Rolling element bearing diagnostics in run-to-failure lifetime testing

Bearing failure is one of the foremost causes of breakdown in rotating mach inery. Such failures can be catastrophic and can result in costly downtime. To date, most research has studied crack propagation resulting from artifi cial or 'seeded' damage. This damage has been induced in bearings by: scrat ching the surface, introducing debris into the lubricant or machined with a n electrical discharge. The work presented here involves running new undama ged ball and roller bearings through to failure. Traditional vibration metr ics such as: root mean square, peak value, kurtosis and crest factor are re corded through the test duration from accelerometers and acoustic emission sensors. (C) 2001 Academic Press.