groove and rib is optimized. 40
Temperature rise ˚C
4.4 High speed operation 40
( increase of allowable rotational speed)
The ULTAGE thrust spherical roller bearings adopts 30
a window type punched steel cage as opposed to the
supported-ring-guided machined steel cage of the 20
conventional bearing . In addition, optimization of the rib
curvature of the shaft rolling bearing washer reduces 10
the rise of temperature which improved allowable 500 1000 1500 2000 2500
rotational speed by up to 1.2 times compared with the Rotational speed min-1
conventional bearing . Fig. 12 Temperature rise test results, horizontal shaft
Fig. 11 and 12 show the test result of temperature
rise of vertical and horizontal shaft tests. In both tests,
the rise of temperature was lower than the conventional
bearing . 5. Conclusion
Three new types of roller bearings are now added to
(1) Vertical Shaft Test the NTN next-generation bearings, the ULTAGE Series.
<<Test Condition>> As technology innovation of industrial machines for
Bearing part number: 29418E
global environmental protection is currently underway,
Axial load: 98 kN (5% Coa)
we believe that bearings featuring high load carrying
Lubrication: Turbine oil VG32 circulation lubrication
capacity and high speed will meet the market
requirements of industrial machines by being
(2) Horizontal shaft test lightweight, compact and having a long-life.
<<Test Condition>> We are poised to continue with the development of
Bearings under test: 29418E next-generation bearings with further improvement and
Axial load: 98 kN (5% Coa) higher functionality that respond to various market
Lubrication: Turbine oil VG32 circulation lubrication demands.
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NTN TECHNICAL REVIEW No.82(2014)
[ Technical Article ]
Takashi NISHIKAWA*
Nao HAYASHI*
Akiko HAYAKAWA**
-83-
NTN TECHNICAL REVIEW No.82(2014)
-84-
Technical Trend of Aircraft Bearings
Hardness HRC
floating-side bearings in order to absorb longitudinal 60
55 M50
expansion/contraction of the engine’s main shaft while
50
supporting radial load.
45
Fig. 4 shows the bearings for main shafts used on SUJ2
40
Boeing’s passenger aircraft B767. 35
30
100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450
Temperature ˚C
Outer
ring Fig. 5 Hardness of bearing steel for high temperature
Cage Roller
Ball
350
Inner
ring 300
(a) Three-point contact (b) Cylindrical roller
150
100
50
0
0.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0
dn x106
Fig. 6 Hoop stress on bearing inner ring
(a) Three-point contact ball bearing (b) Cylindrical roller bearing
Fig. 4 Examples of main shaft bearings of jet engine
-85-
NTN TECHNICAL REVIEW No.82(2014)
made into an oval shape so that preload is given to the most widely used as the lubricant for jet engines. In
rollers when they are assembled into the housing. addition, lubricant oil with superior oxidation stability
under high temperature and sludge resistance is also
developed and standardized as MILPRF-23699 HTS.
Outer ring + Vibration absorbing component Along with this, the conventional oil MIL-PRF-23699
Oil ring Spring was standardized as MIL-PRF-23699 STD.
The lubricant must be delivered to the rolling contact
surface of the bearings and the contact area between
the cage guiding surface and land. Therefore, forced
lubrication is required, such as oil jet lubrication where
Oil dumper the high speed lubricant is injected from the nozzle
Conventional Unitized (shown in Fig. 11).
configuration configuration
Along with the high speed rotation of the main shaft,
Fig. 8 Unitized bearings
a “wall” of air, or so-called “air curtain”, is formed due to
the rotation of the rolling elements and the cage, which
prevents sufficient delivery of lubricant oil injected from
the nozzles. In that case, under-raceway lubrication is
used to deliver oil to the required area with the
centrifugal force. Fig. 12 shows an example of under-
raceway lubrication.
The oil jet injected from the nozzle is captured by the
oil scoop and guided to inside the main shaft. Then, the
Fig. 9 Unitized model of a bearing oil is supplied into the bearing with the centrifugal force.
