Project overview
Severe operating conditions in modern technologies accelerate the premature failure of the lubricated bearings in wind turbine drive trains, hydrogen compressors, automotive alternators etc. Early bearing failure occurs through various mechanisms of wear such as pitting, White Etching Cracks (WEC), frosting, fluting etc. The search for long term solutions to increase the fatigue life and thus the efficiency of technologies has recently intensified due to environmental and economic driving forces and has focused on the identification of the main culprits and their mechanism of action. This experimental project investigates the influence of electrical currents present in the tribological contact on contact fatigue, their interaction with lubricant components and the role of the tribofilms generated.