Since the under-raceway lubrication delivers the oil
directly into the inner ring of the bearings, the cooling
Outer surface: Ellipse effect on the bearings is higher than with oil jet
Raceway surface: lubrication.
True circle
Cage Divided
Preload Preload inner rings
Hollow shaft
Lubricant
outlet
(4) Lubrication
Oil scoop
Mineral oil based SAE1010 was used as lubricant of
early jet engines, however, its fast oxidative
degradation due to the use under high temperature Oil jet
-86-
Technical Trend of Aircraft Bearings
References
1) Masuji Matsuoka: Koku Kagaku Koza Vol. 11 Jet
Fig. 13 TiN coating Engine (Structure)
2) NTN TECHNICAL REVIEW, No.67 (1998) 7.
3) NTN Bearing Engineer, Vol. 21, Issue 1 (1972) 61.
3.4 Technology development for bearings of jet 4) NTN Naoki Matsumori, Bearings for Jet Engine Main
engine main shafts Shafts to Protect Safety of Aircrafts, Tool Engineer, Vol.
Recent jet engines are designed to operate at higher 54 No 13, Taiga Publishing Co., Ltd. (2013) 61.
temperature and pressure for lower fuel consumption
and lighter weight, and the structure of the bearings for
jet engine main shafts is becoming more complicated.
Therefore, reliability of bearings must be improved. This
important development task is being pursued on
several fronts:
1) Surface modification
Common causes of bearing degradation are exfoliation
and adhesion, which originate from surface defects such
as indentations produced by hard foreign objects.
Raceway hardening processes via surface modification
are being developed to reduce such degradation and
achieve high reliability.
-87-
NTN TECHNICAL REVIEW No.82(2014)
[ Technical Paper ]
Motohiro ITO*
-88-
The Influence of the Humidity and Quantity of Hydrogen into Steel under the Abrasive Wear
Thermal
processing Quenching temperature: 850˚C, tempering: 180˚C×2 h Diffusible
hydrogen
0.01
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NTN TECHNICAL REVIEW No.82(2014)
0.20
4. Mineral oil
observed.
Fig. 6 shows the relation between the absolute
humidity and amount of diffusible hydrogen. 0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
The absolute humidity was obtained based on the Absolute humidity g/m3
measured temperature and relative humidity.
There was a strong correlation between the absolute Fig. 6 Relationship between absolute humidity and
amount of diffusible hydrogen
humidity and amount of diffusible hydrogen with little
impact of temperature.
The results show that the amount of diffusible hydrogen
in steel is dependent on the amount of vapor in the unit
5. Water added oil
volume of air.
Fig. 7 shows the relation between the amount of
0.012 added water and amount of diffusible hydrogen. Both in
Set temperature 20℃ Set temperature 30℃
the low humidity and high humidity cases, as the
wt-ppm
0.20 0.25
Amount of diffusible hydrogen wt-ppm
0.10
0.10
0.05
0.05
High humidity (set relative humidity: 95%RH)
Low humidity (set relative humidity: 25%RH)
0 0
0 20 40 60 80 100 0 5 10 15
Fig. 5 Relationship between relative humidity and Fig. 7 Relationship between amount of containing water and
amount of diffusible hydrogen amount of diffusible hydrogen in cases of water containing oils
-90
The Influence of the Humidity and Quantity of Hydrogen into Steel under the Abrasive Wear
However, the amount of diffusible hydrogen in the 5.1 Relationship between humidity and water
low humidity test, excluding the 15 wt% water added oil contained in oil
(0.153wt-ppm), was less than the amount of diffusible It was shown that the amount of diffusible hydrogen
hydrogen in the high humidity test, excluding water-free in steel after the abrasive wear test depends on the
oil (0.176wt-ppm). This shows that the impact on amount of vapor in the air. It was also shown that the
diffusible hydrogen into the steel after abrasion was impact of humidity is larger than the impact of added
larger for water vapor in the air than that of water added water to the lubricant. Therefore, we investigated the
directly to the test oil. water content of the oil when exposed to different
Table 4 shows the amount of water involved in the humidity conditions in order to verify the impact of
abrasive wear test and the amount of diffusible humidity on water content of the oil.
hydrogen. Since the volume of the test chamber is Table 5 shows the test conditions for measuring the
0.0104 m3, the amount of vapor contained in the test water content. The same additive-free turbine oil VG100
chamber air is 0.080g in low humidity and 0.271g in was used. A set temperature of 30˚C and relative
high humidity. When 15 wt% of water was added to the humidity of 30, 60 and 90%RH were used for the test
test oil, with a drop rate of 1 g/min and an abrasion test chamber. The container with test oil was exposed in the
duration of 40 minutes, the amount of water in the test chamber for 30 minutes, then the water content
dropped oil was 6g. The total amount of water when 15 was measured.
wt% water added oil was used in low humidity was Fig. 8 shows the measurement results of the water
6.080g (6 + 0.080g). content in the oil. As the absolute humidity increased,
On the other hand, when water-free oil was used in the water content in the oil also increased.
high humidity, the amount of water was 0.271 g. This This means that in high humidity the amount of water
shows that while the amount of water involved in the contained in oil increased.
abrasive wear test was larger in the case of 15 wt% It is considered that as humidity increases, water
water added oil in low humidity versus that of water-free contained in the oil increases and becomes the source
oil in high humidity, the amount of diffusible hydrogen of hydrogen. Therefore, diffusible hydrogen in steel
was smaller. While the reason why the amount of depends on the amount of water vapor in the air.
diffusible hydrogen varies depending on the state of
water is unclear, the test result showed humidity had a
larger impact on the amount of diffusible hydrogen in Table 5 Water content of oil test condition
steel after the abrasion test.
Test oil Additive-free turbine oil VG100
Set temperature 30˚C
Set relative humidity 30, 60, 90 %RH
Table 4 Amount of water and amount of diffusible Exposure time 30 min
hydrogenin wear test
Low humidity High humidity
(25%RH) (95%RH)
Item + +
added water no added water 0.005
(15 wt%) (0 wt%)
Volume of chamber space 約 0.0104 m3
Amount of water content wt%
0.004
Absolute humidity 7.6 g/m3 25.9 g/m3
Amount of water in the chamber 0.080 g 0.271 g
Drop rate 1 g/min 0.003
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Absolute humidity g/m3
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NTN TECHNICAL REVIEW No.82(2014)
0.012
Abrasive wear time 20min Abrasive wear time 30min
0.05
wt-ppm
91 %RH 88 %RH
min
0.010
63 %RH 63 %RH
26 %RH 22 %RH
0.008 No test No test
Emitted hydrogen ratio
0.006 0
0 20 40 60 80 100
Relative humidity %RH
0.004
Fig. 10 Relationship between relative humidity and amount
0.002 of diffusible hydrogen in cases of fluorine based oil
0
0 100 200 0 100 200
0.15
Set temperature 20℃ Set temperature 20℃ High humidity
Amount of diffusible hydrogen wt-ppm
93 %RH
min
0.006
0.05
0.004
0.002
0 0
0 100 200
0 10 20 30 40 50
Set temperature 20℃
Abrasive wear time min
Fig. 9 TDA profiles of specimens before and after abrasive
wear testing in cases of fluorine based oil for wear duration Fig. 11 Relationship between wear duration and amount
of 20, 30, 40 min of diffusible hydrogen in cases of fluorine based oil
-92-
The Influence of the Humidity and Quantity of Hydrogen into Steel under the Abrasive Wear
References
7. Conclusion 1) K. Tamada, and H. Tanaka, "Occurrence of brittle
We have investigated the impact of humidity on the flaking on bearings used for automotive electrical
amount of hydrogen penetrated in steel by conducting instruments and auxiliary devices" Wear, 199 (1996),
pp.245-252.
an abrasive wear test in a chamber under controlled
2) M. Kohara, T. Kawamura and M. Egami,"Study on
temperature and humidity and applying thermal
Mechanism of Hydrogen Generation from Lubricants"
desorption analysis. As a result, the following were Tribology Transactions, 49 (2006), pp. 53-60.
revealed: 3) L. Grunberg,"The Formation of Hydrogen Peroxide on
1) When the abrasive wear test was conducted using Fresh Metal Surfaces" Proc.Phys. Soc (London). B66
mineral oil, the amount of diffusible hydrogen (1953), pp. 153-161.
increased as the relative humidity increased for a 4) P. Schatzberg and I. M. Felsen, "EFEEECTS OF
given temperature. When absolute humidity was WATER AND OXYGEN ROLLING CONTACT
used instead of relative humidity in the arrangement LUBRICATION" Wear, 12 (1968), pp. 331-342.
of data, a strong correlation was observed with the 5) Shigeru Asano, Yoshio Fujishima, Namio Ohtani, “The
amount of diffusible hydrogen. Diffusivity of Hydrogen in Iron at Room Temperature”,
2) When the abrasive wear test was conducted with Journal of The Japan Institute of Metals,Vol. 37, Issue
3 (1973), pp. 301-306.
pure water added to mineral oil, the amount of
6) M. Nagumo, M. Nakamura, and K. Takai, "Hydrogen
diffusible hydrogen increased both in low and high
Thermal Desorption Relevant to Delayed-Fracture
humidity. Susceptibility of High-Strength Steels"
Within the range of ambient temperature in this test, METALLURGICAL ANDMATERIALS TRANSACTIONS
the amount of diffusible hydrogen in the low humidity A, 32A (2001),pp. 339-347.
test, excluding the 15 wt% water added to oil, was 7) Hiroyoshi Tanaka, Hiraku Tanimoto, Joichi Sugimura,
less than the amount of diffusible hydrogen in the "Observation of Hydrogen Permeation into Fresh
high humidity test, excluding no water added to oil. Bearing Steel Surface by Thermal Desorption
3) Even when fluorine-based oil was used, which does Spectroscopy”, Proceedings of Japan Tribology
not contain hydrogen atoms in the chemical Conference Tokyo (2010-5), pp. 203-204.
structural formula, diffusible hydrogen was detected
from the steel. The amount of diffusible hydrogen
increased when the abrasive wear duration was
increased.
Photo of author
Motohiro ITO
Advanced Technology
R&D Center
-93-
NTN TECHNICAL REVIEW No.82(2014)
[ Technical Paper ]
Noriaki MIWA*
We have developed an ultrasonic torsional fatigue tester which enables for the
rapid evaluation of shear fatigue properties of high strength steels. This report
presents the test results of shear fatigue properties of induction hardened
medium carbon steels, and rolling bearing steels, up to giga-cycle regimes as
evaluated by the developed tester.
-94-
Evaluation of Shear Fatigue Properties in Medium Carbon Steels and Rolling Bearing Steels up to Giga-cycle Test Regimes
decreases. 850
It was determined that the sample was damaged 800
B-added steel (dashed line)
when resonance frequency exceeded the preset range,
1050
25kHz
Temperature ˚C
water-soluble
(a) Base steel (b) B-added steel
quenching
Fig. 4 SEM images of fracture surface at initial shear
fatigue cracking
5 10
Time sec. intergranular enhancement elements 4); its effect could
Fig. 1 Induction heat treatment condition
not be confirmed since the fracture in these
experimental conditions were transgranular.
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NTN TECHNICAL REVIEW No.82(2014)
The diameter and length of the RCF samples were The USTF test conditions are the same as those in
12 mm and 22 mm, respectively. Section 2.2. When there was no damage up to 1x1010
Table 2 shows the number of lots, total number of cycles, the test was terminated.
samples , as well as the average, maximum and Fig. 6 shows the schematic diagram of the RCF test
minimum hardness measurements of samples equipment and Table 3 shows the test conditions. The
evaluated in the tests. samples are driven by the driving roller to cause rolling
fatigue with the 3/4 inch steel balls in contact under high
contact stress conditions. When damage occurs in the
Table 1 Chemical compositions of S53C and M50NiL sample , vibration of the tester increases, which was
used for USTF specimens (mass %) used as the termination signal.
C Si Mn P S Ni Cr Mo V
S53C 0.54 0.17 0.86 0.011 0.008 0.02 0.14 - - 3.3 Results
M50NiL 0.12 0.20 0.25 0.005 0.002 3.40 4.08 4.15 1.18 Fig. 7 shows the shear fatigue properties of three
types of steels, namely, the two steel types tested in
this paper and SUJ2 2) . S53C was the lowest both in
900
fatigue strength at finite life and fatigue limit (442 MPa)
800
among the three steel types evaluated so far. M50NiL
Vickers hardness HV
1200
Table 2 Number of lots, total number and hardness of RCF SUJ22)
specimens S53C
1000
Shear stress amplitude MPa
M50NiL
Number Total number Hardness (HRC)
τw0=680MPa (M50NiL)
of lots of specimens Ave. Min.∼Max. 800
0
105 106 107 108 109 1010 1011
Specimen
Number of cycles
3/4” ball
Fig. 7 Shear fatigue properties of three kinds of bearing
steels evaluated by USTF tester
-96-
Evaluation of Shear Fatigue Properties in Medium Carbon Steels and Rolling Bearing Steels up to Giga-cycle Test Regimes
3.4 Observation (2) S53C was the lowest both in fatigue strength at finite
Fig. 8 shows shear fatigue life within finite life life and fatigue limit (442 MPa) of shear fatigue
(fracture probability 50%) at a stress amplitude of 700 properties among the three steel types evaluated.
MPa of three steel types and rolling fatigue life L50. A On the other hand, M50NiL was the highest both in
linear relationship was observed between the data sets. fatigue strength at finite life and fatigue limit (680
Therefore, it was implied that the USTF test may MPa).
become an alternative to the RCF test. That is, it could (3) The slopes of shear fatigue properties of the three
be an effective tool for determining relative superiority of steel types were not significantly different within
RCF life. these fatigue strength cycles.
(4) Linear correlation was found between shear fatigue
life within finite life (fracture probability 50%) at
109
stress amplitude 700 MPa and rolling fatigue life L50
from previous rolling fatigue testing.
amplitude of 700MPa cycles
Shear fatigue life at stress
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NTN TECHNICAL REVIEW No. 82(2014)
Hiroshi ISOBE, Yukihiro NISHIO, Seigo SAKATA, Naoya KONAGAI, Hiroyuki YAMADA
Parallel link
mechanism
Tip
Fig. 1 Parallel link high speed angle control equipment Hiroshi ISOBE Yukihiro NISHIO Seigo SAKATA
New Product Development New Product Development New Product Development
R&D Center R&D Center R&D Center
-98-
NTN TECHNICAL REVIEW No. 82(2014)
2013 Japan Powder Metallurgy Association, New Product Award in New Materials Division
Transverse rupture
strength. If dimensional accuracy is not sufficient, oil may leak from the 300
strength N
gaps with the surrounding components and affect the operating
200
responsiveness of variable valve timing devices. Insufficient strength
may cause deformation and damage to the devices. 100
The developed oil seals made of sintered metals received “The 35th
0
Japan Powder Metallurgy Association, New Product Award in New Segregation-free Developed material Resin
Materials Division” which is awarded to superior new technologies in processed powder sintered compact
powder metallurgy. In this article, we present an overview of this
development. Fig. 2 Comparison of transverse rupture strength
4.0
Hydraulic chamber Total length Cp
Oil seal Straightness Cp
Cp 2.0
0.0
FG64 Segregation-free Segregation-free Developed
processed powder processed powder material
Cam pulley + +
Camshaft sizing sizing
Fig. 1 Point-of-use of the oil seal Fig. 3 Dimensional precision (Cp value)
-99-
NTN TECHNICAL REVIEW No. 82(2014)
2mm
Peak area
1. Introduction
As mobile devices rapidly expand, the cooling fan motors used in 1.8mm
these devices are becoming increasingly thin. The use of these
devices is becoming much more diverse and the operating Groove area
environment is also becoming much more challenging. Though the
4mm
operating environment is becoming more challenging, the
requirements for the bearings are to provide lower noise and more Fig. 2 Example of sintered hydrodynamic bearing
reliable operation than ever.
By leveraging high precision and high rigidity of the conventional Shaft
sintered hydrodynamic bearings, we have developed sintered 4mm
hydrodynamic bearings for super thin cooling fan motors (Fig. 1).
In this article, we present an overview of this product development, Housing Sintered hydrodynamic
Thrust washer bearings
which received “2013 Japan Powder Metallurgy Association, Effort
Prize.” Fig. 3 Example of a super thin fan motor application
-100-
NTN TECHNICAL REVIEW No. 82(2014)
torsion amplitude magnifying horn. Since the rated output of the 1000 S-N diagram
converter was small, the shape of the specimen and the
amplitude magnifying horn needed to be adjusted. The 800
specimen is dumbbell shaped and shear stress becomes
600
largest on the surface of the smallest diameter area when
torsional load is applied. Shear stress on the specimen is 400
τw0=577 MPa
increased as the size of the specimen increases; however,
resonance became unstable and we could not continue the test. 200
Therefore, we limited the size of the specimen so that stable
resonance is provided at up to 90% of the amplifier's output and 0
105 106 107 108 109 1010 1011
increased the magnifying rate by improving the shape of the
Number of cycles
torsional magnifying horn so that high shear stress could be
stably given. Fig. 2 Shear fatigue property of SUJ2 evaluated by
developed tester
Converter of References
torsional vibration 1) Miwa, Matsubara, Shimamura, Ishii, Tribologist, 58, (2013) 658-666.
Photo of author
Specimen
Horn to magnify
torsional angle
Noriaki MIWA
Advanced Technology
Fig. 1 Schematic of ultrasonic torsional fatigue tester R&D Center
-101-
NTN TECHNICAL REVIEW No.82(2014)
Features Structure
33% reduction in bearing rotational friction Minute dimples
(compared with the conventional units) in lip surface
Applications
¡Axles for passenger cars
-102-
Our Line of New Products
EBW Driveshaft
EBW : Electron Beam Welding
Features Structure
Contributes to shorter development lead Characteristics of electron beam welding
time for new models and higher reliability (compared with friction welding)
(1) Common outer ring cup section which had been Electron beam Friction
different in vehicles in the past (only the stem is Item welding welding
subject to individual designs) Welding time ◎ ○
(2) Secure and high precision welding in a short time with Strength of welded section ◎ ◎
electron beam welding
Concentric accuracy of welded section ○ △
-103-
NTN TECHNICAL REVIEW No.82(2014)
Features Structure
(1) Steel sheets 1.5 times thicker than conventional press
pulleys can be applied Pressed steel sheet
⇒Improves the pulley load resistance by two times or more
(2) Low pulley section of approximately 70% of
conventional products
⇒Improves bearing operating life and load capacity
(3) High durability under high temperature conditions and
excellent wear resistance against foreign matters
suitable for application in vehicles for emerging markets
Applications
¡Automobile engine accessory belt drive system
・ Optimal design achieved by utilizing analysis
technology
Air-conditioner compressor Low section high
strength press pulley ・ Improved press technology results in a reduced
section and thicker sheets
・ Revised thermal processing conditions for a
stronger mold, preventing mold damage and
seizure.
Alternator
Crank pulley Accessory belt
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Our Line of New Products
Features Structure
Long-life roller bearing unit achieving more than
Roller Shaft
10 times the operating life with contaminated
lubrication compared to conventional products
(1) Special (heat treatment) for rollers and shafts for Cage
longer operating life with contaminated lubrication
(2) Improved roller crowning shape to limit edge stress
due to bearing installation error
(3) Optimal design for the cage pocket shape to reduce Planetary gear
(partially cut away)
introduction of contaminants
(4) Added thrust washer discharge groove to improve
Thrust washer
contaminant discharge (oil discharge quantity: 6 times
the conventional method)
Gear and bearing cut away
(planetary reducer)
Applications
¡Planetary reducers for construction and
agricultural machinery
Swing drive
(Reduction gear box)
Final drive
(Reduction gear box)
Hydraulic excavator
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